Foster and Adoptive Families

Foster and adoptive families are crucial because they fulfill an essential need. Right now, there are about 15,000 children in Pennsylvania’s temporary foster care. (PA Statewide Adoption and Permanency Network). This makes this family dynamic even more important. 

What are Foster and Adoptive Families?

There is a difference between the structure of these two families. Foster families help children temporarily when they have a home that is not adequate for a child. Several aspects of the family are assessed to determine suitability. Adoptive families permanently take in a child who is not their own and raise them as a biological child. These parents go through a legal process to officially adopt.

Challenges of Foster and Adoptive Families

With children, ambiguous loss often arises as a struggle faced during the transition. Some children in foster care have parents/family that are physically no longer in the child’s life, but psychologically, the child still feels their presence. This creates feelings of ambiguous loss in the child, which can come along with grief and resentment towards the foster and adoptive family. Parents are encouraged to acknowledge this loss with the child, as well as openly discuss the child’s feelings of grief and increase their human connection with support networks (Mitchell 2016).

Foster parents may also struggle with letting their foster child go if the situation does not lead to adoption (PA Statewide Adoption and Permanency Network). These children are placed in foster homes as a temporary solution to the problem, but the problem may become resolved. Children are often returning to their homes or a better situation that was worked out. Foster parents play a critical role in providing safety and security for these children in a time when their lives become difficult, which can create strong bonds, but when the time comes, these parents have to be able to let go quickly.

Kinship Caregivers

Another common structure of foster and adoptive families is kinship care. Kinship care involves grandparents or other extended family members caring for children. These caregivers can face struggles in this process, too. Feelings of shame and failure as a parent of their adult child, guilt, anger, and resentment are just a few of the challenging emotions kinship caregivers might experience in their position. 

The Child Welfare Information Gateway offers multiple articles with helpful tips and planning for kinship caregivers to have a successful foster period or adoption process.

Learn More

Both fostering and adopting children can be a challenging process for both the caregiver and the child. Being well-informed about struggles that the child may have difficulty expressing to their caregiver is always helpful. Many organizations have put out useful information and resources for caregivers in these positions. Here are a few:

• An online course for supportive strategies for foster and adoptive families through Better Kid Care at Penn State University
• A helpful resource on the way the family dynamic may change when a family who already has children adopts a child
• Information on becoming a foster or adoptive parent through PA Statewide Adoption and Permanency Network