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Jokes and routines make everyday lifea good life—on ‘doing family’ for youngpeople in foster care in SwedenLena Hedin , Ingrid Höjer & Elinor BrunnbergPublished online: 04 Oct 2011.
To cite this article: Lena Hedin , Ingrid Höjer & Elinor Brunnberg (2012) Jokes and routines makeeveryday life a good life—on ‘doing family’ for young people in foster care in Sweden, EuropeanJournal of Social Work, 15:5, 613-628, DOI: 10.1080/13691457.2011.579558
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Jokes and routines make everyday lifea good life*on ‘doing family’ foryoung people in foster care in Sweden
Skamt och rutiner gor vardagen till enbra dag*Om familjeskapande forfosterhemsplacerade ungdomar iSverigeLena Hedin, Ingrid Hojer & Elinor Brunnberg
The aim of this article is to identify inclusion practices in foster families by studying the
everyday life of young people entering various types of foster family. Structure and
warmth in the family stand out as important dimensions of everyday life. What is not so
evident in previous research is the way emotional ‘warmth’ is created. In particular,
joking, gentle teasing and laughing, which in this paper stand out as important inclusion
practices, seem to be rather unknown aspects in foster care, as is the importance of doing
things together in everyday life. The young people’s contributions in creating a good
family atmosphere are visible in the study, as is their capacity to adapt to a new family.
Daily routines normalise the adolescents’ everyday life. Negotiations make them part of
important decisions, and may strengthen them as social agents. Foster parents’ positive
attitude towards birth family facilitates birth parents’ support to their children. In this
case study, mixed qualitative methods are used: interviews, network maps, ‘beepers’ and
video recordings in the foster home.
Keywords: Inclusion Practices; Kinship Family; Everyday Life; Foster Children; Humour
Correspondence to: Lena Hedin, School of Law, Psychology and Social Work, Orebro, 70182, Sweden. Email:
ISSN 1369-1457 (print)/ISSN 1468-2664 (online) # 2012 Taylor & Francis
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13691457.2011.579558
European Journal of Social Work
Vol. 15, No. 5, November 2012, pp. 613�628
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Syftet med denna artikel ar att identifiera inkluderande familjepraktiker i familje-
hemsvard genom att studera vardagslivet for ungdomar som kommer till olika slags
familjehem. Struktur och varme i familjen framstar som viktiga dimensioner av
vardagligt liv. Nagot som inte ar sa uppenbart i tidigare forskning ar det satt pa vilket
emotionell varme skapas. I synnerhet skamt, skojande och skratt, vilka i detta papper
framstar som viktiga inkluderande praktiker, verkar vara tamligen okanda aspekter av
familjehemsvard, liksom i viss man betydelsen av att i vardagen gora saker tillsammans.
Ungdomarnas bidrag till att skapa en god familjeatmosfar synliggors i studien, liksom
deras formaga att anpassa sig till en ny familj. Dagliga rutiner normaliserar
ungdomarnas vardagsliv. Forhandlingar gor dem delaktiga i viktiga beslut och kan
starka dem som sociala aktorer. Fosterforaldrarnas positiva attityd mot ungdomarnas
familj underlattar foraldrarnas stod till sitt barn. I denna fallstudie anvands blandade
kvalitativa metoder: intervjuer, natverkskartor, ‘beepers’ och videoinspelningar i
familjehemmet.
Nyckelord: Inkluderande Praktiker; Slaktingfamilj; Vardagsliv; Fosterbarn; Humor
Introduction
In Sweden, about 15,800 children and adolescents were placed in out-of-home
care as of 1 November 2008, 71% of which were in foster homes. Of those in
foster care, 61% were adolescents, 13�20 years old (Swedish National Board of
Health and Welfare, 2009). Teenagers are a vulnerable group as regards disruptions
in foster care; in Sweden, like in other countries, placement breakdown is a serious
problem (Sallnas et al., 2004; Oosterman et al., 2007). A vital question is what
happens in the foster family when a foster youth arrives and how this change
affects the young person. There are some studies about family life in foster
families from the perspective of foster carers (see e.g. Brown & Campbell, 2007),
foster siblings (see e.g. Hojer & Nordenfors, 2006), and also foster children (see
e.g. Brannen et al., 2000). However, more in-depth studies about everyday life of a
foster family are rare.
Aim
The aim of this article is to identify inclusion practices of foster families by
studying the everyday life of young people entering different types of foster
families. The questions concern the nature of everyday interactions in the foster
family, and how these influence the young people’s emotions and relations with
their foster parents and social network. The different types of foster families are
the kinship family (relatives), the ‘network’ family (previously known, non-
relatives), and the ‘traditional’ foster family (previously unknown, recruited by the
social services). Listening to the views of the young people in care is central in
this study.
614 L. Hedin et al.
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‘Doing family’
Constructions of family are products of human interaction and communication
(Holstein & Gubrium, 1999). In the present article, the interaction and
communication on the micro-level, the ways of ‘doing family’, are examined
with the intention to identify inclusion practices in foster families. The meanings
that family members attach to family relations (Holstein & Gubrium, 1999) are of
interest, but also how family life is organised*the ‘family practices’ in daily life
(Morgan, 1996). The focus is on everyday routines and people’s descriptions of
their experiences.
The underlying perspective of this study is the ‘new sociology of childhood’, which
understands children as social agents in cooperation with the surrounding world. The
young people are seen as social actors shaping and shaped by their circumstances (see
e.g. James & Prout, 1997).
Randall Collins’s (2004) micro-sociological theory of Interaction Ritual (IR)
chains can illuminate important aspects of the young person’s interaction in the
foster family. According to Collins, it is the culture of daily life that reinforces
membership in informal groups, for example, families. This can involve how
people communicate with each other, what ideals they express, what they do, and
so on. The basic idea is that successful rituals, based on a mutual focus of
attention and shared mood within a group, create symbols of group membership
and solidarity and charge the individual with emotional energy. Failed rituals
deprive the individual of emotional energy. Emotional energy is a feeling of self-
confidence, warmth and enthusiasm for social interaction. The emotional energy
gathered within, for instance, the foster family accompanies the young person
when integrating with others, for example in the birth family, and vice versa. And
so the chain goes on. A person’s cultural capital is important and includes
reputation (Collins, 2004). The young person’s cultural capital can change and
develop in a new context, as can feelings of, for example, shame, joy and pride,
that is primary emotions that influence the individual’s self-esteem (Scheff, 1994).
The inner life of a foster family
The following overview of previous research tries to unpack the concept of ‘good
care’ to find out what facilitates inclusion in the foster family.
Some qualitative information about what comprises good care can be gleaned from
foster children transitioning into adulthood. They need to practise skills of self-
determination and take part in important decisions about themselves while in care.
They also need caring, trusting relationships (Cashmore & Paxman, 2006; Geenen &
Powers, 2007). Some young people remanded to foster care in England reported that
their time in foster care gave them a positive experience of family life and that they
felt cared for, which for some also had an impact on their self-esteem (Lipscombe,
2006). Others felt it instilled hope for their future. They appreciated the caring,
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nurturing and respectful attitude they encountered. Being treated as normal was
crucial (Lipscombe, 2006).
Other researchers have found having ‘a normal family life’ to be important to
foster children (Martin & Jackson, 2002; Sinclair, 2005). Andersson (2001)
considers regular routines, where children’s everyday life resembles that of
everyone else, to be of great significance in restoring a ‘normal’ childhood. A
qualitative study of the inner world of 10 foster families with a focus on
embodiment shows the importance of bodily care for most foster youth (Rees &
Pithouse, 2008). Examples of bodily care that facilitate entering a new foster home
are being offered a bath or a meal upon arrival (Lipscombe, 2006).
A sense of a secure base and participation in decisions are what Gilligan (2006)
sees as necessary to promote resilience in children in care. In a study of Canadian
foster carers’ perceptions of placement success, basic safety and security stand out
as important, to provide a ‘happy home’ where basic needs are met, and foster
children are treated just as well as the biological children (Brown & Campbell,
2007). Foster children need compassion, care, understanding and belonging
(Sinclair, 2005; Gilligan, 2006), ‘a warm place where children can blossom’
(Gilligan, 2006).
Supportive relations between foster parents and biological parents are important,
especially with regard to the young person’s development of identity (Andersson,
1998, 2005; Linares et al., 2006; Brown & Campbell, 2007). Foster carers can help to
negotiate young people’s relationships with their family (Lipscombe, 2006). In her
longitudinal study of former foster children in Sweden, Andersson (2009) comes to
the conclusion that they all had to work through their feelings about their parents’
shortcomings, and that a tolerant and supportive attitude on the part of the foster
parents facilitated this process.
In Hojer’s study (2001) of foster parents’ experiences of what happens in a
family when it becomes a foster family, it emerges that they can be forced to find
other ‘parental strategies’, which demands greater explicitness and may even lead
to stricter discipline and a more rigid atmosphere in the home. This can be
related to a study of 14-year-olds and their parents that focuses on the concept of
monitoring (Kerr & Stattin, 2000). The researchers discovered that it is not the
level of control, but the amount of openness in the relationship between parent
and child that gives the parent information about the child’s situation through the
child’s spontaneous narratives. Higher levels of parental control give the
adolescents feelings of being controlled, which are linked with poor adaptation.
With reference to foster families, it is interesting how they can create openness in
the relationship with a new family member instead of imposing harsh discipline.
In a research review concerning kinship care and traditional foster care,
Winokur et al. (2009) draw the conclusion that children in kinship care do better
with regard to their behavioural development, mental health functioning and
placement stability than those in other forms of foster care. In a UK study, Farmer
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and Moyers (2008) report that kin carers showed much higher levels of
commitment to the foster children than unrelated foster carers.
In short, the main constituent elements of good quality foster care seem to be
foster youth participating in decisions about themselves, basic routines in family life,
bodily care, a warm atmosphere in the home, being treated as normal, and supportive
relations between foster parents and birth parents. These can be seen as a base for
inclusion. However, there is a lack of studies showing how the concrete interaction
and communication come to function as inclusion practices in different kinds of
foster families.
The Swedish context
The proportion of foster children aged 13�17 years old placed in kinship families in
2008 amounted to about 20%, calculated from official statistics (Swedish National
Board of Health and Welfare, 2009). Since 2004, the term ‘kinship family’ in Swedish
official statistics refers both to families that are relatives and families close to the
child. These statistics do not distinguish between other network families (less
familiar) and traditional families, which altogether correspond to 80% of placements.
Some European countries, for example in southern Europe, have a tradition of
informal family and friends care (Broad, 2004). In Sweden all non-temporary
placements have to be regulated through the social authorities, including kinship
placements. Kinship foster families have the same legal rights and obligations as other
foster families. The Swedish legislation prescribes maintaining contact between foster
children and their birth family during placement. However, ‘the best interest’ of the
child and the child’s wishes and desires are to be considered in all decisions, as in
many other countries, for example, the Children Act in the UK.
Methods
The present set of data derives from a study on the everyday experiences and sense of
belonging of 17 foster children. The adolescents were recruited through social
workers in seven municipalities in Sweden. They were asked to invite every child
placed in foster care, 13�16 years of age, who had stayed in his/her foster family 3�18
months to take part. Methods used were interviews, network maps, text messages via
mobile phone (‘beepers’) and video recordings. These mixed qualitative methods
were intended to capture many different aspects of the phenomenon (Silverman,
2005). While this paper focuses on family life, somewhat different aspects will be
presented in other papers.
Participants
In the present study the intention was to gain an in-depth understanding of the
complex and dynamic processes of family life in foster care, and therefore a case study
design was appropriate (Merriam, 1998). Three cases, one kinship, one network and
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one traditional placement, were chosen to give a maximum of variation of foster
families (Patton, 2002). In order to capture the concrete family communication and
interactions, the cases were chosen from among six families that had made video
recordings. Finally, from this group, specific adolescents were selected as informa-
tion-rich cases (Merriam, 1998; Patton, 2002). Another reason for this selection was
that, at the time of the interviews, the young people reported a relatively stable
situation despite their vulnerable situation prior to placement. This would make it
possible to discover inclusion practices in the foster home.
For various reasons, just one birth parent of each adolescent was contactable.
None of them lived with the young person at the time of placement, but they did
have regular contact. The reason why birth parents were included in the study was
mainly to get their perspective on their child’s life in foster care and on their own
relations to the foster family.
The adolescents and foster families who agreed to take part in the study and to
make video recordings can be a positive selection compared to those who declined
to participate. Furthermore, the only way to get into contact with foster children
in Sweden is via social workers, thus the researcher is dependent on the selection
the social workers make. However, this seems to be a minor problem in this study
since we chose to examine relatively well-functioning cases of foster care in order
to identify inclusion practices. This selection seemed most adequate even though
less well-functioning cases might also have provided useful information.
Procedure
This article uses results from non-standardised, low-structured, focused interviews
with 12 persons including three adolescents, their foster parents and three
biological parents. Foster parents preferred to be interviewed together and since
their common family life was in focus, this seemed to fit in well. The focus was
on everyday interactions including rules, routines, feelings, influence, trust,
support, conflicts, etc., sometimes compared to their previous experiences.
Adolescents also drew a network map of significant others to clarify the strength
and quality of these relationships, for instance within the foster family and birth
family (Forsberg & Wallmark, 2002). Another method was text messages via
mobile phone (‘beepers’), used to investigate their here-and-now situation*what
they were actually doing at specific times. The adolescents received text messages
around six times a day, for six days, and each time answered the same four
questions: Where are you, with whom, what are you doing, how does it feel? (see
e.g. Csikszentmihalyi & Hunter, 2003).
Video recordings of the teenager and the foster family in an everyday situation
were intended to capture the atmosphere and interactions between the adolescent
and other members of the foster family. Using video technology makes it possible
to study the social interplay in greater detail (Brunnberg, 2003), that is to study
who speaks with whom, how often, and about what, as well as body language,
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including emotions, people’s physical positioning, etc. The video medium gives a
direct voice to children as do interviews and text messages. The researcher left the
video camera in the foster home and the adolescent and foster parents made the
recording. They decided the kind of situation in which the recording would take
place. The situations were dinner, afternoon coffee and card-playing.
The study was approved by the regional ethics committee in Uppsala, Sweden.
The names of the adolescents and foster carers have been changed. Other changes,
without significance for the results, have also been made to protect the
confidentiality of the participants.
Analysis
The interviews were transcribed verbatim, as were the text-messaged responses and
the video recordings. The latter included notes about observations of the
participants’ body language, interactions, etc. All the information about each
case was brought together and organised (Merriam, 1998; Patton, 2002). The
adolescents’ interviews were analysed through content analysis. The first step was
to identify meaning units, which were coded. Then categories were outlined, based
on the most frequent codes in the adolescents’ interviews but also on the
frequencies in each separate interview. From these categories, themes were created
in line with the theoretical basis and questions of the present study (Graneheim &
Lundman, 2004). The themes and categories were: initial connection to foster
family (categories: guided into the family, having a choice); meeting basic needs
(categories: daily life routines, bodily care, understanding rules); participation in
decisions (categories: negotiation, personal responsibility, trust); creating a warm
family atmosphere (categories: doing things together, talking, joking); managing
ambivalence (category: conflicts); openness to birth family (category: contact with
birth family).
With these themes and categories as a starting point, the foster parents’ and
biological parents’ interviews were analysed, as were the text messages and
transcribed video recordings. The latter were viewed several times, first to get an
overall impression of the interaction, then to focus on the non-verbal commu-
nication (Brunnberg, 2003). Silverman (2005) recommends maintaining a clear
focus in the analysis of video data; in this case that meant keeping the above
themes and categories in mind.
A comparison was made between interviews, text messages, network maps and
video recordings of each case. This kind of triangulation, collecting different data
on the same question, can contribute to the overall credibility of the results
(Patton, 2002). Even though network maps and text messages are not mentioned
as frequently in the results as interviews, these methods are still valuable
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contributions that strengthen the findings. Finally all three cases were compared
with each other to find variations and common patterns (Patton, 2002).
Findings
Background
Before placement, all adolescents had serious problems, for example with long
periods of truancy/absence from school. The young people had stayed in the foster
home for around eight months. They are all native-born Swedes. Lotta has been in
foster care four years before this placement, while this is the first placement for
Kristina and Kristoffer. They are each the only child in the foster family.
Admitting foster youth into the foster family
What the narratives describing the young people’s arrival and initial period in the
foster home have in common is that they convey the feeling that it is somewhat
strange to come to another family. Kristina thinks it was difficult for her to move
in with people she did not know, especially for the first two weeks. It took some
time to adapt to the new family, and she describes a kind of turning point during
a holiday, when she started to feel more comfortable in the foster home. Being
together all the time, doing things together like playing games, changed her
opinion about the foster parents and made a difference.
I had to stay in a holiday village, which didn’t really please me. (. . .) Now,afterwards, I can admit that it actually was really fun out there. (. . .) I think that Irealised that people can be funny and stuff (laughter).
Lotta had information about the family, had met them before, and her sibling and mother
liked them. That her sibling was still living there when she arrived made it easier.
There was someone here who I, like, knew, who I could talk with, and stuff. If therewasn’t anyone I knew, then I wouldn’t dare to ask and say certain things and so on.
Her sibling moved out, but nevertheless had been a support in the beginning. Lotta
compares this with her first placement, when she was given no clear information about why
she was being placed in foster care or was too young to understand. She thinks that, among
other things, this came to affect her relationship to the former foster parents negatively, and
eventually she ran away. This time she had all the information and had been involved in
choosing the family.
Kristoffer experienced his situation as desperate when foster care was suggested.
When an elderly aunt offered to be his foster mother he was very happy. He had often
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stayed in her home and felt secure there. He was used to the environment and could
remain in the same school.
For Kristina, who did not choose her family and did not know anyone, it took some
time to get used to her new family. Close family interaction with shared emotions, like
having fun together, appears to have given Kristina feelings of joy and solidarity (Scheff,
1994; Collins, 2004). Having at least one person who is familiar and to be involved in
choosing the family seem to be important. These adolescents’ narratives show their
ability to reflect upon their previous experiences compared to their present situation
and give it a new meaning (see James & Prout, 1997; Holstein & Gubrium, 1999).
Meeting basic needs
The young people report very different routines compared with their former family,
such as having regular meals and a fixed time for going to bed, which they appreciate.
Both birth parents and foster parents emphasise how much these basic routines mean
for the child’s well-being, for example being more relaxed and having more energy to
work with their own problems.
Some family routines are regulated by foster parents’ explicit rules. One rule in all
families is to be on time, for example to dinner, or call if you are delayed. Neither the
adolescents nor the foster parents think they have many family rules. The foster
parents regard themselves as flexible. These young people now think it is a matter of
course, for example, to go to school and to do homework, even though they did not
do so before placement. They do not even talk about it in terms of rules, nor do the
foster parents. Foster parents may also assist with homework. In the kinship family
they are helpful and assist each other. Kristoffer’s foster parents think this takes place
quite naturally.
Routines in daily life, like regular meals, can be seen as rituals (Collins, 2004)
symbolising caring. The narratives depict routines for bodily care and assistance with
educational improvement, which help the adolescents to normalise their daily life
compared to their situation before placement. There are just a few explicit rules in
these families, most self-explanatory in the kinship family with mutual consideration
as a guideline.
Negotiating before decisions
In addition to these self-evident rules mentioned above, both adolescents and foster
parents report negotiating to find solutions acceptable to all. Both emphasise the
importance of the young people’s participation. The video recordings also show
cooperation, for example when foster parents and adolescents discuss subjects
pertaining to daily life, like driving the young person to a friend’s house. Kristina
reflects on one of the negotiations with her foster parents, when she wanted to get a
part-time job.
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I think they kind of know that if I can’t handle it, I’ll notice myself. If I have toomuch homework (. . .) I think they trust me that way.
This corresponds to her father’s opinion about the foster parents: that they show
consideration, have an open dialogue, and set limits. He thinks her attitude has changed
from being stubborn to talkative.
Lotta describes negotiations in her foster family in terms of both sides trying to
find an acceptable solution to make it fair. This corresponds to her foster parents’
statement that they want her to tell them what she wants, to find her own opinion.
Then they can decide together. Lotta says they let her know when they are dissatisfied,
but they are not angry. She thinks they trust her more than her own mother does.
Kristoffer describes this negotiation as having a kind of ‘cooperation’ rule. They
help and trust each other somehow. If necessary they discuss the matter and find a
solution. Consequently, he is involved in most decisions.
Negotiations and discussions between the foster parents and children can define
their mutual and divergent cultural capital (Collins, 2004). These interactions, which
make the adolescents reflect and find their own standpoint, seem to increase their
sense of responsibility and self-esteem (Scheff, 1994). In other words negotiations are
a way of strengthening the young people as social agents (James & Prout, 1997). The
trust of the foster parents also seems to be of crucial importance.
Joking and doing things together
Joking and laughter are emphasised by both adolescents and foster carers as being
important parts of family interaction. It is also obvious in the video recordings
that mutual joking and gentle teasing between the young person and family
members make the atmosphere more relaxed and pleasant. The adolescents are
often active and enthusiastic in the interactions, laughing or smiling, as in card-
playing, when they are teasing each other about their good or bad hands. Their
way of joking, as well as the topics, give the impression of being something
familiar to the participants, but not to an outsider, such as when they joke and
tease each other about how to ride a horse, with everyone laughing and smiling.
Another example is when the foster mother and adolescent are laughing at the
foster father’s way of dipping buns in his coffee.
In one video recording, in which the visiting adult foster brother participates, he
and the adolescent do not really acknowledge each other at first; instead both address
the foster father, who is busy responding to both. The adolescent sometimes seems a
bit left out of the interaction, but tries to get into it. There is a kind of turning point
when the foster brother turns to the adolescent, laughs heartily and says something
friendly in a joking way to the adolescent, who at first looks a bit confused but then
smiles. The communication then becomes more reciprocal between the two of them
with more eye-contact.
On the whole, the adolescents describe talking with their foster carers as
something they appreciate and often do. In the video recordings of dinner/coffee,
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they talk about mundane issues like school, television programmes, leisure time
activities, etc. The importance of having time to spend together is emphasised by
both youth and foster carers. The young people all have someone at home when
they come home from school. The foster fathers also seem to participate in the
housework and show whole-hearted interest in the adolescent in the video
recordings.
According to her text-message responses, Kristina is often alone in her room, but
feels good anyway. She sometimes watches sports together with her foster parents.
Kristina reflects about when she feels good in the foster family.
Yes, jokes make me happy, you know (laughter). They (the foster parents) can bevery humorous, they have their moments (laughter).
One of the changes Lotta mentions after placement is that she has got ‘a new family life’.
She feels best in the foster family when they understand what she means, and also when
they do things together, like watch TV or have dinner*it feels like they are doing it for
her. Her foster parents emphasise the importance Lotta attaches to having dinner
together. With regard to the change she has gone through after placement, she believes it
is because of their encouragement.
They’ve pepped me up, or whatever you call it. Made me want to be happy like this,and well, made me laugh and so on. And if you just have fun like this, this is how Iwant to be when I grow up.
Kristoffer takes part in a lot of activities together with his foster parents and biological
parent. This is obvious in his text messages, which also confirm how good he feels while
doing this. Kristoffer tells about when he feels best in the foster family.
Yes, it’s when we play cards and have meals together and watch a film together. Wedo it quite often.
The adolescents seem to be included in a kind of joking and gentle teasing that may be
symbols of membership in the foster family. These jokes and also mutual activities can be
defined as rituals, creating positive emotional energy within the family members and
solidarity in the family (Collins, 2004). The turning point in one video recording
mentioned earlier can be a gesture of inclusion by the adult foster brother with a positive
response from the youth.
Managing ambivalence
Kristina says that she still has bad days, days when she wonders why she came here,
into the foster family. Upon further reflection she realises that if she had gone on as
before, she may have become so depressed that she would have committed suicide.
She dislikes when people are arguing, also in the foster family, something that her
foster parents have noticed. Kristina thinks it may be because she used to have many
conflicts with her mother. Her foster parents usually have another way of showing
when something is wrong.
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In fact they can laugh it off in a rather good way so you don’t mind, but can still seethat it’s wrong.
Sometimes Lotta can feel a little lonely, especially when the foster father is away longer
than usual at work. She reflects that this might be a reason why she often stays out
with friends, which is obvious in her text messages. Lotta describes when she does not
feel quite all right in the foster family.
If I’m cross and she (the foster mother) is cross and we disagree about something orother, then I start to feel bad. (. . .) Anyhow, we always find a solution. (. . .) If she iscross, I always notice it.
Kristoffer thinks they can easily solve disagreements in the foster family by talking about
them. In the beginning he was not used to revealing his feelings, because it was hard to do
so in his former home.
I was so careful about showing emotions then. Now I have become much better.(. . .) It’s probably because I feel safe here. And we’ve talked about how it’s simplynormal. It has to be okay to get angry and sad and all that.
Kristoffer’s foster parents know about his fear of conflicts and describe how they have
encouraged him to express his emotions. They think this has made a difference, and his
parent also thinks it has made their communication easier.
Both Kristina and Kristoffer are aware of their problems with handling conflicts.
Kristoffer’s foster parents have consciously helped him to deal with this, normalising his
emotions. This was probably facilitated by their sharing similar cultural capital
(Collins, 2004). Lotta’s statement may exemplify how failed rituals deprive the
individual of emotional energy. The sensitivity Lotta shows in recognising her foster
mother’s feelings can be interpreted as the instinctive awareness that a young person,
used to different foster homes, has developed in order to adapt to new environments.
Openness to the birth family
Kristina and Lotta show a bit more distance to the foster parents in their network maps
than Kristoffer, who draw them as close as his parents. All foster parents and birth
parents describe having a good relationship to each other. Foster parents see regular
contact between adolescent and parents as important. The adolescents all feel very close
to one or both parents and siblings, according to the network maps.
Kristina calls her father regularly and sees him at least once a month. Her text-
message responses while she is visiting him show her close connection to him. Her
father is one of the people she trusts most of all. She can talk with him about things
she may not want to speak with the foster parents about.
Lotta visits her parent about once a month. She goes there when she is tired and
wants to rest. Her parent also experiences her as relaxed when she comes home.
Lotta’s narrative shows how she behaves when there.
Then, when I walk around there, because I toss things everywhere, I feel at home.
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Kristoffer sees his parents about once a week. His foster parents have good relations with
both parents. He does some activities together with the parent who is interviewed and
also with other relatives in the neighbourhood. According to his network map, these
relatives are also of crucial importance to him.
That Kristoffer shows a close connection, not only to his parents, but to his foster
parents and extended network, is probably due to them being close relatives.
Nevertheless Kristina and Lotta show an overall positive attitude and capacity to
adapt to the new environment (James & Prout, 1997). Furthermore this support from
their biological families might be especially important to them through giving
strength and facilitating the adaptation process in the foster home. A likely
prerequisite for birth parents’ supporting role is a good relationship between them
and the foster family, based on openness from both sides.
Discussion and conclusions
In this study of inclusion practices in foster care, the importance of both structure and
warmth is elucidated. Daily routines make life stable and safe*a base for a ‘normal’
childhood (see e.g. Andersson, 2001). Joking, laughter and mutual talk and activities
create a warm feeling in the family*a ‘happy home’ with a warm atmosphere (Gilligan,
2006; Brown & Campbell, 2007). The adolescents participate in discussions and
negotiations to find mutual solutions*an important element of good quality care (see
e.g. Gilligan, 2006; Geenen & Powers, 2007). Finally, foster parents’ openness to birth
parents, makes it easier for the latter to be accessible to the adolescent if needed, and
may also have facilitated their relationship (see e.g. Andersson, 2009).
What is not so evident in previous research is the way in which ‘warmth’ is created.
In particular, joking, gentle teasing and laughing, which in this paper seem to be
important inclusion practices, are rather unknown aspects of foster care, nor to some
extent is the importance of doing things together in everyday life. It also appears that
joking can be a strategy for avoiding and maybe even solving conflicts. Joking,
laughing, etc. can be seen as rituals generating positive emotional energy within the
family, which may connect the adolescent more closely with the foster family. Collins
(2004) argues that the boundaries of inclusion and exclusion are manifested and re-
created in the collective experience of laughing. This corresponds to findings in
humour research that laughter and smiling are important social behaviours in
everyday social interactions; to show interest, reduce tensions and integrate a person
into a special group (Foot & Chapman, 2007), and the most important group in our
lives is the family (Newman, 2004). There is also an aggressive side of laughter, which
however did not appear in the current study.
The young people’s own active contribution to creating this warm family atmosphere
stands out in this paper. Their capacity to appreciate and take advantage of the
opportunities in the foster home is also visible. Their willingness to communicate and
find mutual solutions shows their interest in and capacity to negotiate and adapt to the
new family. This seems to increase their responsibility and self-confidence, and can also
be a form of training in democratic values. The intense participation of the young
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people can be a way of strengthening them as social agents (James & Prout, 1997). All
this may create an open family climate and make it possible to avoid a more discipline-
focused strategy in the foster family (see Kerr & Stattin, 2000; Hojer, 2001).
Differences between the foster families in this study are that the kinship family
members spend more time together, their network is more closely involved, and
mutual caring between foster parents and foster child is more emphasised in the
kinship family (see Farmer & Moyers, 2008). It is also interesting that the adolescent
entering a previously unknown family was gradually included through intense joyful
interactions at the beginning. In the network home, entering the foster family was
made easier by having someone familiar there, who probably served as a guide into
the foster family.
this study the small number of cases limits the generalisability of findings, but in
return provides an in-depth understanding of the subject. That the selection of positive
cases leads to mainly positive outcomes is in line with the aim to identify inclusion
practices. There are no notable differences between the cases according to age, ethnicity,
class, etc. that might influence the result. However, that these adolescents are each the
only child in the foster families and have one foster parent available at home might have
an impact. Furthermore, in Sweden, all kinship foster families have to be regulated
through the social authorities and have the same legal rights as other foster families, so
this is a contextual difference compared to many other European countries (see e.g.
Broad, 2004). In any event, the inclusion practices described in this paper, particularly
humour as a door-opener, may be of some interest for social workers when investigating
and supervising foster families in Sweden as well as in other European countries.
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