Child Welfare Practices and Foster Care: Relational Realities

‘Dark sides of kinship’ such as the abuse some kids are subject to by, or while in the care of, their biological parents remain prevalent in our day and age. However, society’s tolerance of these types of occurrences has greatly diminished. To assuage familial tragedies, formal state-run foster homes can alleviate the harmful effects caused by ‘negative kinships’ by offering safe havens to vulnerable children. This remedy is hardly a panacea though. By exploring three ethnographic examples and further readings from an anthropological lens, we argue that despite the protective essence foster homes entail in theory, much harm emerges from them in practice. The caretaking involved in foster care, although generally benevolent, promotes a semblance of normality that may equally mask darker aspects of the relational reality behind the precarious and sometimes deceptive ‘kin solidarity’ produced within these institutionalized settings. Furthermore, contemporary foster care in the West showcases how politics and kinship are entangled. This can be challenging throughout the fostering process, but especially when services - and, thus, associated relationships - are terminated. To increase the effectiveness of the protection granted to children who are severely affected by ‘negative kinships,’ including improving their potential prospects and well-being, we argue that it is critical that work be done to better identify and understand their embodied relational experiences.