Microstudies on the Situation of Foster Parents in Germany Dealing with Specific Needs of Children with Disabilities – Creating Normalcy: “we had to learn so much…”

There is little knowledge and even less research in the area of foster care concerning children and youth with special needs because of medical fragility and disability. In Germany, they are an invisible and forgotten population at risk in foster care since legislation regarding children and youth with disabilities is ambiguous. Nevertheless they are living in foster families and profit from a familial setting.

The purpose of this study is to understand the challenges, ways or patterns foster parents choose to handle their lives with a special needs child or youth.
The research design is a qualitative one involving the instrument of narrative inquiry through 19 in-depth interviews with a standardized catalog of open-ended questions after the narration is finished.

It was found that foster parents deal with this new and often unforeseen situation in an Action-, Resource- and Reflection managed way according to their biographically acquired view of the self and the world.

To understand these three themes or patterns gives administrative bodies the opportunity to recruit, retain and train those precious foster-/resource families adequately, strengthen their well-being and ability to perform well for themselves and their children and youth. The study furthermore shows the inclusive effect foster parents have on society.