The feelings and coping strategies of children placed in Flemish family foster care

This article describes how 27 foster children aged 12 to 18 years old, placed in Flemish long-term family foster care, experience life in their foster family and how they cope with their feelings. Evidence from a combination of the children's selection of visual images displaying different emot...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Adoption & fostering 2022-03, Vol.46 (1), p.24-40
Main Authors: Van Holen, Frank, Van Hove, Lisa, Clé, Ann, Verheyden, Camille, Vanderfaeillie, Johan
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Anger
Children & youth
Confusion
Coping strategies
Distraction
Emotional experiences
Emotions
Families & family life
Foster care
Foster children
Friendship
Happiness
Kinship care
Natural parents
Sadness
Well being
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Summary:This article describes how 27 foster children aged 12 to 18 years old, placed in Flemish long-term family foster care, experience life in their foster family and how they cope with their feelings. Evidence from a combination of the children's selection of visual images displaying different emotions (emoticons) and semi-structured interviews shows that they mostly express positive feelings, such as happiness and pride, but simultaneously experience difficult emotions like sadness, anger and confusion. Positive feelings are mostly related to being able to feel like an ‘ordinary’ kid and negative ones to strained relationships with birth parents. Investigations into how the children cope with these emotions distinguished two groups: those who talk about their feelings with friends and other supportive figures and those who hide them. The latter group needs to be provided with strategies to better comprehend and express their feelings; among those suggested were activities that offer tranquility, consolation or distraction and having a private place for themselves. More attention to the emotional experiences of foster children and the ways they cope with their emotions is recommended in policy, practice and research if children's well-being is to be enhanced.
ISSN:0308-5759
1740-469X
DOI:10.1177/03085759221080217