Australian foster carers' negotiations of intimacy with agency workers, birth families and children
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Date
2014-05-29
Authors
Riggs, Damien Wayne
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Policy Press
Rights
Copyright (2014) Policy Press.
Rights Holder
Policy Press.
Abstract
This article seeks to examine what are argued to be a particular set of non-normative relationships between Australian foster carers, the children in their care, the children’s birth parents, and agency workers who act as legal guardians for children who are removed from their birth parents. Eighty-five Australian foster carers participated in interviews on the topic of foster family life. Coding of responses to questions related to agency workers, abuse allegations and birth parents suggested a novel topic of ‘intimacy’ in regards to foster carers’ experiences of these three areas. Findings indicate three key themes within the overarching focus on intimacy: (a) the impact of abuse allegations on foster family intimacy, (b) the intimate presence of birth families and (c) what are termed ‘awkward intimacies’ with agency workers. While such intimacies may be viewed as non-normative, they nonetheless would appear to play a formative role in interactions between all parties, and thus warrant ongoing attention.
Description
This item is under embargo for a period of 12 months from the date of publication, in accordance with the publisher's policy. The author version (post-peer-review, pre-copy edited version) will available June 2015
This is a post-peer-review, pre-copy edited version of an article published in Families, Relationships and Society. The definitive publisher-authenticated version [Riggs, D. (2014). Australian foster carers' negotiations of intimacy with agency workers, birth families and children. Families, Relationships and Society, 3(2)] is available online at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1332/204674314X14008543149659
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Citation
Riggs, D. (2014). Australian foster carers' negotiations of intimacy with agency workers, birth families and children. Families, Relationships and Society, 3(2)