La parentalité d’accueil dans le contexte des visites supervisées : étude sur le point de vue des parents d’accueil
The main objective of this research is to understand how foster parenting is exercised in the context of supervised visitation. From the foster families' point of view, this study aims to describe their understanding of supervised visits; their involvement in their planning; the support they provide to the child; the communication they have with various parties involved in supervised visits. To this end, semi-structured interviews were conducted with fourteen foster parents affiliated with the youth program division from the Centre intégré universitaire de santé et de services sociaux du Centre-Sud-de-l'Île-de-Montréal. The interviews were subject to a continuous thematization. The theoretical and conceptual ecosystemic model of parenting was used to describe the various dimensions of foster parenting. The results of this research show that foster families have a good understanding of supervised visits in terms of their objectives and the reasons for their implementation. The foster families’ involvement in the planning of supervised visits varies. Some are involved in decision-making. While others have choices imposed on them by caseworkers. As for the accompaniment of children, a need for training and/or coaching was identified by a good number of foster families. This study also shows that the majority of foster families have positive exchanges with caseworkers. As for communication with the child’s biological parents, a variety of experiences were reported by the foster families. The participants' discourse analysis highlighted the challenges of foster parenting in the context of supervised visits. It also raised issues related to the recognition of foster families as partners in the delivery of services to children. In conclusion, this research offers interesting avenues for reflection regarding foster parenting and practices for supervised visits.
foster care supervised visitation parenthood child protection