Communication about placement and family functioning in kinship foster families

This study aims to analyze some basic aspects of communication on placement in a sample of kinship foster families, and tries to relate them with different dimensions of family functioning and children's psychological and behavioural adjustment. The sample consisted of 189 families and children of the province of Seville ( Spain). The results show the difficulties with which carers face the task of communicating about the placement together with their training and support needs. Results also indicate that communication about the foster care is related both with the progress experienced by the minors in their placement setting and some aspects of family functioning. Thus, the children fostered in families who had spoken with them about their placement showed better adaptation throughout the placement than those who had not had the opportunity to discuss these issues with their carers. In addition, carers who had established this type of communication with the fostered children showed higher disposition to respond to the children's psychological and educational needs, and to be part of families that show higher levels of cohesion and greater capacity to adapt to new situations.