Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to highlight the long term effects of the biological child being raised in the foster home. Most families are praised for their efforts and dedication to making a difference in the life of a child by opening up their homes to foster care. Oftentimes, the feelings or responses of the biological child in the home are not addressed or considered through the process. Foster care is something that affects everyone, and most disregard the feelings of the biological child because they are “too young” to know the difference. The importance of considering the biological child is detrimental when deciding whether or not to do foster care in order to prevent future trauma to those involved.

Pre-Research Discussion

I have always had a passion for children. Throughout my life, I have worked in different roles, all supporting children in different ways. Thus far, the most impactful role I have been in is a licensed foster parent. Through my journey as a foster parent, I have changed the course of my life, as the challenges I have faced supporting these children brought me to the path of working in behavioral health. When I started into this journey, I had asked my biological daughter for her input on us becoming foster parents. Fortunately for us, my daughter has a helpful soul and of course, jumped at the idea of helping other children in need. However, we were truly not prepared for exactly what being a foster family meant, how the behaviors of foster children would affect our daily lives, and the long term effects of these behaviors. While we have since adopted 3 children and closed our foster license, the behaviors that come with foster children have not gone away.

Last Christmas morning, my son got up early and made a huge mess in the kitchen. Without getting into detail, I’ll just say that it spoiled Christmas morning. My daughter asked “Why does he always ruin everything?”, to which my answer was a simple “I don’t know.” That is truly the life of living with foster children sometimes. Bless my daughter, she took a breath and helped clean up the mess. She tried to carry on as if it didn’t affect her, but I know it did. If I were to ask my daughter if she regrets us doing foster care though, I know her answer would be “no.” She got all of her siblings through foster care. She has seen the hardships and the good moments. She has witnessed her mom cry, scream, lash out, spend hours away from her because she is needed elsewhere. However, she has also learned to love unconditionally, laugh at the little things, and appreciate life more.

I know that my daughter’s experiences do not dictate all of those experiences of biological children whose parents do foster care. For this reason, it is important to discuss and identify, through research, the thoughts of those who are biological children of foster parents. Olivia Talbot wrote a series on the siblings of foster children and their perspectives (Talbot et al, 2017), and one common rationale was that they didn’t understand the process, they would be sad when the foster siblings left, but that they all knew they loved their siblings regardless of if they stayed forever or went back home.  An Australian research group conducted a study to identify the feelings of the biological child towards foster care, and found that the biological children felt a responsibility to care for the foster children in a very tangible way (Noble-Carr, D., Farnham, J., & Dean, C. et al 2014).

I believe that the effects of foster care on a biological child are long lasting, life changing and in some ways, may dictate the path that they take into adulthood. Learning to love unconditionally, understand cultural differences, and accept that there are things that we cannot change no matter how hard we try, are all lessons that I believe biological children take away from growing up in a foster home. 

Post-Research Discussion

Foster care is a life lesson for all of those involved. The families that invite other people’s children into their homes to house, feed, care for, love, and help raise, are a special breed of people. Through this annotation process, I have discovered that not all biological children are as accepting of foster children as my daughter was. 

When comparing the different articles and studies reviewed, there is one major component that seems to remain constant: biological children of foster families believe that it is the right thing to do, that they are proud of their parents, and that they would be supportive and do it all over again during their childhood. While all the studies noted that the biological children expressed some concerns with the overall fostering process and mentioned some things that they would have liked to have seen be done differently, the overall experiences were positive and life-changing. Most participants noted that they would go on to work in the helping field as an adult or that they were more successful and empathetic as adults as a result of their parents doing foster care.

As a worker in the foster care field, I feel like it is important to consider these viewpoints as valid because when you are working with foster children, you are working with families. Responses of the families to the foster children should not exclude the biological children because they have an impact on the lives of the foster children, too. In addition, the foster children affect the biological children because their behaviors are in the home all the time, and the biological children are living in it just as much, if not more, than the foster parents, and they do not have the level of understanding or compassion that adults have. 

The results of all of the studies are generally unanimous, stating that the biological children would want their parents to foster again. They aso state that while the experience was difficult, it taught them more than they would have learned otherwise about the differences of families, experiences, and cultural backgrounds. It would seem that these levels of experience cannot be taught in any other scenarios. 

Annotated Bibliography

Studer, Jessica J., "Exploring the experience of biological children of foster parents : their views on family as adults" (2014). Masters Thesis, Smith College, Northampton, MA. https://scholarworks.smith.edu/theses/815 

In a dissertation thesis project completed by Jessica Studer (Exploring the Experience of Biological Children of Foster Parents, 2014), an exploratory study was conducted to evaluate the effects of foster care on biological children. The parameters for eligible participants were over the age 21, had parents who did foster care for more than 3 years, and who had at least one foster sibling who entered and left the home. She was able to gather information from ten eligible participants, aged 21 to 64 years old. Through the process, one of the most difficult things she found to maintain was privacy, as the identity of both the foster family and the previous foster children must remain confidential.

Research results brought out many commonalities, but there were also many different things considered, which brought out an extreme diversity in the overall results from the study. One of the biggest areas of concern that most participants noted was the exposure to behaviors that are not typical of normal upbringing. Trauma behaviors are very different in action and most of the participants stated that the exposure to these behaviors showed them a different way of upbringing that they were unfamiliar with, and which ultimately brought them to the conclusion that the children needed help. It was also noted that the biological children developed a greater sense of appreciation for their families and the way they were being raised. They believed the experience of growing up with foster children in the home gave them a greater sense of understanding for others, made them open-minded, empathetic, and willing to help others (pg.19).

The study focuses on the responses of the biological child to the behaviors that foster children come into the home with. Trauma behaviors are erratic and outrageous typically and can be difficult to manage for adults. This study discusses what feelings the biological child has towards these behaviors.

Noble-Carr, D., Farnham, J., & Dean, C. (2014). Needs and Experiences of Biological Children of Foster Carers: A Scoping Study. Canberra: Institute of Child Protection Studies, ACU.

Debbie Noble-Carr, Jayna Farnham, and Christine Dean from the Australian Catholic University conducted a similar research project, looking into the needs and experiences of biological children (Noble-Carr, D., Farnham, J., & Dean, C. et al, 2014) growing up in foster homes. The primary focus of this study was to research “What are the needs and experiences of biological children of foster carers?” and “What are the policy and practice implications of these children’s needs and experiences for the foster care sector?” (pg. 4) The writers worked directly with the ACT foster care organization in Australia for the participants in the study and conducted the research from August to November 2014. The research method was a scoping method where they had focus groups to discuss the different aspects of being in a foster home.

The focus groups were separated into groups of children, young adults, and foster parents. One of the most notable findings from the child and young adult focus groups was that, while most of the children were informed that their parents would be doing foster care, they were not given much information about exactly the types of behaviors they would be experiencing and exactly what it would look like for them. It was also noted that they felt like there were very little resources in place to help the biological children manage their own reactions to these behaviors. While it was obvious that most of the children had an overall positive reaction to their parents doing foster care and liked the idea of helping those in need, they definitely had some negative feelings that came from the process. Most said they felt they had to grow and mature faster than they were maybe ready to, they felt alone a lot of times because their parents were focusing on the foster children, and the reality of having foster children in the home was not what they believed it would be in their mind. (pg. 14)

This study was focused on the children having to grow up faster because their parents are busy dealing with the behaviors of the foster children, therefore they do not have time to spend on the biological children. This discusses the perspective that the biological child has of their parents while foster children are in the home.

Claire Duffy, MSW 2013 Critical Social Thinking | Applied Social Studies | University College Cork | The Impact of Fostering on Birth Children and their Involvement in the Fostering Process: Invisible, Vulnerable or Valued? \ http//:cst.ucc.ie 

A qualitative research study completed by Claire Duffy at the School of Applied Social Studies in Ireland also considered the topic of the biological child in the foster home (Duffy, MSW, et al 2013). Similar to the other studies reviewed, the research included a series of questions for the biological children in previous foster homes:

• What are the positive impacts of fostering on birth children? 
• What are the negative impacts of fostering on birth children? 
• How involved are birth children throughout the fostering process? Are they included in all aspects of the fostering process from initial assessments through to reviews? (pg. 3)

The researcher chose semi-structured interviews to gather data for the study. The criteria that were put in place to determine eligibility for participation were that they had to be at least 18 years of age and to have had grown up with foster children in the home.

The results from this research showed a similar response to the previous two. The participants stated that seeing their parents dealing with the behaviors of their foster siblings was hard for them, but helped them become more empathetic adults. Most stated they felt ready to be a parent long before they ever actually became one. They also noted appreciation and pride for their parents in their position as foster carers. Something I found to be interesting in this particular study was the unanimous result that every biological child felt the hardest part of fostering was when the foster children left the home. They also stated that they felt that fostering hindered family activities, such as vacationing or taking family bike rides. It was also determined that most participants felt voiceless through the process, even if they were interviewed by a social worker, the questions were never directed toward them, but their parents instead.

This study is relevant because it identified the fact that participants felt as if their voice was not heard because they felt like the questions were directed toward the parents instead of them. Once again, they felt unheard, which is the basis of the discussion for this project.

Olivia Talbott AM News December 2017 Biological children have unique perspectives on foster, adoptive brothers and sisters - The Advocate-Messenger

A news article written by Olivia Talbott (Talbott et al, December 2017) interviewed previous biological children of foster carers on their perspectives growing up with foster children in their homes. It notes that the foster parent takes on a new identity through the fostering process as well as the biological child. The writer also mentions that the biological children experience emotions as a sibling to a foster child that are often overlooked. She interviewed 4 different biological children and followed them through a four-part series for the newspaper article she was reporting on. This piece of literature documents the actual interview results from the participants and how they felt living with foster children in their homes.

The insight from the participants was once again, eye opening. Each one mentioned the good times and bad times having the foster children in the home. It was refreshing to see that they also mention to others that the need for good foster families continues to be an ongoing struggle, and asks how other people intend to help. One thing that I found to be extremely heartwarming was “Nick”s response to adoption. He stated that while it’s a legal thing, to him it’s personal, and permanent. “ “Once the judge hits the gavel, the courtroom erupts and the judge reads off their new name,” Nick said. “It’s like a Hallmark movie moment where the two main characters become engaged in front of the Christmas tree.” ” (pg. 2) 

The reason I selected this article was because it gave direct quotes from biological children to their experiences growing up in foster homes. Ultimately, it can be determined that their experiences overall were positive and I feel like that is important when considering the long term effects of growing up in foster homes.

Luzaan Nel, MHSc, 2014 | Department of Psychology | Auckland University of Technology | Children Whose Parents Foster Other Children: The Experiences of Growing Up With a Foster Sibling

A dissertation completed by Luzaan Nel discussed the effects of fostering on the biological child. Participants that were considered with the criteria that their parents decided to foster, two male and three female participants, aged between 13-18 and who spent any time with foster children in the home through childhood. The reason the researcher chose to use adolescents for the study rather than adults was to obtain a more recent recollection of the experiences. Most of the participants had younger foster children in their homes for both short term and long term placements.

The findings were similar to the previous studies: most had parents who wanted to do it and so they went along with it. Four out of the five participants were involved in the decision to foster, and all reported that they were notified of the decision and were at least given some information before the fosters arrived. In addition, most reported that they overall enjoyed the experiences of having fosters in their homes and would want to do it again. All of the participants reported that they felt there were more positives to fostering than negative, and that they would want to do it again. They stated that it helped create a sense of understanding that people come from different upbringing and cultural backgrounds. (Nel et al, 2017, pg 51)

I chose this article because it is more current than the others, and it still shows the similar results. The perspectives also seem to be relevant because they are those of adolescents, rather than adults, when getting their opinions of foster care.