Unplanned breakdown of foster mothering : biographical perspectives on identity challenges of foster mothers

Reimer, Daniela

doi:10.56687/9781447365648-014

Publication type:	Book part
Type of review:	Peer review (publication)
Title:	Unplanned breakdown of foster mothering : biographical perspectives on identity challenges of foster mothers
Authors:	Reimer, Daniela
et. al:	No
DOI:	10.56687/9781447365648-014
Published in:	Biographical Research and the Meanings of Mothering. Life Choices, Identities and Methods
Editors of the parent work:	Nurse, Lyudmilla Moran, Lisa Sidiropulu-Janků, Kateřina
Page(s):	194
Pages to:	215
Issue Date:	30-Aug-2023
Publisher / Ed. Institution:	Policy Press
Publisher / Ed. Institution:	Bristol
ISBN:	9781447365648
Language:	English
Subjects:	Motherhood; Foster mother; Foster care break down; Identity; Biography
Subject (DDC):	306.8: Family sociology 362.7: Youth services
Abstract:	The legal and social situation of foster care and the role expectations of foster parenthood embody a variety of tensions. In many foster families, mothers experience their role as ‘the mother of the foster child’, and foster mothers want to be ‘good mothers’ – often even ‘better mothers’ compared with the child’s birth mother. Accordingly, foster mothers tend to exhibit intensive mothering. However, if foster care placements break down, the affected foster mothers experience the breakdown not only as an end of their role as foster mothers, but as a shattering of their entire identity. The chapter is based on a study conducted in Switzerland, Germany and the UK on ‘Breakdown in Foster Care’ and focuses solely on the German sample. A brief introduction to the structural context of foster care in Germany is provided, and structural ambivalences and contradictions reagrding foster care from the German-language literature are presented and discussed. In the context of the aforementioned project, partial biographical interviews of the various actors involved were conducted, and multi-perspective case studies were reconstructed. The chapter draws on two contrasting case studies of foster mothers and their foster sons.
URI:	https://digitalcollection.zhaw.ch/handle/11475/28598
Fulltext version:	Published version
License (according to publishing contract):	Licence according to publishing contract
Departement:	Social Work
Organisational Unit:	Institute of Childhood, Youth and Family (IKJF)
Published as part of the ZHAW project:	Unerwartete Abbrüche von Pflegeverhältnissen im Kinder- und Jugendalter
Appears in collections:	Publikationen Soziale Arbeit

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Reimer, D. (2023). Unplanned breakdown of foster mothering : biographical perspectives on identity challenges of foster mothers. In L. Nurse, L. Moran, & K. Sidiropulu-Janků (Eds.), Biographical Research and the Meanings of Mothering. Life Choices, Identities and Methods (pp. 194–215). Policy Press. https://doi.org/10.56687/9781447365648-014

Reimer, D. (2023) ‘Unplanned breakdown of foster mothering : biographical perspectives on identity challenges of foster mothers’, in L. Nurse, L. Moran, and K. Sidiropulu-Janků (eds) Biographical Research and the Meanings of Mothering. Life Choices, Identities and Methods. Bristol: Policy Press, pp. 194–215. Available at: https://doi.org/10.56687/9781447365648-014.

D. Reimer, “Unplanned breakdown of foster mothering : biographical perspectives on identity challenges of foster mothers,” in Biographical Research and the Meanings of Mothering. Life Choices, Identities and Methods, L. Nurse, L. Moran, and K. Sidiropulu-Janků, Eds. Bristol: Policy Press, 2023, pp. 194–215. doi: 10.56687/9781447365648-014.

REIMER, Daniela, 2023. Unplanned breakdown of foster mothering : biographical perspectives on identity challenges of foster mothers. In: Lyudmilla NURSE, Lisa MORAN und Kateřina SIDIROPULU-JANKŮ (Hrsg.), Biographical Research and the Meanings of Mothering. Life Choices, Identities and Methods. Bristol: Policy Press. S. 194–215. ISBN 9781447365648

Reimer, Daniela. 2023. “Unplanned Breakdown of Foster Mothering : Biographical Perspectives on Identity Challenges of Foster Mothers.” In Biographical Research and the Meanings of Mothering. Life Choices, Identities and Methods, edited by Lyudmilla Nurse, Lisa Moran, and Kateřina Sidiropulu-Janků, 194–215. Bristol: Policy Press. https://doi.org/10.56687/9781447365648-014.

Reimer, Daniela. “Unplanned Breakdown of Foster Mothering : Biographical Perspectives on Identity Challenges of Foster Mothers.” Biographical Research and the Meanings of Mothering. Life Choices, Identities and Methods, edited by Lyudmilla Nurse et al., Policy Press, 2023, pp. 194–215, https://doi.org/10.56687/9781447365648-014.