IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/cysrev/v71y2016icp2-9.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

‘To talk or not to talk?’: Foster youth's experiences of sharing stories about their past and being in foster care

Author

Listed:
  • Steenbakkers, Anne
  • van der Steen, Steffie
  • Grietens, Hans

Abstract

Sharing stories about the past and about being in care, can help adolescents placed in foster families to make meaning of their experiences and connect with their conversation partner. However, what obstacles and opportunities for sharing stories are experienced by foster youth has not been researched, while this holds important implications for research and practice. In an episodic interview, thirteen adolescents and young adults (16–23years) talked about their experiences with sharing their memories about their past and being in foster care. Using a thematic analysis, two themes were constructed, each containing three sub-themes. The theme ‘When’ included references to the prerequisites for talking and considerations made by participants, and contained the sub-themes ‘How often do I talk’, ‘Conditions’ and ‘Ownership of my story’. The theme ‘Why’ included references to the rationales for sharing or not sharing memories, which contained the sub-themes ‘Protection’, ‘Understanding’ and ‘Processing the past’. The stories of the participants highlight both the opportunities and obstacles for talking. Foster parents and foster care workers should be aware of the needs foster youth have with regard to conversations about their experiences and should try to facilitate the meaning-making processes, although some foster youth prefer managing their memories in a more private way.

Suggested Citation

  • Steenbakkers, Anne & van der Steen, Steffie & Grietens, Hans, 2016. "‘To talk or not to talk?’: Foster youth's experiences of sharing stories about their past and being in foster care," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 71(C), pages 2-9.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:cysrev:v:71:y:2016:i:c:p:2-9
    DOI: 10.1016/j.childyouth.2016.10.008
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0190740916303310
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.childyouth.2016.10.008?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Watson, Debbie L. & Latter, Sandra & Bellew, Rebecca, 2015. "Adopted children and young people's views on their life storybooks: The role of narrative in the formation of identities," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 90-98.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Steenbakkers, Anne & van der Steen, Steffie & Grietens, Hans, 2019. "How do youth in foster care view the impact of traumatic experiences?," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 103(C), pages 42-50.
    2. Haight, Wendy & Cho, Minhae & Soffer-Elnekave, Ruth & Nashandi, Ndilimeke J.C. & Suleiman, Johara, 2022. "Moral injury experienced by emerging adults with child welfare histories in developmental and sociocultural contexts: “I knew the system was broken.”," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 139(C).
    3. Miller, Rebecca & Blakeslee, Jennifer & Ison, Chanel, 2020. "Exploring college student identity among young people with foster care histories and mental health challenges," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 114(C).
    4. Van Holen, Frank & Clé, Ann & West, Delphine & Gypen, Laura & Vanderfaeillie, Johan, 2020. "Family bonds of foster children. A qualitative research regarding the experience of foster children in long-term foster care," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 119(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Kontomichalos-Eyre, Soula A. & Lake, Amelia J. & McGillivray, Jane A., 2023. "Life story work for children and youth in out of home care: A systematic review and synthesis of qualitative studies," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 144(C).
    2. Mary V Seeman, 2020. "Similar psychosis risks in adoptees and immigrants," International Journal of Social Psychiatry, , vol. 66(3), pages 292-299, May.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:cysrev:v:71:y:2016:i:c:p:2-9. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/childyouth .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.