Relationships to Self, Baby, Others, and System: A Narrative Analysis of the Transition to Parenthood for Young Mothers in Foster Care

Research on young mothers in foster care focuses on the risks associated with pregnancy and parenting among these youth, with less attention paid to the contexts in which they parent. This narrative study examines how young mothers’ identities, parenting experiences, and parenting decisions are deve...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Child & adolescent social work journal 2022-12, Vol.39 (6), p.711-734
Main Author: Ethier, Kristen L.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescent mothers
Behavioral Science and Psychology
Child Rearing
Child welfare
Clinical Psychology
Family roles
Fathers
Foster care
Foster children
Friendship
Infants
Interpersonal relations
Interpersonal Relationship
Interviews
Maternal and infant welfare
Mothers
Narratives
Parent Child Relationship
Parent-child relations
Parents & parenting
Personality and Social Psychology
Pregnancy
Psychology
Sociology
Trauma
Young mothers
Youth
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Summary:Research on young mothers in foster care focuses on the risks associated with pregnancy and parenting among these youth, with less attention paid to the contexts in which they parent. This narrative study examines how young mothers’ identities, parenting experiences, and parenting decisions are developed in several relational contexts. The analysis explores how relationships to self, to baby, to families of origin and friends, to their baby’s father, and to the child welfare system shape the transition to motherhood for young mothers in foster care in Illinois. Findings are the result of narrative analysis of data from a total of 40 in-depth interviews with 29 young mothers (N = 29 first interviews; N = 11 s interviews). Young mothers’ interpersonal relationships and child welfare system involvement both support and constrain their thriving as new mothers. This study makes a significant contribution to the research on pregnant and parenting youth in foster care, with major implications for trauma-informed child welfare practice, identifying appropriate resources and services for these young parents and their children, supporting both parent-child relationships and co-parenting relationships, and for future directions of scholarship on this population.
ISSN:0738-0151
1573-2797
DOI:10.1007/s10560-022-00846-4