Behavior of Foster and Adopted Children and the Response of Their Parents in Difficult Parenting Situations: An Attempt at a Case Study Using Text Mining

• Published in: Japanese Journal of Child and Family Welfare Vol. 24; pp. 47 - 60
• Main Authors: ASO, Noriko, FUKUSHIMA, Satomi
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: Japanese
• Published: Japan Society of Child and Family Welfare 25.11.2024; 日本子ども家庭福祉学会
• Subjects: adopted children; co-occurrence network; family-like care; foster children; parenting response; 共起ネットワーク; 家庭的養育; 里子; 養子; 養育者の対応
• ISSN: 1347-183X; 2758-2280
• DOI: 10.57489/jscfw.24.0_47

We conducted an interview survey of three foster or adoptive parents raising elementary school, high school, and college-aged children to investigate the behavior of foster and adopted children and the response of their parents in difficult parenting situations. Records from each interview were broken down into (1) children’s behavior, (2) children’s feelings, and (3) the response by the foster or adoptive parents, and then the KH Coder tool was used to extract words that occurred multiple times to create a co-occurrence network.In all cases, during the early stages of the parent-child relationship, foster and adoptive parents spent time with their children and responded to their behavior with an understanding of the relevant context. Counseling services was helpful in developing an understanding of their children. Telling the children verbally how important they were helped stabilize the relationship with their children. While Japanese families typically develop a sense of psychological belonging non-verbally, expressing affection verbally may be important for building a relationship of trust with children who have experienced changes in caregivers.