Roots and routes: navigating family identities and relationships in non-kinship care

The placement of a child into a foster family alters and redefines existing family structures, having profound implications on the sense of family belonging of various stakeholders. However, studies on family perspectives in foster care often focus on only one or two specific groups, frequently overlooking the insights of children of foster parents and parents. Addressing this gap, our study takes a holistic approach by exploring how (former) foster children (n = 5); parents (n = 4); foster parents (n = 10); children of (former) foster parents (n = 4) and foster care workers (n = 4) in Flanders (Belgium) understand family and how they articulate family relationships and the tensions and complexities that may arise in navigating these relationships in non-kinship care. All were involved in a placement for at least two years. Focus groups and semi-structured interviews were conducted and analyzed using reflexive thematic analysis and relational dialectics theory. Five dialectics were identified in the narratives of participants: family members and non-family members; family belonging and family ambiguity; equal treatment and differential parenting; in the best interest of the child and in the best interest of all children; and imposing and nurturing bonds. The study concludes with a discussion of the implications of these findings for research and practice, highlighting in particular the urgent need for a more inclusive and equitable foster care system that pays attention to the often marginalized voices of parents and children of foster parents.