The Perception Adolescents in Kinship Foster Care Have of their Own Needs

Abstract

This article presents the most important findings concerning the socialeducational needs as expressed by adolescents in kinship foster care (KFC) in the study carried out I+D SEJ-026575 in Spain between 2005 and 2008. The data for the study was collected from discussion groups with adolescents in kinship foster care AFE (n=57) from different autonomous communities in Spain. In the needs assessment the data was collected in the following categories: characteristics of Foster care in kinship family; family history; foster family and foster child; biological family and foster child; self-awareness; healthy family life; free time; the future after fostering. In the results found the following needs stand out: emotional family stability; overcoming problems related to the generation gap with the Foster family, greater openness and clarity dealing with family history, establishing norms and limits, increasing the frequency and quality of parents visits, finding ways of aiding relationships between the foster family and the biological parents, providing support and resources to the foster family, affronting in an educational way subjects such as sexuality, drug addiction, pro-social activities and lastly preparation to face the future after foster care. Incorporating these elements in the support programme for adolescents in KFC can contribute in a positive way to the cognitive, emotional and behavioral development of these adolescents.