Issue 7 – Fostering stability

Foster journal, Issue seven (2019) takes its title from the conference of that year, Fostering Stability.

Drawing from her conference keynote presentation, Dr Montserrat Fargas Malet presents the findings of research carried out with her colleague Dr McSherry, which was published in a study entitled The extent of stability and relational permanence achieved for young children in care in Northern Ireland (2018). This study identified four levels of factors of stability and instability for children in care: child factors, carer factors, social worker factors and organisational structures.

Róisín Farragher outlines her research into how young people in the care system experience ‘family’. Her research approach involves listening to and enhancing the voices of young people as they describe their experiences of family relationships in care. Maria Lotty provides an insight into the development of a trauma- informed foster care programme in collaboration with colleagues in University College Cork and Tusla – Child and Family Agency.

In their article, ‘I’m broken inside but I’m smiling out through my teeth: an exploration of the experiences of parents who have children in foster care’, Majella Hynan and Sean Lynch share their preliminary research study findings which give voice to the experiences of parents who have a child (or children) in State care.

Jim Cantwell’s article considers perspectives that could be helpful for foster families who experience violent and challenging behaviours from foster children. Dr Sadhbh Whelan and Dr Bairbre Meaney of (the then) Department of Children and Youth Affairs describe the insights gained from their conference workshop, designed to give foster carers an opportunity to provide their views and opinions on the review of the Child Care Act 1991, which was underway at that time.