© British Association of Social Workers
Foster Families for Adolescents: the healing potential of time-limited placements
Celia Downes has worked as a child care officer and senior social worker. In 1976 she took up her present post as a lecturer in iocial work at the University of York
Correspondence to Dr Celia Downes, Department of Social Policy and Social Work, University of York, Heslington, York YO1 5DD
Summary
This paper describes a research project which explored how family placements may function reparatively. It identified and analysed the dynamic processes at work within foster families who have difficult adolescents placed with them for time-limited periods.
The conceptual framework which was developed from the findings elaborated upon the idea of some of the psychosocial tasks of particular concern to these adolescents. Understandings drawn from Attachment Theory and Family Systems Theory were then integrated to provide a framework for considering patterns of interaction between adolescents and foster-parents.
It is argued that what needs repairing is the adolescent's capacity for attachment. This is manifested in several ways, including their capacity for emotional and physical distance regulation between themselves and significant others. Negotiations between adolescent and foster-parents across the boundary between the family and the world outside provide a promising arena for change. These critical negotiations often occur in connection with the psychosocial tasks of concern to the adolescent.