How Foster Parents Continue Fostering? A Role-Taking Approach

• In Event: 090 - Regular Session. Parenthood

Abstract

Recruiting and retaining foster parents are two major issues in the study of foster care. The recruiting of foster parents deals with the problem of foster home shortages, whereas the retaining of foster parents deals with the problem of how foster parents can continue their fostering activities. In this study, I focus on retention, using the theory of roles, to examine how foster parents can be encouraged to continue fostering.
According to the theory of roles, the process by which people learn about their roles includes three stages: role expectation, role performance, and role-taking. Role expectation refers to the process by which society expects individuals to adopt certain behaviors associated with their social positions. Role performance is the actual behavior of individuals that conforms to those role expectations or norms. Finally, role-taking is the process by which individuals learn more fully about the expected behaviors associated with their roles through receiving positive and/or negative sanctions from significant others about their role performances.
The study involved qualitative interviews of 75 licensed foster parents in 51 Japanese families from 2008 to 2010. The interviewees had no biological or adoptive relationship with their foster children. The results showed that foster parents can maintain their caring activities by learning about their fostering roles in the course of receiving acknowledgment and recognition from significant others for their role performances.

Author

• Yuri Sonoi, Kwassui Women's University