Connecting the dots: how indigenous foster carers' own lived experience impacts on their foster caring role

Abstract

This paper will present findings from research with Indigenous Foster Carers who were part of the Mackay Whitsunday large study of Foster Care and Foster Carers (2000-2004). To understand the lives of Indigenous Foster Carers there needs to be a connection to the part that history has played in their own lives. Past policies, which involved the emotionally violent removal of Indigenous children (the Stolen Generations) from their families and communities, left many families disenfranchised or destroyed. This research has looked at the part this connection to the past has played and it has explored whether past experiences had any specific bearing on the decision to foster. A vital component of this study is a detailed analysis of Indigenous Foster Carers' own views. Topics analysed include Foster Carers' motivation, attitudes, hopes, fears and aspirations in relation to education, training and support, childcare agencies, and continuing connections with a foster child's biological family, culture and community.