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- Hedin, Lena, 1951-
(författare)
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A sense of belonging in a changeable everyday life : a follow-up study of young people in kinship, network, and traditional foster families
- 2014
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Ingår i: Child & Family Social Work. - : Wiley-Blackwell. - 1356-7500 .- 1365-2206. ; 19:2, s. 165-173
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This in-depth follow-up study of 15 foster youth shows the importance of an ‘open foster family’, open to letting the foster youth into the family life and to cooperating with the adolescent's birth family. Previous findings about the importance of negotiations, mutual rituals, and having fun together in foster families for the creation of social bonds and belonging are strengthened in the follow-up interview. A lack of these mutual practices is observed prior to disruptions. Most adolescents still living with the same foster family feel a sense of belonging to both their foster and birth families, especially when both families cooperate. This is most evident in kinship families. Over time, adolescents in traditional foster families have also strengthened their social bonds to the foster family, which makes the difference to youth in network foster families less pronounced than in the previous study. Despite life changes, above all changing schools and peers, most adolescents reveal personal agency by still coping with their situation. However, therapeutic support is now more common than 1 year ago, for girls in particular. Methods used are interviews, network maps and text responses (‘beepers’).
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- Hedin, Lena, 1951-
(författare)
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Good relations between foster parents and birth parents : a Swedish study of practices promoting successful cooperation in everyday life
- 2015
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Ingår i: Child Care in Practice. - : Informa UK Limited. - 1357-5279 .- 1476-489X. ; 21:2, s. 177-191
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The importance for foster children’s well-being of good relations between foster parents and birth parents is a common topic of research. This article aims to contribute to an understanding of how co-parenting by foster parents and birth parents works in everyday life, from both parties’ perspectives, whether or not they knew each other previously. The 10 studied cases, comprising altogether 19 interviews, concern teenage placements and are almost equally divided between kinship, network, and traditional foster families. This article claims that for co-parenting to be possible it is of vital importance to have an "open foster family", one that is open and welcoming toward the birth parents. Such openness includes the provision of regular information to the birth parents about the everyday life of their child, mutual planning of the child’s situation, and, most beneficially, invitations for face-to-face encounters between youth, foster parents, and birth parents. Both parties’ mutual engagement with the foster youth serves as the foundation of the cooperation. The service and support that social workers can offer in this process is important. Due to similarities between the family cultures, cooperation is facilitated in kinship foster families.
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- Hedin, Lena, 1951-, et al.
(författare)
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Jokes and routines make everyday life a good life - on "doing family" for young people in foster care in Sweden
- 2012
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Ingår i: European Journal of Social Work. - : Informa UK Limited. - 1369-1457 .- 1468-2664. ; 15:5, s. 613-628
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The aim of this article is to identify inclusion practices in foster families by studying the everyday life of young people entering various types of foster family. Structure and warmth in the family stand out as important dimensions of everyday life. What is not so evident in previous research is the way emotional ‘warmth’ is created. In particular, joking, gentle teasing and laughing, which in this paper stand out as important inclusion practices, seem to be rather unknown aspects in foster care, as is the importance of doing things together in everyday life. The young people's contributions in creating a good family atmosphere are visible in the study, as is their capacity to adapt to a new family. Daily routines normalise the adolescents' everyday life. Negotiations make them part of important decisions, and may strengthen them as social agents. Foster parents' positive attitude towards birth family facilitates birth parents' support to their children. In this case study, mixed qualitative methods are used: interviews, network maps, ‘beepers’ and video recordings in the foster home.
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- Hedin, Lena, 1951-
(författare)
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Support and challenges in the process of leaving care : A Swedish qualitative follow-up study of foster youths' lived exeriences
- 2017
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Ingår i: Qualitative Social Work. - : Sage Publications. - 1473-3250 .- 1741-3117. ; 16:4, s. 500-514
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This in-depth follow-up study presents some foster youths' lived experiences from when they were teens in a new foster family through the process of leaving care. Their transition to adulthood was delayed because of disturbances in their school situation; however, as adults they took advantage of the possibility to study. The narratives reveale the crucial importance of social workers, and what is needed to make their relations with youth trustful. Even though there were placement breakdowns along the way, in retrospect they all see the benefits of their foster family: as a steady base when needed or just as a construction of a 'good family' that they keep in mind. Most striking is the young people's agency in overcoming challenges and obstacles, which led to increased maturity and self-confidence, though it depended on having some kind of security in their social situation. Facebook plays a vital role in keeping relationships alive, which is especially important for those without a secure base in their family or peer group. It appears that their striving for independence is intertwined with a need for interdependence on the way to adulthood, with varying emphasis over time. Mixed qualitative methods were used: interviews, network maps and The Expereince Sampling Method.
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