Familialization in Welfare State Arrangements: Foster Families in the Life Course of Foster Children

Abstract

Currently enforced discourses on the significance of familial resources as a precondition for education, employability and social mobility reveal aspects of the interplay between state and families in terms of social integration. Foster families are of special interest when studying the drifts in discourses toward a familialization of life course regimes. The research on foster family care highlights the ambiguous negotiations on responsibilities, competencies, expertise and professionalisation, as well as the call to not colonise the intimate familial context. The authors analyse the interplay of the involved persons in the everyday practices, such as local authorities, legal guardians, therapists, parents of origin, foster parents and foster children. In the article, the beginning and the end of the child protection measure is discussed to see how trajectories and transitions are shaped by those involved, and how their acting can be interpreted in terms of life course regimes

Keywords

• familialization
• life course regimes
• foster family care
• child protection