6 results
Search Results
2. Looked-after children and their birth families: using sociology to explore changing relationships, hidden histories and nomadic childhoods.
- Author
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Holland, Sally and Crowley, Anne
- Subjects
SIBLINGS ,FOSTER children ,GRIEF ,INTERVIEWING ,EVALUATION of medical care ,PARENT-child relationships ,REFLECTION (Philosophy) ,REMINISCENCE ,RESEARCH ,RESEARCH funding ,SOCIAL theory ,QUALITATIVE research ,DISCLOSURE ,RELOCATION ,FAMILY relations ,THEMATIC analysis ,SOCIAL role change - Abstract
This paper draws on a series of life-history interviews with 16 young adults who were all formerly looked-after children. Eight young men and eight young women aged 17 to 25 took part in the study in Wales, UK. They had experienced a wide range of circumstances at home, in care and after care. They were contacted through a self-advocacy organization and other care leavers' groups. The paper explores how insights from the sociology of the family can serve to enhance understandings of these young people's life stories and, additionally, how their lived experiences can contribute to this sociological field. Key themes explored in the paper include the emotional co-presence of the birth family for children living in substitute care, the dynamic nature of experiences and perceptions of family relationships through the life course, the importance of siblings and the insightful reflections of participants on the challenges of learning to 'do' family across childhoods marked by nomadism. The paper concludes that a holistic theoretical approach that embraces 'psy' and sociological understandings of families and relationships will be most productive for researchers, practitioners and families. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2013
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
3. Contemporary adoptive kinship: a contribution to new kinship studies.
- Author
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Logan, Janette
- Subjects
LEGAL procedure ,ADOPTION ,ATTITUDE (Psychology) ,BIOLOGY ,CONCEPTS ,DIFFUSION of innovations ,GROUP identity ,HOMOSEXUALITY ,PARENTHOOD ,SOCIAL theory ,FAMILY relations ,SOCIAL attitudes ,HISTORY - Abstract
This paper was concerned with the changing nature of adoptive kinship. The analysis was located in the context of current sociological and anthropological theory and parallels were drawn with other alternative family forms i.e. gay and lesbian families, and families formed by new reproductive technologies. Adoption as a family form has largely been neglected in sociological and anthropological literature, yet the changing nature of adoption, particularly in relation to open adoption and gay and lesbian adoption, means that it has an important contribution to make to new discourses of kinship. Adoption is far more likely to feature in psychological and child welfare literature than that on the family and kinship, yet it is a unique addition to the heterogeneous family landscape with a profound impact on cultural definitions of family and kinship. By considering contemporary adoption practice through a social construction and kinship theory lens, the paper argues that new kinship studies are helpful in conceptualizing adoptive kinship. Adoption also has a valuable and significant contribution to make to contemporary kinship theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2013
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
4. Relations, relationships and relatedness: residential child care and the family metaphor.
- Author
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Kendrick, Andrew
- Subjects
ATTITUDE (Psychology) ,COMMITMENT (Psychology) ,COMMUNICATION ,CONCEPTS ,CUSTODY of children ,DECISION making ,METAPHOR ,SOCIAL theory ,SOCIAL stigma ,FAMILY relations ,RESIDENTIAL care - Abstract
Residential care has had a poor reputation. There are concerns about the abuse of children in care, and evidence of poor outcomes and poor practice. In this context, residential care is often compared in a negative way to family placements. On the other hand, residential care can also provide a positive experience for some children and young people. Residential care has increasingly been contrasted with family placements, and yet children and young people describe their positive experiences in residential care as like being in a family, and refer to care staff using kin terms, such as 'dad' or 'sister'. With the growing diversity of families in Western society, there have been significant developments in sociological theories of families, and these highlight the importance of family practices and displaying family. New kinship studies in anthropology have raised questions about the nature of the family. Research on children's conceptualization of family has begun to identify features of 'family-like' relationships. These theories will be discussed in relation to the ambivalence about residential care, current thinking about residential child care and, importantly, the way in which some children and young people use the family metaphor to express their experience. The paper will explore the ways in which this can develop and benefit practice in residential care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2013
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
5. Constrained adoptive parenthood and family transition: adopters' experience of unplanned birth family contact in adolescence.
- Author
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MacDonald, Mandi and McSherry, Dominic
- Subjects
PARENTHOOD & psychology ,ADOLESCENCE ,ADOPTION ,ADOPTIVE parents ,AGE distribution ,ATTITUDE (Psychology) ,SIBLINGS ,CHILD welfare ,ADOPTED children ,GROUP identity ,INTERVIEWING ,HUMAN life cycle ,RESEARCH methodology ,PARENT-child relationships ,RESEARCH ,RESEARCH funding ,SOCIAL networks ,SOCIAL theory ,TIME ,QUALITATIVE research ,FAMILY relations ,ACCESS to information ,THEMATIC analysis ,SOCIAL media ,SOCIAL role change - Abstract
Adoption policy in the UK emphasizes its role in providing secure, permanent relationships to children in care who are unable to live with their birth families. Adoptive parents are crucial in providing this life-long, stable experience of family for these vulnerable children. This paper explores the experience of adoptive parenthood in the context of changes to adoptive kinship relationships brought about by new, unplanned contact with birth family during their child's middle adolescence. This contact was initiated via informal social networks and/or social media, with older birth siblings instrumental in negotiating renewed relationships. The contact precipitated a transition in adoptive family life resulting in emotional challenges and changes in parent/child relationships, which were experienced as additional to the normative transitions expected during adolescence. Parental concern as a dominant theme was founded in the child and birth sibling's stage of adolescence, coupled with constraints on adoptive parenthood imposed by the use of social media, by perceived professional attitudes and by parental social cognitions about the importance of birth ties. Adoptive parents' accounts are interpreted with reference to family life-cycle theory and implications are suggested for professional support of adoptive kinship relationships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2013
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
6. Familiar subjects? Domestic violence and child welfare.
- Author
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Featherstone, Brid and Trinder, Liz
- Subjects
DOMESTIC violence ,CHILD welfare ,CHILD psychology ,SOCIAL services ,SOCIAL work with children ,SOCIAL work theory ,FEMINIST theory ,CHILD care ,SOCIAL theory - Abstract
Historically, domestic violence and child welfare have been seen as largely separate concerns. Over the last decade domestic violence has finally gained a place on social work agendas, partly as a result of linking domestic violence with child protection issues. Whilst welcoming the extent to which domestic violence is being taken seriously, we raise concerns about the dominant feminist perspectives guiding this project. We argue that current feminist theory is based on fixed and essentialist gender and generational categories which are unhelpful in understanding the complexities of family situations and family processes. Instead we argue for the relevance of relational understandings of gender, power and violence developed from feminist post-structuralist and psychoanalytic theorists. In doing so, we challenge accepted feminist understandings of domestic violence, and question the basis upon which dominant feminist approaches claim an unviolable alliance between the interests of women and children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 1997
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
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