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Do children in care find it hard to build trusting relationships due to living in multiple placements? Introduction The research topic that has been chosen focuses on research found that children experience difficulties in forming meaningful and trusting relationships with others, due to continually being moved from different foster placements. The impact that this has had on young people is that they lack the ability to have a routine and consistency, which then leads to emotional difficulties and separation issues. Wildeman and Waldfogel (2014), discussed how children whom are continually moved from different foster placements already have existing problems prior to coming into care and this then requires a more sensitive approach when working with them to overcome this. The aim of this review will be to focus on the main reasons for foster placement breakdowns, how the frequent movement of placements affects a child’s wellbeing, which recognised legislations affect children, and how can this be improved. It is important to understand how these different aspects impact the development of a child and what methods can be used to prevent unhealthy attachment disorders. Methodology I decided to use a search engine to find journal articles through the LRC discover tool where I found information on the topic from different sources of literature. It was a method used to identify relevant material and sources for the chosen topic. Keywords such as: “Children in care” affects and “attachment” were entered into the system with a total of 186,389. Due to this high number of sources found, I decided I wanted to minimise this by narrowing the search down to scholarly peer reviewed articles, academic journals and published material. The search had been adjusted to begin from 2008- 2018 as I wanted to use a more recent, up to date approach. Many of the journals found were researched from different databases such as: complementary index, socINDEX with Full text, ScienceDirect, Academic OneFile and Academic Search Elite. When choosing specific articles, I wanted within my literature review, I focused on those that were more recent and robust. Literature Review In the literature review there will be an extensive analysis of the existing literature looking at foster and child care as well as the issues which surround the frequent movement of children between various placements The aim of the study is to explore these questions with the main focus of understanding the situation for young people being fostered in the UK who are being frequently moved around from home to another. Through the various pieces of literature, which are identified within this literature review, the aim will be to provide a varied and detailed desсrіption of the reasons why this is the case and the effects this can have on their development, wellbeing and education Sempik et al. (2008) investigate the different placements, which children enter with emotional problems and the severity with which these issues impact on their wellbeing. The fact, that over half of the participants demonstrated showing emotional problems indicates that their circumstances will most likely be a large cause of their emotional issues. Ward (2009) suggests that this could be because they have not only been through traumatic circumstances, but the models of behaviour they have witnessed, have resulted in them having negative perceptions (Sempik et al., 2008). These perceptions can be changed;however, this is usually through a sustained and stable environment, which these young people would desperately need. The difficult process of joining a new household and readjusting to this change is helped by the supportive network which Children Services usually provide. Ward (2009) claims that negative perceptions, which are developed through difficult periods in a child’s life, can be difficult to change and there may be additional support needed in terms of counselling and educational assistance. The authors of this study claim that the ways, in which instability can be experienced, will often be dependent on the child’s sense of agency. Hébert et al. (2016) suggests that any definition of placement instability, which is based upon the number of different placements that they have had over their lifetime, will be incomplete without considering the psychological shifts, which occur throughout this process. These psychological shifts could refer to either cognitive or emotional changes, which have occurred in young people and, without taking these shifts into consideration, there would not be a holistic understanding of the impacts of these placements. To explore these changing psychological shifts,semi-structured interviews were conducted, where fifteen women, who spent periods of their life in various different placements, were able to describe their experience. The findings from this study revealed that the degree to which any of these young women had undergone and psychological shifts would be dependent on the amount they perceived that instability. The other aspect of this study was that their perception of instability was their sense of agency as a central factor (Hébert et al., 2016). In a paper by Coy (2009) there is a discussion about how instability within the family or foster home as well as having multiple placements is associated with poor outcomes for young people (Biehal et al., 1995; Broad, 1999). In the extreme circumstances where children are not returned to their family home after a placement with an adopted family, there are often those who will seek to find their own identity which will be more likely forged through the relations that they have to their friendship groups (Mendes and Moslehuddin, 2004). The instability can have an impact on the child’s personal situation, such as moving schools or having to change their friendship groups, which can have a long term impact on them, and cause inability to form long lasting relationships with other people. In a paper by Cashmore and Paxman (2006) they discuss not only the significance of stability within the care system, but also the longer term effects instability may have on the children who are within that system. Coy (2009) suggest that some children, who were moved around several times during their tenure as a foster child, are able to build up a certain amount of resilience to the various situations that they may have to face in the future (Coy, 2009). Alternatively, however they could have also become closed off and may not share very much with others because they have become emotionally stunted. In the study by Cashmore and Paxman (2006) they discuss the issue of stability and through a qualitative research programme they embark on finding out about their experiences within the care system. One of the main factors here was not just simply to do with the level of security they had, but also the level of perceived security. This links back to what Hébert et al. (2016) discusses in relation to how a young person can perceive the dangers around them and how this impacts their autonomy; as many in the study described that while in retrospect they were in comfortable and supportive foster placements, their perceptions at the time were very different. The participants in this study were four or five years out of the care system and the aim was to gain a greater understanding of how they have been able to cope once they left care. The main outcomes from the results were discussed by Cashmore and Paxman (2006) who claim that once many young people leave care they do not feel that they have a sense of belonging and a network within which they can gain support. This is particularly related for those who have been moved around a number of times during their care. Ultimately, the individuals, who were not subject to a number of different placements, were able to forge better connections with people and therefore, were able to establish their own networks. However, for those who were more reserved, less confident or suffering with emotional problems, found themselves out of the care system with a little support and no one to turn to. Individuals,whose traumatic experience was not properly aggressed whilst in care, were still suffering with the knock on effect which can lead them to being vulnerable. Coy (2009) conducted a study and found that the frequent changes of placements, that young people had to go through, denigrates their sense of security and self. In situations where young women had been moved around, they reported that they did not invest themselves within situations when they did not feel that they were able to have their opinion heard. This often leads to young people forging friendships with people they meet at school or within their area and these can often be very transient due to the fact they may well be moved around. This can then result in young people wishing to impress the other friends they make which can result in the getting into trouble through bad behaviours. Coy (2009) emphasises that this is something that the child care services need to take under consideration, to make sure that young people are informed at each stage and involved in the decision making process. In situations where children or young people were not involved, they ultimately become distrustful and non-responsive. Conclusion References Wildeman, C., &Waldfogel, J. (2014). Somebody′s children or nobody′s children? How the sociological perspective could enliven research on foster care?

Author: Joyce

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Do children in care find it hard to build trusting relationships due to living in multiple placements?