Functional elements regarding the care and protection of children

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CHAPTER 4 DISCUSSION OF RESEARCH FINDINGS AND LITERATURE CONTROL: THE PERCEPTIONS AND EXPERIENCES OF FOSTER PARENTS OF CLUSTER FOSTER SCHEMES REGARDING OPERATIONAL ELEMENTS

 Introduction

Foster care as a form of alternative care is most probably one of the oldest forms of care for children in need of care and protection. In Chapter 1 of this document, the development of alternative care was described as a phenomenon that has been documented to be in existence since the Greek and Roman times (Pieterse, 1975:22). Downs, Moore, McFadden, Michaud and Costin (2004:324325) report that children in need of care and protection were mostly cared for by mechanisms embedded in their tribes and cultures. In traditional cultures, the role of the extended family and specifically those of grandmothers was a valued and preferable choice of alternative care for children in need of care and protection (Owusu-Bempah, 2010:29-37). Guishard-Pine, McCall and Hamilton (2007:16) note that later developments indicated favouritism of institutional care, such as work houses as options for alternative care for children in need of care and protection. The same authors report that the first form of foster care was reported in 1853 in Cheshire (England), when a child was removed from a work house and placed with a family in foster care under the supervision of the local government (Guishard-Pine et.al. 2007:16).
The current world view on foster care makes provision for two main forms of alternative care, namely non-kinship and kinship foster care. The first form refers to foster parents who care for a child that is not biologically related to them, while the latter refers to foster parents who are biologically related to the child in their care (Barber and Delfabbro, 2004:23). Child care legislation in South Africa makes provision for both forms of foster care as options for alternative care. Section 156 of the Children‟s Act 38 of 2005 as amended Act 41 of 2007 (Republic of South Africa, 2008:74) also makes provision for the placement of children in need of care and protection in cluster foster care schemes as an additional form of alternative care. Prior to the inclusion of cluster foster care schemes as a form of alternative care in the South African legislation, communities and child protection organisations started spontaneously to develop foster care placements. Similar projects were included in a research project by Colby-Newton (2006: 5-8) in a study about an introduction to three organisations caring for orphans and vulnerable children, using cluster foster care models in Kwa-Zulu Natal.
This present study was based on the identified need by an unpublished study of Taback and Associates (2010:10) that, although legislation regarding the registration of cluster foster care schemes is in place, no clear guidelines exist regarding the operationalisation thereof. The need to conduct a research study to identify the operational elements for cluster foster care schemes was also confirmed by an official of the Western Cape Department of Social Development (Louw, 2010) (See Section 1.3 of Chapter 1). The goal of this study was therefore: “To explore and describe the present functioning of cluster foster care schemes in order to identify operational elements to be documented in a guideline for service providers and social workers”.
The methodology employed to answer this research question was provided in Chapter 2 of this document. In Chapter 3, the findings from data obtained from managers of existing cluster foster care schemes was described and verified with literature. In this chapter, the focus is on foster parents who provide foster care within the context of cluster foster care schemes, based on their knowledge of and experience in fostering children in such a setting. The purposive sampling of these foster parents was therefore an obvious choice to obtain data to answer the research question, namely: “What are the operational elements necessary for the operationalising of cluster foster schemes?”
In order to provide a context for the findings related to the foster care parent participants, the next section will provide the reader with the demographic information pertaining to them.

Demographic data of foster parents of cluster foster care schemes who participated in the study

The population related to foster parents, for the purpose of this study, was identified as all foster parents that were providing foster care as part of cluster foster care schemes. The inclusion criteria for the sample were:

• All foster parents;
• Of children in need of care and protection;
• who function as part of cluster foster schemes in the Western Cape;
• Who function through a management committee or management board;
• Who manages two or more foster homes; and
• Who applied or plan to apply for registration as a cluster foster scheme.

The researcher made use of the purposive and snowball sampling techniques to procure a sample for this study. The biographical particulars of the foster parents of cluster foster care schemes who participated in this study are presented in the table below.
In the discussion to follow the biographical information of the 18 foster parents in cluster foster care schemes who participated in this study, and depicted in the table above, will be presented together with verifications from literature.

Gender

The gender representations of the foster parent participants in this study consisted of three males and 15 females. The three male foster parents were married to three of the female participants that provided foster care as part of a cluster foster care scheme. These couples were all affiliated with the same cluster foster care scheme. The fact that the majority of the participating foster parents were female is in line with a statement by Dunn (2007:8) in a study that approximately 41% of children in foster care are in the care of grandmothers and 30% are in the care of an aunt. McCarthy (2010:100) confirms this aspect further and notes that 45,8% of all South African children are living without a father figure. The author, however, acknowledges the importance of male figures in the lives of children and is of the opinion that children need to have the advantage of role models that represent both sexes.

Age distribution of foster parents

In this study the age distribution of the foster parents varied from 20 to 30 years of age up to 50 to 60 years of age. The majority of the participants were in the age group 40 to 50 years. Newman and Newman (2006:384) refer to the 20 to 30 year age group categorised as the early adulthood stage, while the two 40 t0 50 and the 50 to sixty year age groups are categorised as the middle adulthood stage.
According to these authors (2006:392-405) the selection of a life partner, in marriage or cohabiting in a stable relationship, and child bearing form some of the major development tasks that need to be achieved during the early adulthood stage. The most important development task of the middle adulthood stage focuses, on the other hand, more on the individual‟s contribution to his/her work, home, childrearing and other relationships (Newman and Newman, 2006:466). It may therefore be noted that the childrearing and building relationships are important aspects for all the participants in this study.

Racial groups of foster parents

Participants in this study represented the African, Coloured and White racial groups. The majority of the foster mothers were African, while the minority were white. Coupled with the racial representation of the participants was the language of choice. This will be discussed in the next sub-section.

Language

The official languages used by the participants were English, Xhosa and Afrikaans. The majority of the foster mothers‟ mother tongue was Afrikaans and Xhosa, while two of the participants were English. The three language groups that were identified in this study represent the official languages of the Western Cape where this study took place (Western Cape Government, 2005:22).

City/Town where cluster foster care scheme is situated

The foster parents who participated in this study provided foster care in cluster foster care schemes that were situated in urban as well as more rural areas. The majority of the clusters were situated in the Cape Peninsula area, while only one cluster was situated in a rural area. Six of the participants rendered foster care as part of the rural cluster. Rural areas are characterised by small population size, low density of population, long distance from large population centres, certain types of economic involvement such as agricultural, mining and fishing and social factors such as primary relationships, traditional norms and values (Carlton-LaNey, Murty and Moris, 2005:405). Urban areas, where 12 participants rendered foster care services, are characterised by rapid expanding of global markets and high demand on the population to meet the increasing needs of the population (Farrell and Johnson, 2005:500). According to Hall (2008:88-89), 87% of children in the Western Cape lives in urban areas while only 13% live in rural areas.

Chapter 1: Introduction and General Orientation to the study
1.1 Theoretical background and rational
1.2 Theoretical framework
1.3 Problem Statement
1.4 Research Question
1.5 Research goal and objectives
1.6 Research methodology
1.7 Ethical considerations
1.8 Key Concepts
1.9 Layout of the research document
1.10 Conclusion of the chapter
Chapter 2: Description and application of the research methodology utilised in this study
2.1 Introduction
2.2 Research methodology
2.3 Ethical considerations
2.4 Limitations of the study
2.5 Conclusion of this chapter
Chapter 3: Discussion of research findings and literature control: The perceptions and experiences of managers of cluster foster care schemes regarding operational elements
3.1 Introduction
3.2 Demographic data of managers of cluster foster care schemes who participated in the study
3.3 Findings relating to the operational elements as identified
3.4 Conclusion of this chapter
Chapter 4: Discussions of research findings and literature control: The perceptions and experiences of foster parents of cluster foster care schemes regarding operational elements
4.1 Introduction
4.2 Demographic data of foster parents of cluster foster care schemes who participated in the study
4.3 Findings relating to the perceptions and experiences of foster parents of cluster foster care schemes
4.4 Conclusion of chapter
Chapter 5: Identifying the functional elements needed to operationalise cluster foster care schemes from legalisations, policies and suggestions in literature
5.1 Introduction
5.2 Functional elements regarding the care and protection of children
5.3 Alternative care for children in need of care and protection
5.4 Functional elements pertaining to foster care in cluster foster care schemes
5.5 Functional elements pertaining to the operationalisation of cluster foster care schemes
5.6 Functional elements obtained from previous studies conducted on cluster foster care schemes
5.7 Conclusion
Chapter 6: A manual with operational guidelines for the management of cluster foster care schemes from a social development perspective
6.1 Introduction
6.2 A manual with operational guidelines for the management of cluster foster care schemes from a social development perspective
6.3 Conclusion
Chapter 7: Summary, conclusions and recommendations
7.1 Introduction
7.2 Summary and conclusions regarding the research process and Methodology
7.3 Summary and conclusions regarding the research findings
7.4 Recommendations
7.5 Conclusion
References
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THE OPERATIONALISATION OF CLUSTER FOSTER CARE SCHEMES: A SOCIAL DEVELOPMENTAL PERSPECTIVE