The emotional terrain of foster and kinship carers’ relationships with parents of children in care: Carers’ perspectives

Children in foster and kinship care have a right to relationships with their parents. The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) asserts children’s right to contact with their parents and families during periods of separation, except where this is proven not to be in the child’s best interests. Foster and kinship carers can play a pivotal role in children’s opportunities for, and experiences of, connection to parents and other family. Yet, the relationship between carers and parents is often characterised by ambivalence and tensions. Emerging research suggests that training and support to carers can help them to navigate their own and children’s relationships with their families. However, such support is not routinely available, and the evidence-base for supporting carers to manage complex relationships with parents is not well-developed. In this paper, we report on a study with 113 foster and kinship carers in Queensland (Australia). We explore carers’ perceptions of the emotional aspects of their relationships with parents. A novel feature of our study is our exploration of carers’ perceptions of affiliative and threat-based emotions in their relationships with birth parents. We report that carers experience a wide spectrum of emotions in their relationships with parents, some of which strengthen these relationships while others create distance. We find also that carers receive little, if any, formal support in building relationships with parents and for supporting children’s opportunities for, and experiences of family contact. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander carers report being unsupported in meeting their cultural obligations in developing relationships with children’s parents and families. We discuss the implications for formal support to improve carers capacities to build and maintain their own, and children’s, relationships with parents.