With fostering, the role played by specialists is key to the success of the whole process, although there are no magic formulas, pointed out psychologist José Ramon Ubieto. "Specialist teams offer themselves up as the ideal liaisons for the foster parents and the foster children". With the parents, their many tasks involve "dealing with the guilt and anxiety that always come into play" and "assuring them that fostering does not call for ideal or perfect parents, but caring people who can take responsibility for their actions and the consequences these entail".
For her part, Beronika Gómez, who is not only a UOC Bachelor's Degree in Social Education course instructor but also coordinator of the Family Care Centre and a psychologist with the Intress International Adoptions service, highlighted that in studies to assess foster families, "exploring motivation as a premonitory sign of the fostering's success" is key.
In addition, the fostered child or adolescent's history needs to be taken into account. Separation from the biological family causes "effects that we need to be aware of and work on, because they will end up appearing when the child is fostered by a family or goes into a care home", commented UOC Bachelor's Degree in Social Education course instructor and social educator with the Drecera fostering service, Francesc Frigola.
"Our role as professionals is to help the children and the families to develop the resources that favour the establishment of a safe and protective bond", explained Jordi Solé, a professor with the UOC Faculty of Psychology and Education Sciences. "With foster families, there has to be a task of real acceptance of the fostered child, of offering mentoring that enables a smooth transition so they can create their own 'family story', while creating the right conditions for educating the child". Despite the important role that specialists have, "success is never assured", Solé commented.
Once the child is fostered, the professional monitoring work "has a dual role", Solé noted. "In the first place, it checks to ensure that the child is fostered according to a minimum set of required conditions, reporting to the competent public body, which is their legal guardian. Besides this, there is a role of expert support and advice, both with the family and with the child". In any event, the aim is to "offer a place of support that is in touch with families and to which they can turn when necessary", the professor explained, who has worked in a child and adolescent care team in the Catalan child protective services system.
Whether they are family members or strangers, foster families are "the priority protective measure concerning children and adolescents who have been separated from their parents or legal guardians. Consequently, it is important to analyse the most common symptoms that appear in foster families to guide the therapeutic and socio-educational work that needs to be done with them", concluded Solé, who is also coordinator of the UOC Social Education Laboratory research group.
Colloquium on fostering, in Salt
On Friday 15 November, at 7:30 pm, the UOC centre in Salt (Girona) will bring together professionals in the social and educational fields (social educators, psychologists, educators, etc), who will discuss this protective measure. During the colloquium, issues such as new family roles, supply and demand of fostering, the meeting between children and their foster families, family registration, separation, etc will be tackled. Also under debate will be the more critical aspects when mentoring foster families and children, with emphasis on the differences between fostering in the extended family and fostering in an external family in the protective services system.
Taking part in the colloquium will be UOC Faculty of Psychology and Education Sciences professors Jordi Solé, Beronika Gómez (who is also coordinator of the Family Care Centre and psychologist with the Intress International Adoptions service), and Francesc Frigola (who is also a social educator with the Drecera fostering service). Their analysis of the subject is also available in the book Familias de acogida. Respuestas al desamparo (Ned Ediciones).
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