An Exploratory Typology for Understanding Family-Relationship Issues in Kinship-Care Placements

Amilie Dorval (), Sonia Hélie and Marie-Andrée Poirier
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Amilie Dorval: Department of Psychoeducation and Social Work, Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières, Drummondville, QC J2C 0R5, Canada
Sonia Hélie: Institut Universitaire Jeunes en Difficulté, Montréal, QC H2L 4R5, Canada
Marie-Andrée Poirier: School of Social Work, Université de Montréal, Montréal, QC H3C 3J7, Canada

Societies, 2024, vol. 14, issue 3, 1-15

Abstract: Family relationships are a distinctive feature of kinship-care placements, but very few studies have examined how the dynamics of these relationships affect the placement experience. This article does explore these dynamics and identifies some possible patterns, as experienced and reported by parents of children placed in kinship care. The findings presented here come from a qualitative study employing a life-story methodology, in which nine parents were interviewed on two occasions each. All of them had experienced the permanent placement of at least one of their children with a member of their extended family, under the direction of a government child-protection agency. Drawing from significant themes in parental narratives, particularly that of relationships, we analyzed and delineated three distinct profiles. In the first profile, a family solidarity was present between the parents and the kinship caregivers before the placement and was maintained during the placement. In the second, the parents struggled to keep their place in their children’s lives, thus experiencing conflicts both with the kinship caregivers and with the child-protection agency. In the third profile, the dynamics of the current relationship between both biological parents influenced the other family relationships of the parent who was interviewed.

Keywords: kinship care; parents; relationship; youth protection (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: A13 A14 P P0 P1 P2 P3 P4 P5 Z1 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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