Love and the Corporate Parent

The Position and Potential of Christian Foster Carers in Parenting Children in Care

Introduction and Summary of Research

This research relates to the experience of Christian foster carers, such as myself, who care for children on behalf of local authorities in England. Foster carers bring their experience to their role, often experience of raising birth children, as well as their conscious or unconscious beliefs about how caring for a child should be done. For Christian foster carers this may include beliefs or principles based on their faith. While a foster carer is in the position of caring for the child and their needs on a day-to-day basis, they do not hold legal parental responsibility for the child; that is held by the local authority (LA) and/or the child’s birth mother (and, possibly, father). A result of this that there is a large number of people involved in the lives of a child in care, including the child’s social worker, a designated teacher at school, and other more distant individuals, in addition to the foster carer(s). Although foster carers have some authority delegated by the LA regarding what they may and may not do for the child, they are always acting on behalf of the LA. Accordingly, I proposed to conduct research into ways in which a Christian foster carer’s approach to caring for a child might be in tension with the requirements of the LA.

Considering this further, and starting to research the literature, my attention was caught by the concept of corporate parenting which defines the LA’s responsibility to children in care. There is considerable literature which discusses what corporate parenting is and how LAs are to perform that role. However, the potential contribution of foster carers to discharging the responsibilities of corporate parenting is rarely mentioned. I am therefore now proposing to consider, firstly, the extent to which the principles of corporate parenting match theologically derived parenting principles, and, secondly, how Christian foster carers might bring their faith to bear on the fostering task and make a contribution to the corporate parenting of children in their care.

A Practical Theology project

Being involved in the system established to care for children who are unable, for whatever reason, to live with their birth families, is one way for Christians to respond to the repeated reference to “God’s concern for the orphans or ‘fatherless’” (Kandiah 2013, Introduction). My hope, in pursuing this research, is to enable, “the Church [embodied in Christian foster carers] to perform faithfully as it participates in God’s ongoing mission in, to and for the world.” (Swinton and Mowat 2016, p. 24) What may appear to be a relatively simple matter of taking a child who is being poorly looked after by their birth parent and placing them with a foster carer who cares for them well is, on consideration and in practice, considerably more complex. (Swinton and Mowat 2016, p. 13) As mentioned above, there are a large number of people involved in the care of the child, each having different rights and responsibilities towards the child. Different children and birth families react differently to the event of the children being taken into care, and new inter-personal relationships form, while children grow and develop with the passage of time. From the foster carer’s point of view, the expectations on them may differ from those they had when becoming a foster carer or from what they consider to be in the best interests of a child in their care. My consideration of the literature below will start to “examine the theories and assumptions that underlie current forms of practice” (Swinton and Mowat 2016, p. 25) with the hope that my research overall may not simply understand the place of foster carers in caring for children but may open possibilities for change (Swinton and Mowat 2016, p. 26).

Literature Domains

To this end, in the following I review three areas of literature. Firstly, I examine the English legal framework within which foster carers operate with particular reference to the concept of corporate parenting. The understanding of ‘corporate parent’ has changed over time, and I suggest that the perceived role of the corporate parent(s) has extended considerably while the discourse is largely silent on the potential role for foster carers in that role. The presence or absence of ‘love’ in the outworking of corporate parenting is also discussed.

Secondly, I review some of the extensive literature around Christian approaches to parenting specifically considering points of connection and contrast with the parenting described in the corporate parenting literature. This understanding of parenting is deeper and richer than what is outlined in the policies around corporate parenting, which is consistent with the understanding that parenting is better done in the context of an on-going day-to-day personal relationship than by a corporate entity.

Thirdly, I consider literature which considers the relationship and communication between social workers and Christians. The experience of significant numbers of Christians (foster carers and others) has been that the fundamental differences between a Christian worldview and that espoused by social services have resulted in a lack of understanding of what Christians might bring to the care of vulnerable children. If there is to be significant change in the place of foster carers, and Christian foster carers in particular, in the practice of corporate parenting, it will be necessary for there to be clear communication and understanding, and this literature will help to understand how this may develop.

 KANDIAH, K., (2013). Home for Good: Making a Difference for Vulnerable Children.

 SWINTON, J. and MOWAT, H., (2016). Practical Theology and Qualitative Research. 2nd edition. London: Hymns Ancient & Modern.