Voices From the System: A Qualitative Study of Foster Children's Stories

This project qualitatively analyzed the stories that 23 preadolescent foster children told about their lives. An ecological framework in conjunction with the social constructionist understanding of stories guided the ethnographic semistructured interviews. These stories contained both common and uni...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Family relations 2003-07, Vol.52 (3), p.288-295
Main Authors: Whiting, Jason B., Lee, Robert E.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
African Americans
Child abuse & neglect
Child care
Child Development
Child welfare
Childrens Attitudes
Constructivism (Learning)
Cultural Influences
Early Adolescents
ecology
Emotions
Environmental Influences
Ethnography
Ethnology
Families & family life
Family (Sociological Unit)
Foster care
Foster Children
Foster home care
Foster parents
Interviews
Mothers
narratives
Parents
perceptions
Preadolescents
Qualitative research
Semi Structured Interviews
Siblings
Social Constructivism
story
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Summary:This project qualitatively analyzed the stories that 23 preadolescent foster children told about their lives. An ecological framework in conjunction with the social constructionist understanding of stories guided the ethnographic semistructured interviews. These stories contained both common and unique features and provided insight into the lives of foster children whose environments involved poverty, drugs, crime, violence, and racism. Research domains included confusion, social ambivalence, anger, loss, and aids to resiliency. This study highlights the importance of these stories for the children who create them and those who will work with them.
ISSN:0197-6664
1741-3729
0197-6664
DOI:10.1111/j.1741-3729.2003.00288.x