Dissertation Research: Self and Social Construction of Identity Among U. S. Foster Mothers

本项目资助康涅狄格大学一名学生的学位论文研究。该项目测试了一个假设，即无论种族、民族、年龄或社会阶层如何，参加康涅狄格州资助的寄养项目的妇女都会为她们所照顾的孩子创造一种“母亲”的身份。这需要根据情感纽带，而不是生物学或法律，将寄养儿童纳入他们的家庭。学生将选择120个人（60对夫妇）作为样本，对他们作为养父母的经历进行广泛的民族志采访。基于这些知识，学生将对该地区3个主要民族（欧美人、非裔美国人和西印度人）的360名妇女进行意义文化测试，并将其细分为新手和有经验的寄养父母以及私人或国家资助的项目。通过研究，面对以“家庭”的法律或生物学定义为前提的儿童福利政策，女性是否、如何以及为什么会创造并维持自己作为“母亲”而不是“寄养母亲”和“孩子”而不是“寄养儿童”的感觉，该项目将澄清导致养父母幻想破灭、疲劳并最终辍学的情况。项目所创造的知识将有助于形成更有效的儿童福利政策和做法。

This project funds the dissertatin research of a student from the University of Connecticut. The project tests the hypothesis that, irrespective of race, ethnicity, age, or social class, women who participate in Connecticut state-sponsored fostering programs create an identity of `mother` to the children in their care. This entails incorporating foster children into their family based on affective bonds, rather than biology or law. The student will select a sample of 120 individuals (60 couples) for extensive ethnographic interviews on their experiences as foster parents. Based on this knowledge the student will construct and adminster cultural tests of meaning to a total of 360 women in the 3 primary ethnic groups in the region (Euro-American, African-American, and West Indian), subdivided into novice and experienced foster parents and private or state-sponsored programs. By examining if, how, and why, in the face of child welfare policies premised on legal or biological definitions of `family,` women create and maintain a sense of themselves as `mothers` rather than `foster mothers` and `children` rather than `foster children,` the project will clarify the circumstances that lead to foster parent disillusionment, fatigue and, finally, drop-out. The knowledge created by project will contribute to the formation of more effective child welfare policy and practice.