Matching Process Concerning Children With Disabilities in Family Foster Care

Abstract

Children with disabilities are over-represented in foster care and exposed to more disruptions. This is unfortunate because they need long-term relationships and predictability, as well as access to special schools and health care. Disruption can be the result of a poor match between the child and the foster family. In this article, we focus on the matching process in relation to children with disabilities. Zeijlmans et al. describe matching as the process by which social workers move from principles of good matching to realistic matching, depending on existing premises. Using their model, we analyse the matching process for children with disabilities in Sweden. The study is based on 31 individual interviews and six group interviews with social workers and social work managers. They describe how they take into account the family climate, family composition and prior knowledge and/or experience of disability in the foster home. However, disruptions occur even when these conditions are met. Stable placements seem to be more related to the fostered child's progress when the family's efforts are rewarded. We also address the complex issue of what disability actually means in the context of foster care, given the interrelatedness of trauma, maltreatment and impairment.