Fostering a sense of belonging: The role of family terminology and discourse for individuals involved in non-kinship foster care

ABSTRACTThis study examines how fostered individuals, foster carers, bio-legal children of foster carers and birth parents use discourse to construct and maintain family identity and what may influence this use. Focus group and interview data show how family terminology may create a sense of family, affirm and strengthen ties, erase distinctions, promote inclusion and conformity and protect, refute and explain ties to in- and outsiders. Family terminology use is dynamic and can be influenced by (conflicting) beliefs about who is entitled to these terms and the difficulty of sharing terms. Stakeholders showed many commonalities. Practice and research implications are discussed.KEYWORDS: family terminologydiscourse dependencyfamily identityfoster careout of home care AcknowledgmentsThe authors would like to thank the directors and employees of all Flemish foster care agencies for their assistance in disseminating our call and recruiting participants. Special thanks to foster care workers Let Moustie, Anja Dekeyser, Anja Janssens and Ann Van de Vel of Pleegzorg Provincie Antwerpen and Pleegzorg Limburg for their support and insights throughout the project and to all participants for sharing their experiences.Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.Data availability statementThe participants of this study did not give written consent for their data to be shared publicly, so due to the sensitive nature of the research supporting data is not available.Notes1. The term bio-legal children of foster carers refers to both the biological and legal (e.g., adoptive) children of foster carers.2. The term non-kinship foster care refers to the formal placement of children with unrelated and previously unknown foster carers. For the remainder of this article, we will abbreviate it as “foster care.”3. CFC refers to both current and former children in foster care.4. This is written out heteronormatively, foster carers in same-sex relationships used conjugations of these words.Additional informationFundingThis study received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.Notes on contributorsLara WullemanLara Wulleman is a PhD researcher at the University of Leuven, Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences. She has a background in Applied Psychology and Gender and Diversity studies. Her research focuses on the concept of family and belonging in foster care.Hans GrietensHans Grietens is a Professor at the University of Leuven, Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences. His research focuses on child welfare, child abuse and neglect, trauma in children and the experiences of children and youth in care.Ilse NoensIlse Noens is a Professor at the University of Leuven, Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences and coordinator of Leuven Autism Research (LAuRes). Her research focuses on neurodiversity, ethics of early detection and intervention for autism and participatory research.Nicole VliegenNicole Vliegen is a Professor at the University of Leuven, Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences and director of the Psychodynamic Child Psychotherapy Training of the KU Leuven. Her research focuses on adoption, early complex trauma, parenting and depression.