Foster Parents' Experiences with Child-Oriented Family Therapy: A Qualitative Study

Child-oriented family therapy places great emphasis on involving children directly in the course of therapy. The research question for this study was as follows: what are foster parents' experiences from participating in child-oriented family therapy? To answer this question, we conducted four semi-structured qualitative interviews with foster parents who were connected to a child and adolescent mental health clinic. With the use of interpretative phenomenological analysis, four main findings were identified: (1) The therapist's competence and way of being have significance; (2) Therapy helps in getting to know the inner life of the child; (3) The everyday life of the family is worked with through the sandbox; and (4) Understanding the child's perspectives helps foster parents to relate in new ways with the child. The study showed that child-oriented family therapy provides arenas and facilitates dialogical processes in which the child is heard. The foster parents found that child-oriented family therapy had its starting point in real challenges the family faced every day. The concrete work in child-oriented family therapy led the foster parents to experience better collaboration between family members.