Foster mothers' reports on the behaviors, experiences and the adjustment to foster care of native and white children living in white foster homes
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Date
1990
Authors
Proulx, Jocelyn B.
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Abstract
This study examined the behaviors, emotions and experiences of native and white foster children living in white foster homes as perceived by their foster mothers. Several factors associated with adjustment to foster care, as suggested by the literature, were of interest. These factors were represented in five major hypotheses: (1) native foster children were placed in care due to neglect, abuse, and abandonment more often than white children, whereas white children were placed in care due to behavior problems more often than native children; (2) there would be less contact with parents and family for native foster children than for white foster children; (3) increased contact with parents and family would lead to a decrease in integration into the foster family; (4) native foster children would have poorer marks in school than white foster children, and (5) native foster children would have greater problems with identiy formation than would white foster children. Of secondary interest were: the effect of ethnicity on the number of foster homes the child had been in, integration into the foster family, the capacity to relate to others, and behavior and emotional problems; the effects that reason for placement and the age of the child entered the foster home had on contact with parents and family, and integration into the foster family; the effect that contact with parents and family had on school performance, the capacity to relate to others, identity formation, and behavior and emotional problems, and the effect that the child's integration into the foster family had on identity formation, and behavior and emotional problems. Subjects were the foster mothers of native and white foster children, 13 years or older. The multivariate procedures of CATMOD, MANOVA, and CANCOR were used to analyze the hypotheses. The first, second, fourth, and fifth hypotheses were not supported, revealing a general lack of perceived differences between native and white foster children on various aspects of adjustment to care. The third hypothesis was also not supported, suggesting there is no relationship between the child's contact with parents and family and his/her integration into the foster family.