Foster Fatherhood: The Untapped Resource.
TL;DR: The authors defined and explained foster care as it relates to the foster father and his special problems, attempting to differentiate foster fatherhood from ordinary fatherhood, and to suggest important qualities of the interaction between foster fathers and their professional casework supervisors.
Abstract: Research on family roles has long neglected the father, and foster care has similarly focused on the foster mother. This paper defines and explains foster care as it relates to the foster father and his special problems, attempting to differentiate foster fatherhood from ordinary fatherhood, and to suggest important qualities of the interaction between foster fathers and their professional casework supervisors. Certain data indicate that despite the unfavorable setting, foster fathers often do take the initiative to achieve a meaningful place in the fostering situation, and they do help socialize the foster boys. Practical implications are touched upon at the conclusion.
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TL;DR: Questions about the role and experiences of men as foster carers in fostering couples are highlighted and certain policy implications arising are discussed.
Abstract: In this paper, Robbie Gilligan sets out to highlight questions about the role and experiences of men as foster carers in fostering couples.1 The sparse literature relevant to the topic is reviewed; some of the therapeutic and practical reasons for the significance of the man's role in foster care are considered; findings from a small exploratory study of male foster carers and their role are presented; and certain policy implications arising are discussed. The author has been a foster carer himself.
38 citations
Cites background from "Foster Fatherhood: The Untapped Res..."
...Davids (1973) saw foster fathers as being engaged in leisure activities and being good companions and adult models for foster boys (he makes no mention of foster girls!)....
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TL;DR: Foster parents from 18 families received parent training in child rearing skills, utilizing a combination of behavioral and reflective (feeling focused) approaches, with suggestion for building these elements into the foster care system.
Abstract: Twenty-nine foster parents from 18 families received parent training in child rearing skills, utilizing a combination of behavioral and reflective (feeling focused) approaches. Half of the foster families were trained in a traditional group training format, while the other half were trained individually in their homes. Training times and individual contact of participants with trainers were nearly equal. At the completion of the 11 week training period, these parents improved significantly in parent attitude scores and knowledge and use of behavioral principles (reflected in decreases in foster child behavior problems). However, there were relatively few differences between group trained and home trained parents on these measures. Where the groups did differ significantly was in the parents' attendance rates, ratings of child behavior improvement, and in ratings of general satisfaction with the family functioning as a result of the training; all these measures favored the home trained parents. Further, at a six-month follow-up, these relative effects maintained themselves at significantly higher levels for the home trained parents. Consequently, issues related to parental satisfaction, reinforcement, and concomitant "professionalism" are addressed, with suggestion for building these elements into the foster care system.
35 citations
TL;DR: The losses experienced by the children of foster parents are discussed, and the effects of the foster care experience on foster parents’ biological children are explored.
Abstract: This paper explores the effects of the foster care experience on foster parents’ biological children. In spite of having been accepted for over 40 years as the best form of residential care for mos...
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TL;DR: The role of the father in the family has been studied extensively in the literature, see as mentioned in this paper for an overview. But the focus of this paper is on the role of fathers in education.
Abstract: (1952). The Role of the Father in the Family. The Journal of Experimental Education: Vol. 20, No. 4, pp. 319-361.
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