Foster care for unaccompanied refugee children:assessment and evaluation of child and fostering factors, cultural matching and placement success based on the perspectives of children, their foster carers and guardians

The aim of the study was to evaluate foster placements of unaccompanied refugee children based on the child’s, the foster carers’ and guardians’ perspectives. We aimed to gain insight into placement success and related child and fostering factors, as well as development of these factors within one year. Special attention was paid to 'cultural matching', whereby children are placed with foster carers with a similar cultural background as the children.Overall, we can conclude that children, their foster carers and guardians are positive about the success of their foster placements. The quality of the relationship between the child and carers had an almost one-to-one relationship with placement success. Cultural similarity with carers appears to be important for the child’s placement success, especially in the early stages of their stay; for carers and guardians this was less important. In addition, the absence of behavioral problems and presence of pro-social behavior in the child is positively associated with placement success for carers and children resp., while for guardians the quality of the caregiving environment counts most. Children and carers or guardians disagree more on the success of the placement when they disagree on the quality of the caregiving environment, the child’s conduct and emotional problems, and the quality of the child-carer and child-guardian relationship. Most placements in which children stayed in the same foster family over the one-year timeframe of the study remained relatively stable in terms of child and fostering factors, with an important exception: according to the carers, there often is an increase in the child’s social-emotional problems

Cultural matching factors, child factors, and fostering factors associated with successful foster placement:An explorative study into the perspectives of unaccompanied refugee children, their foster carers and guardians

This paper presents findings from the baseline measurement of a longitudinal Dutch study focusing on cultural matching, child and fostering factors associated with the success of foster placements of unaccompanied refugee children. We assessed the placement from the perspectives of the children, their foster carers and their guardians. The children (n = 39) and their carers (n = 37) were visited at their homes, where they completed several questionnaires (e.g., SDQ, BIC, SLE, RATS, AHIMSA and questionnaires measuring bio/demographic variables, placement success and characteristics of the placement, including cultural characteristics). The guardians (n = 37) were asked to complete a digital questionnaire. The success of the placement was analysed using logistic regression models. The quality of the relationship between child and foster carer(s) exhibited an almost one-to-one relationship with ‘placement success’, for both the child model and the foster carer model. This means that one could also investigate the quality of the relationship between the child and carer to determine placement success. The regression analyses showed that, for children, cultural similarity between a child and their carers was of great importance. However, for foster carers and guardians, cultural similarity was less related to placement success. In addition, a higher score on prosocial behaviour by the child (SDQ self-report) was associated with more positive outcomes regarding placement success (child model). For foster carers, children’s externalizing behaviour (SDQ) was negatively correlated with the success of the placement (foster carer model). For guardians, a higher score on the quality of the caregiving environment (BIC-G) was associated with placement success (guardian model). Implications for research and practice are also discussed

Foster care for unaccompanied refugee children in the Netherlands; what about the placement success?

There is hardly any knowledge on the outcomes of foster placements of unaccompanied refugee children. Especially, knowledge on the stability of foster placements for unaccompanied refugee children is lacking. Because placements in regular foster care change and develop over time, including the occurrence of placement breakdowns, the need for a study focusing on the stability of foster placements for unaccompanied refugee children is indicated. This study explores the association between the success of foster placements for unaccompanied refugee children and cultural, child and fostering factors, and examines the stability of these factors over time

‘It can never be as perfect as home’:An explorative study into the fostering experiences of unaccompanied refugee children, their foster carers and social workers

Research shows that highly supportive living arrangements, such as foster care, can provide an environment that meets the needs of unaccompanied children (i.e. fewer internalizing problems, higher quality of the child-rearing environment). However, there is limited research into the experiences of these children in (cultural) foster care. The aim of this study is to explore the experiences of former unaccompanied refugee children and unaccompanied refugee children, their carers and social workers with regard to the foster placement. This cross-sectional qualitative study combined semi-structured interviews with questionnaires. In general, participants were satisfied with the foster placement. However, some children also reported negative experiences during their foster placement or felt somewhat uncomfortable, but they still rated the placement as successful. Children and carers valued the cultural similarity of the foster placement. Former unaccompanied children appreciated cultural similarity less. Overall, participants valued similarity of language the most. Several children did not feel at home in their foster placement. In most foster families, the pedagogical climate offered to children seemed adequate

Perspectives of unaccompanied refugee children, their foster carers and guardians on placement success:Which factors predict multi-informant discrepancies?

This study examined multi-informant discrepancies (between child, carer, and guardian perspectives) regarding placement success of 39 foster placements, as well as possible factors associated with these discrepancies. We also examined whether these discrepancies in placement success at baseline measurement (T0) are related to placement breakdown at second measurement (T1). The results showed that when placements are rated with a high average placement success score (looking at child-carer and child-guardian dyads), the child and carer, as well as the child and guardian generally agree on the success of the foster placement, showing low discrepancy. In contrast, placements with a low average score on placement success show large discrepancies between the perspectives, which may also lead to breakdown. Results of the multilevel analyses showed that discrepancies regarding placement success were mainly associated with differences in perspectives regarding fostering factors (i.e., quality of the caregiving environment, child-carer and child-guardian relationship) and child factors (i.e., conduct problems, emotional problems). The results indicate that children and their carers or guardians disagree more on the success of the placement if they disagree on the quality of the caregiving environment, the child's conduct and emotional problems, and the quality of the child-carer and child-guardian relationship. The outcomes of our study might be especially helpful for guardians in shaping their guidance practices