Be(com)ing Family: A Systematic Review of Stakeholders' Perspectives on Family in Family Foster Care

When a child enters a foster family, it weaves an intricate web that profoundly changes the relationships and bonds of all involved, making it difficult to define 'family' using predefined criteria. Despite the far-reaching impact on all involved, no previous study has systematically reviewed and qualitatively analysed how parents, foster carers, children of foster carers and foster care workers in kith, kinship or nonkinship care understand family. This study examines the characteristics of studies examining stakeholders' family understandings, how stakeholders define family and whom they consider family. Following PRISMA guidelines, 18 studies were included and analysed using a reflexive thematic analysis. Results show a plurality of family meanings, encompassing perceptions of family in the context of care and support, biological and legal dimensions of family, emotional and relational aspects of family and family as a site of stability and transition. These meanings also involve intricate aspects, such as the thin line between devotion and duty in kith and kinship caregiving. Who stakeholders considered family could be categorized as 'blood relatives as 'natural' family members', 'legally bounded family membership', 'chosen family', 'differing views on who is family' and 'reconciling all family perspectives in the foster care system'. Implications for research, practice and policymaking are discussed.