Click to edit Master title style,Click to edit Master text styles,Second level,Third level,Fourth level,Fifth level,*,*,Contact Kinship and a Fifth Province Systemic Perspective,Dr Valerie OBrien,Paper presented to International Foster Care Conference,Dublin,2021,Contact and Kinship Care,Understanding dynamics,Working clinically with the dynamics involved and,Facilitating inclusive contact decision making in the kinship network.,Outline of the workshop,Contact in Irish context,Conceptual frameworks,Overview of issues,Contact in the networks in kinship care,Understanding dynamics,Working clinically,Facilitating inclusive contact,Three main questions re contact,Who owns the child?,Who has a right to make decisions?,Who is in control?,Where on the paternalistic childrens right paradigm are these questions located?,Irish context,Constitution protection of family,Family based on marriage,Permanence different trajectory,Development of services slow er:economic,Contact integral to care plan,Legal rights to apply for contact,Basis for planning unclear contact unclear,Key Developments in Ireland,!991 Act:Explicit reference,1995:Regulations specify contact,2003 Standards:Major development,specified training and cooperation of FC,IFCA:provided training programme,Prospective FC:contact remains concern,Contact in Irish Practice,Law in place but no reference to promotion of it(unlike UK),Standards in place but no national guidance,Huge time inputs,limited evaluation(Gallagher 1995),Logistics driven but basis planning unclear,Limited research on kinship and contact(OBrien 1997,1999),Classification Contact Model,Rehabilitation model,:return to parents,Continuity model:,emotional benefits central:BP /FC core,Disruption,:Disruptive to stability,No direct link between disruption,Emotional costs,Deterrence:,deterrent to foster carers,Goldstein 1973 formed barrier to attachment,Triseliotis 1995 stated incorporation of family needed stabiltiy,Roly 1994:influenced by Fox Harding 1991,Shift Towards Contact Forerunner to Kinship Care,Crucial child self identity/development(Fanshel Milham et al 86),Regular contact indicator of reunification,Parental barriers(DHSS 85),Despite positive evidence:logistical barriers(Thoburn1988),Barriers multi dimensional(Lindsay 96,Argent 96),Alternative view of Contact,Quinton et al(1997)asserted that the majority of studies that emphasised encouraging parental contact in permanent placements,were simply social experiments rather than based on EBP.,What about your experiences of disadvantage?,Research on Kinship and Contact,Limited contact with both sides of family(Race and culture?),Contact more easily organised within family,Caution of unsupervised contact,Relatives need more support(Laws 2001,Richards 2001)yet not asked for(Hunt 2021),Problematic contact common develops over time(Hunt et al 2021)Passive/hostile,Themes in Contact:Ambivalence,Competence and incompetence,Loyalty and disloyalty,Affection and anger,Control and controlled,Love and annoyance/dislike,Others,Children and Contact,Comfortable discussing contact,Reinforced importance contact sibs/parents:pain of let down,Childrens sense of time not seeing them for ages,Ease:is this reflective of greater identity integration,See the strain:ambivalence,Impact on Network:Children,Closeness,Helps to see parents.,Easier to see parents when you are fostered with relatives.,Access not unduly controlled by relatives or agency.,Childrens views,It is hard,Gran gets uptight when the time comes but then once she is here,it is all right between them you know(aged 11),I like it when she comes and we go to the park,and we have a lot of fun(aged 8),He was walking up and down with a poster saying my auntie&uncle were stealing me,and it was not true(aged 9 years),Childrens views continued,I am cross when she brings me a present which is a boy toy(aged 9),I know she is sick but she can be so embarrasing(Child aged 11),I got into a row because the other kids said the social were in charge and I told them I see my mammy a lot so they are not in charge(Aged 10),Childrens Views:Distance,If I dont want to see them,why wont they listen,No one has the right to stop me seeing my parents,I do not see my brothers and sisters often enough.(childs sense of time),I am angry and upset with my mother when she does not turn up to see me as planned.,Annoyance&Anger,I will be able to do my own thing and not have anyone saying you are seeing her tomorrow or seeing her the week after next.I will be able to drop into her when I want.,I,:It is very sad and all that,if we do not see her in ages,we dont,feel sorry for her,and if she has her access she can come.Any time we go with the social worker to see our mammy,she never turns up.(Girl 13 years),Birth Parents Views,Limited to high conflict(limited did not see child as in care),Themes of competence/incompetence,Risk/protection,Power/powerlessness,Expected relative care to be less difficult re contact,Not understood and limited insigh