RT info:eu-repo/semantics/doctoralThesis
T1 Beyond blood ties: Constructing the meaning of ‘family’ among Spanish children in foster care
A1 Ie, Judite
A2 Universidad de Valladolid. Escuela de Doctorado
K1 Acogimiento familiar
K1 Foster child's perspective
K1 Perspectivas de los niños
K1 Family relationships
K1 Relaciones familiares
K1 Family display
K1 Sociología de la familia
K1 Family practices
K1 Sociología de la infancia
K1 63 Sociología
AB While there is a substantial body of research with children in foster care in Spain, there is little that concerns their perspectives on the concept of ‘family’. This mirrors a general trend in research involving foster children, which frequently overlooks wider sociological perspectives related to family and intimate life. This study aims to address these gaps by exploring how children and youth in long-term non-kinship foster care in Spain define and experience the concept of family, utilising contemporary family sociology perspectives as a guiding research paradigm and conceptual framework. The study employs a multi-method qualitative approach involving 14 children and youth (seven boys and seven girls) aged 10 to 22.This PhD thesis includes three peer-reviewed journal Articles. The first Article offers a comprehensive systematic qualitative synthesis review of existing international literature on the concept of family as understood by children and youth in foster care. The second Article explores how foster children and youth perceive and ‘do’ family in Spain, while the third Article investigates how birth mothers are perceived among children in foster care. The study reveals that the definition of family is primarily based on (1) blood ties (discourse and genetics), (2) emotions, and (3) doing and displaying family. For many foster children in Spain, the family concept focusing on blood ties becomes deconstructed in the absence of support and regular contact. Emotional and practical support is positioned as superior to family, defined through blood ties. These definitions were shaped by a variety of factors, including reciprocal love, care, support, security, predictability, everyday family practices in foster families, and children’s past and current experiences in both foster and birth families.
YR 2024
FD 2024
LK https://uvadoc.uva.es/handle/10324/68360
UL https://uvadoc.uva.es/handle/10324/68360
LA eng
NO Escuela de Doctorado
DS UVaDOC
RD 05-jul-2024