Kurian JOSE, Benil HAFEEQ, Sheeba MUMTAZ, P.j. ANJALİ, N.a. UVAİS

FOSTER PARENT’S MOTIVATIONS REGARDING FOSTER CARE: A CROSS-SECTIONAL STUDY FROM SOUTH INDIA

Institutionalized children’s foster care is getting more momentum in India recently. Perceptions and motivations regarding foster care among foster parents are an area unexplored and the current study is indeed an attempt to look into it. Initial assessment of the sample population was done at home and their socio-demographic data was collected. After taking informed consent, the participants were given an open ended question, what motivated you to apply for foster care? to answer in detail in writing. Qualitative content analysis, a process designed to condense raw data into categories or themes based on valid inference and interpretation was used to analyse the data. The sample population consisted of 36 foster parents. The mean age of husband was 51.66 ± 6.58, mean age of wife was 44.83 ± 5.64 and average number of children in the family was 1.58 ± 1.02. Analysis of sociodemographic variables showed that out of 36 foster parents, 21 was belonging to Hindu religion, 8 belonging to Islamic religion and 7 belonging to Christian religion. Most of them belongs to upper middle class and resides in semi urban regions of Kozhikode district. The major motivational themes came out in the qualitative interview were altruism, deprivation, social response, sympathy, empathy, religious beliefs, prestige of the family and a way of meeting parental needs. The present study explored motivations regarding foster care among foster parents. The study found altruism as the most important factor

Keywords:

Foster care, perceptions, motivations, foster parent,

PDF

___

De Maeyer, S., Vanderfaeillie, J., Vanschoonlandt, F., Robberechts, M., Van Holen, F. (2014). Motivation for Foster Care. Children and Youth Services Review, 36,143–149.
Tyebjee, T. (2003). Attitude, interest and motivation for adoption and foster care. Child Welfare, 82,685–706.
Broady, T., Stoyles, G., McMullan, K., Caputi, P., Crittenden, N. (2010). The experiment of foster care. Journal of Child and Family Studies,19,559–571.
Rodger, S., Cummings, A., Leschied, A. (2006). Who is caring for our most vulnerable children? The motivation to foster in child welfare. Child Abuse and Neglect,30,1129–1142.
Zhang, Y. & Wildemuth, B.M. (2005). Qualitative analysis of content. Analysis, 1(2), 1-12.
Ramirez, A. (2001). Understanding your motivation as a foster parent. Jordan Institute of families, 2,1.
Borratta, E.F. & Montgomery, R.J.V. (2000). Encyclopedia of Sociology (2nd ed ). Pp. 1394. New York , Macmillan, p.144.
Cox, M.E., Orme, J.G., Rhodes, K.W. (2003). Willingness to foster children with emotional or behavioral problems. Journal of Social Service Research, 29(4),23– 51.
Rhodes, K., Cox, E., Orme, J., Coakley, T. (2006). Foster parents’ reason for fostering and foster family utilization. Journal of Sociology and Social Welfare, 33,105–126.
Cole, S.A. (2005). Foster caregiver motivation and infant attachment: How do reasons for fostering affect relationships. Child and Adolescent Social Work Journal, 22,441–457.
Batson, C.D. (1990). How social an animal? The human capacity for caring. American Psychologist, 45, 336-346.
Batson, C.D. (1991). The altruism question: Toward a social psychological answer. Hillsdale, NJ, Erlbaum.
Rosenhan, D. (1978). Toward resolving the altruism paradox: affect, self- reinforcement, and cognition. In: Wispe, L. (Eds. ) Altruism, sympathy, and helping: psychological and sociological principles. New York: Academic Press, 101-113.
.Upshaw, M.B., Kaiser, C.R, Sommerville, J.A. (2015). Parent’s empathic perspective taking and altruistic behavior predicts infants’ arousal to others emotions. Front Psychol, 6,360.
MacDonald, G & Leary, M.R. (2005). Why does social exclusion hurt? The relationship between social and physical pain. Psychological Bulletin, 131,202-223.
Rushton, J.P., Fulker, D.W., Neale, M.C., Nias, D.K.B., Eysenck, H.J. (1989). Ageing and the relation of aggression, altruism and assertiveness scale t o t h e Eysenck personality Questionnaire. Personality and Individual Difference,10(2), 261-263.
Einolf, C.J. (2011). The link between religion and helping others: the role of values, ideas, and language. Sociology of religion,72 (4),435-455.
Amato, P.R. (1993). Urban-rural differences in helping friends and family members. Social psychology Quaterly, 56 (4), 249.