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Reflective Partnership Between an Adult and a Child in Institutional Foster Care – in Search of (the Child's) Agency

Katarzyna Ornacka (Jagiellonian University, Poland)

Establishing Child Centred Practice in a Changing World, Part A

ISBN: 978-1-80117-407-7, eISBN: 978-1-80117-406-0

Publication date: 14 November 2022

Abstract

Though undergoing changes for a decade, the foster care system in Poland is still dominated by the adult model of childhood management. Assuming that the biological, psychological and social immaturity of children precludes their autonomy, this model expects adults to focus on control over the integration of a child into society. A consequence is the instrumentalisation of childhood and the deprivation of a child's sense of agency, i.e., the right to (co-)create one's own life space. Additionally, the foster care system concentration on adult problems relegates children to the background. Treatment of children as the object of adult interactions significantly impedes approaches that could empower, reduces chances for relationships built on dialogue, limits a child's openness and authenticity and hinders development of his/her identity structure and resourcefulness. Such institutionalised systems do not satisfy a child's needs, especially unconditional acceptance, enjoyment of life, and self-fulfilment. Instead, from the child's perspective, residential/foster care is a traumatic experience that deprives a human being of childhood. Such an institutional experience interferes in the acquisition of functional patterns for adulthood, reinforces traumas, and denies a chance to reclaim one's childhood. Research conducted with children indicates a need for a change in direction. The aim herein is to show the current situation of children in the Polish foster care system, identify threats to the development of an autonomous identity, and present an alternative, child-centred foster care model in which the caregiver treats the child as a competent person.

Keywords

Citation

Ornacka, K. (2022), "Reflective Partnership Between an Adult and a Child in Institutional Foster Care – in Search of (the Child's) Agency", Frankel, S. (Ed.) Establishing Child Centred Practice in a Changing World, Part A (Emerald Studies in Child Centred Practice), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 133-146. https://doi.org/10.1108/978-1-80117-406-020221010

Publisher

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Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2023 Katarzyna Ornacka. Published under exclusive licence by Emerald Publishing Limited