Children’s perceptions about contact and subjective well-being in residential and foster care

João M. S. Carvalho; Paulo Delgado

doi:10.7179/PSRI_2021.37.08

Autores/as

João M. S. Carvalho Universidade Portucalense (UPT) http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0683-296X
Paulo Delgado Escola Superior de Educação do Instituto Politécnico do Porto

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.7179/PSRI_2021.37.08

Palabras clave:

contacto, acogida familiar, acogida residencial, bienestar subjetivo, visitas

Resumen

El contacto entre los niños en acogida familiar y residencial y sus familias biológicas tiene un impacto en el desarrollo de los niños y en la estabilidad de la colocación. El contacto también es importante para sus relaciones sociales y su sentido de pertenencia y bienestar. El objetivo de este estudio fue, desde el punto de vista de los niños, describir, analizar y comparar el contacto en el cuidado residencial y en la acogida familiar en términos de su frecuencia, ubicación de la visita, sentimientos durante y después de las visitas, dificultades de la visita, felicidad con su colocación, su autoconfianza, percepción futura sobre sus vidas y percepción de su bienestar subjetivo. Utilizamos una muestra de 145 niños en cuidado residencial y todos los niños en acogida familiar (39), de edades comprendidas entre 11 y 15 años, de los mismos cuatro distritos portugueses. Los resultados indicaron que los niños en cuidado residencial tuvieron más contacto y visitas con sus padres que los niños en acogida familiar, siendo las llamadas telefónicas la forma más utilizada para contactar a los niños. La mayoría de los niños presentaron alegría o satisfacción durante las visitas de los padres y sentimientos más difusos después de la visita. Además, a la mayoría de los niños les gustaría tener más visitas y solo una minoría presenta algunas dificultades para su cumplimiento. Sin embargo, los niños en acogida familiar tenían más confianza en sí mismos, optimismo en relación con su futuro, felicidad en relación con su colocación y un mayor bienestar subjetivo que los niños en cuidado residencial. En resumen, parecía que el tipo de colocación para niños en riesgo es más importante para su futuro que la existencia de contacto con sus padres.

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Biografía del autor/a

João M. S. Carvalho , Universidade Portucalense (UPT)

João M. S. Carvalho is Associate Professor at Oporto Global University in Portugal. He is a researcher at CICS.NOVA – Interdisciplinary Centre of Social Sciences; REMIT – Research on Economics, Management, and Information Technologies; and InED – Research and Innovation Centre in Education. He has a degree in Business Management, a post-graduation in Social Gerontology, a MSc in Economics, and a PhD in Business Sciences. He worked for 15 years at pharmaceutical companies on several management positions. He was the CEO of Centre of Entrepreneurship ISMAI-Tecmaia, and he also has been working as a researcher and consultant in the areas on innovation, entrepreneurship and sustainability, related to people, organizations and territories. He has published several books, book chapters and articles in international scientific journals.

Paulo Delgado , Escola Superior de Educação do Instituto Politécnico do Porto

Paulo Delgado has a degree in Law, a master’s in Education Administration, and a Ph.D. in Education Sciences by the University of Santiago de Compostela, with aggregation title in Education Sciences by UTAD – Universidade de Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro. He is Associate Professor at Escola Superior de Educação do Instituto Politécnico do Porto and coordinator of the Degree in Social Education. He is a researcher at INED - Centro de Investigação e Inovação em Educação and collaborator at SEPA - Grupo de Investigación en Pedagogía Social y Educación Ambiental. He is member of the direction of SIPS since 2005. His main areas of research are Social Education, Childhood and Youth Protection System, and Foster Care. He is author of several books, book chapters and international articles in many scientific journals.

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