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Inner world of foster care : an in-depth exploration.

Rees, Alyson. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2363-4965 2009. Inner world of foster care : an in-depth exploration. PhD Thesis, Cardiff University.

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Abstract

This thesis presents a qualitative case study of successful fostering in Wales. The study examines the social worlds of ten foster families from across Wales and undertakes an in-depth analysis of what helps to promote success in fostering. The families occupy three differing contexts comprising local authority fostering, independent agency fostering and local authority fostering but receiving specialist support from a voluntary agency. The study has aimed to involve all the participants within the foster family: the carers, the foster children, the birth children and, where appropriate, adult birth children who no longer live at home but continue to provide support and care to the foster family. The thesis addresses key issues such as the motivation to foster, and the every day world of caring, food, the body, space and time, and children. The data are discussed in relation to a number of theoretical and conceptual frameworks, including critical engagements with relationality, intimacy and the sociology of the family. I have attempted to reflect faithfully the agency and the voice of children who participated in this research. In so doing, I have particularly focused on the nature of care in the context of the embodied encounter with the physical and emotional world and to reveal this world from their perspective, and from the adults and significant others who provide foster care. Throughout this thesis I refer to children and young people interchangeably. I do this to avoid repetition. However, where age-relevant distinctions need to be made, I make clear my categorisation of child or young person.

Item Type: Thesis (PhD)
Status: Unpublished
Schools: Social Sciences (Includes Criminology and Education)
Subjects: H Social Sciences > HM Sociology
H Social Sciences > HQ The family. Marriage. Woman
ISBN: 9781303197116
Date of First Compliant Deposit: 30 March 2016
Last Modified: 25 Oct 2022 08:44
URI: https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/54522

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