British Journal of Social Work: 'Managing loss and a threatened identity: experiences of parents of children growing up in foster care, the perspectives of their social workers and implications for practice'.

Schofield, Gillian

The biological parents of children in foster care need to face the challenges of managing profound feelings, such as anger and grief, arising from their loss, and the threat to their identity as a parent. This article explores the experiences of parents of children growing up in foster care and their social workers through the findings of parallel qualitative studies undertaken at the University of East Anglia, England, the University of Bergen, Norway, and the University of Gothenburg, Sweden. Interviews and focus groups with parents showed a great deal of similarity in the situation experienced by parents in the three countries. But all three studies found great diversity in how parents managed their loss and their threatened identity over time, including varied strategies for managing cognitive dissonance. What parents shared was the need to be treated by social workers with respect and empathy, to receive information about the children and to be involved, where possible, in the children's lives. Focus groups with social workers, who had to balance the needs of children and parents, found there was a need for guidance in this difficult work.

41:1, January 2011, pp 74-92