Publication

AIMS : Abused adolescents who have reached the transitional stage (those who have reached the end of the child welfare service) face various problems. We will present the perceptions of foster parents who have experience raising abused children/adolescents. METHODS : The investigation period was from September 2012 to August 2013. We conducted a self-administered questionnaire survey on foster parents. In Japan, a foster home where the parents are raising five or more foster children is called a "Family Home." The subjects of this study were both the "foster parent" and the "family home." We distributed and collected the survey forms by mail. RESULTS : We received a total of 358 responses (85.4% response rate), that is, from 85 family homes and 273 foster parents. There were 229 (64.0%) cases of foster parents raising children/adolescents who had been abused or were suspected of having been abuse. We analyzed 202 valid responses. More than 60% of the foster parents had strong anxiety about how an abused child/adolescent?with low communication skills, low stress-coping skills, and no basic life-skills?would manage the transition. Of the foster parents, 86.1% felt a strong need for continued support after the end of the child welfare service. There was a significant correlation between the need for continued support after the end of the child welfare service and anxiety about low communication skills (r =. 327, p <. 001), low stress-coping skills (r =. 311, p <. 001)