Vanderfaeillie Johan, Pijnenburg Huub, Damen Harm, Van Holen Frank
Department of Clinical and Lifespan Psychology, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, Belgium.
HAN University of Applied Sciences, Praktikon and Radboud University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
Child Abuse Negl. 2015 Nov;49:119-27. doi: 10.1016/j.chiabu.2015.04.002. Epub 2015 Apr 24.
Family foster care placement decision-making has a weak scientific underpinning. Mostly a 'variable-oriented approach' is taken, which requires a lot of information that is not always available. The identification of clusters of foster children with similar characteristics may be a more viable decision strategy. In this study we investigated if foster children could indeed be clustered, which problems were identified at the time of placement, and the influence of placement history. It proved possible to group foster children into two clusters: (1) young children with familial problems and few behavioral problems, and (2) older children with prominent child problems and behavioral problems. For foster children with and without placement history, problems associated with placement proved identical. Considering that a foster care placement did not result in fundamental change in the problems present at time of placement, the importance is stressed of approaching foster care assessment as part of a decision making process which looks back as well as forward. Placement decisions should be based on an appraisal of the appropriateness of foster placement as a solution for the child. In conjunction with this appraisal a decision is required on how parents can be supported toward reunification. Or--if this is not an option--whether long term foster care is the best option for the child and if so, what conditions need to be met.
家庭寄养安置决策的科学依据薄弱。多数采用“以变量为导向的方法”，这需要大量信息，而这些信息并非总是可得。识别具有相似特征的寄养儿童群体可能是一种更可行的决策策略。在本研究中，我们调查了寄养儿童是否确实可以聚类，安置时发现了哪些问题，以及安置历史的影响。结果表明，可以将寄养儿童分为两类：（1）有家庭问题但行为问题较少的幼儿，以及（2）有突出儿童问题和行为问题的大龄儿童。对于有和没有安置历史的寄养儿童，与安置相关的问题被证明是相同的。鉴于寄养安置并没有导致安置时存在的问题发生根本性改变，强调了将寄养评估作为一个回顾和展望的决策过程的一部分的重要性。安置决策应基于对寄养安置作为儿童解决方案的适当性的评估。与此评估相结合，需要决定如何支持父母实现团聚。或者——如果这不是一个选择——长期寄养是否是儿童的最佳选择，如果是，需要满足哪些条件。
