“You are mum and then they are mum”: Negotiating roles, relationships, and contact in out‐of‐home care

• Published date: 01 July 2022
• Author: Susan Collings,Amy C. Wright
• Date: 01 July 2022
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/fare.12649

RESEARCH

“You are mum and then they are mum”: Negotiating

roles, relationships, and contact in out-of-home care

Susan Collings|Amy C. Wright

Research Centre for Children and Families,

University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia

Correspondence

Susan Collings, Research Centre for Children

and Families. Sydney School of Education and

Social Work, University of Sydney, Australia.

Education Building A35, The University of

Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia,

Email: susan.collings@sydney.edu.au

Funding information

This research was funded through a grant from

the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at the

University of Sydney.

Abstract

Objective: Birth family contact can be undermined by rela-

tionship difficulties between adults from children’s two

families, especially in relation to role ambiguity for mother

figures. Research to understand relationships between

birth mothers and female caregivers across all placement

types is needed.

Background: In Australia, children in long-term care,

guardianship, and open adoption have direct contact with

members of their birth families. The extent to which

maternal figures work together is critical to children’s abil-

ity to enjoy ongoing birth family connections, particularly

First Nations children, who are overrepresented in out-of-

home care.

Method: Qualitative methods were used to understand the

personal attributes that influence relationships between

five dyads of birth mothers and their child’s female care-

givers in New South Wales. Four were foster or kinship

carers, two had adoptions underway, and one was a legal

guardian. Three birth mothers identified as Aboriginal,

and no caregivers did so. Analysis mapped birth mothers’

acceptance and carers’communicative openness and inter-

preted influences of interpersonal skills, contact, and

power dynamics on relationship quality.

Results: Positive and natural interactions between children’

mother figures can exist irrespective of legal arrangement

when both are able to demonstrate emotional competence

and learn relationship-building skills and overcome power

imbalances.

Conclusion: The complexity of managing relationships in

the context of permanent child removal is influenced by

how well children’s two mother figures renegotiate their

roles.

Implications: Families need support to discuss the goals

and purpose of contact and identify relational resources

Received: 20 August 2020Revised: 20 September 2021Accepted: 6 November 2021

DOI: 10.1111/fare.12649

© 2022 National Council on Family Relations.

Family Relations. 2022;71:1211–1225. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/fare 1211