Relationships that Last: the perspectives of care-experienced young adults on connecting and staying connected with their foster family into adulthood

Context: Enabling young people in foster care to benefit from lasting supportive relationships is a priority for child welfare services in the United Kingdom, where the majority of children in state care are fostered. For those who cannot return to birth parents, long-term foster care is intended to provide stable, continuous caring relationships that last throughout childhood into adult life – the elements of permanence expressed in UK policy. However, care leavers have highlighted the challenge of feeling isolated and having to navigate early adulthood without a strong social network (HM Government, 2016). We know that continuous relationships with caring adults matter to young people in care and are fundamental to securing better outcomes (Boddy, 2013), but how to achieve this remains something of a mystery.

Objective: This paper will report on a research project that aimed to learn about effective foster care practice from formerly fostered adults who have maintained relationships with their foster family into adulthood. From a critical best practice approach, we aimed to identify the active ingredients of these lasting relationships, and what worked well to create the conditions in which they could thrive: to uncover what is inside the black box of lasting relationships and the practices that enable relational permanence.

Method: The project was undertaken in partnership with Barnardos Fostering Northern Ireland (NI), and with a Peer Advisory Group of care experienced adults who were involved in developing the interview format and recruitment materials, and in reviewing the data to identify key messages. The project methodology involved narrative interviews with care-experienced adults (n=12) and with their former foster carers (n=22) separately. The formerly fostered adults aged between 18 and 28 years old; had been looked after in a Barnardos NI foster care placement up to or beyond their 16th birthday within the past 15 years; and continued to have a relationship with their foster family after the formal ending of the placement. Participants were asked to relate the story of their foster relationships in their own terms using a visual timeline diagram to help structure their narrative. They were also asked to complete a visual relationship map and discuss the closeness/distance of their relationship with foster carers and other important people, and to recount typical interactions to ascertain the practices that forged and sustained these relationships. A card sorting exercise ascertained the ongoing nature of practical, emotional and guidance support received from foster family or others.

Findings: Drawing on concepts of subjective and enacted permanence (Sinclair et al, 2005), this paper will describe the current nature of relationships between the care experienced adults and their foster family, and the trajectory of these relationships over time, focusing on how relationships were forged and sustained. It will report on the following key themes:
-Family ownership and belonging enabled through: 'normal' family routines; inclusion in family traditions; parity and equity; naming practices; 'home' and attachment to place; young people's choice and agency;
-Lasting relationships characterised by: family practices of communication, inclusion and help; reciprocal engagement; tenacity and endurance; empathy and respect;
-Navigating relational challenges, crisis endings and structural constraints.

Conclusion: participants weathered often turbulent relationship trajectories to sustain meaningful and mutually valued connections and a strong sense of belonging. The paper will conclude with reflections on practices that facilitated relational permanence for this sample of participants.