Belonging and Connection to Family in the Experience of Transitioning from Long-Term Care to Independent Living Among Former Foster Youth in Taiwan

Background/Purpose

In 2021 in Taiwan, there were 2,060 youth who have been placed in foster care for more than two years, for long-term care, mostly due to unsuccessful family reunification. These youths are likely to age out and experience difficulties in the transition to independent living because of their lived experiences with disrupted relationships. However, independent living preparation has been focusing on hard skill development (e.g., employment training). Limited preparation and research in Taiwan have paid attention to foster youth’s relational needs, especially their connections and belongings to family, while many youths return home after aging out, without relationship recovery. The current study aims at exploring foster youth’s emotional and relational needs and belong and connection to birth family in Taiwan.

Methods

In-depth interviews were conducted with 14 former foster youth between the ages of 21 and 27 in Taiwan. About 80% of participants aged out of residential care and almost all have experienced placement disruption. They were asked to identify significant relationships during their placement and describe their perceptions of and experiences in family connection with family. The analytic process was based on thematic analysis and repeated coding and comparisons.

Results

Findings indicate the following themes. (1) Complex belonging to family. Some participants’ families were deemed dysfunctional, requiring removal and placement. The sense of belonging to family is accompanied by abandonment and hopelessness. (2) Ambiguous loss of home. Other participants were placed since very young. They have an uncertain memory about the reason and perceive “home” as an ambiguous concept. Without knowing what exactly happened to their family leads to their ambiguous loss of home (Samuels, 2009), especially when family connection is limited. (3) Impossible family continuity. The longer youths stay in foster care, they harder they would be reunified. Their relationships with families become more distant. (4) Unmet emotional and relational needs. Placement instability results in insecure relationships. Foster youth tend to solve life problems on their own and not to share emotions. (5) Root finding and reconnecting to family. Child welfare and independent living services do not provide adequate preparations to recover family relationships, and aged-out youth have to find the root by themselves. Some recover emotional loss by understanding their parents’ vulnerability. Others rebuild family relationships by reconnecting with siblings. And still others keep their family at a distance, after many conflicts happen.

Conclusions/Implications

Implication for practice and policy in Taiwan are drawn from the findings. First, services should better help foster children and birth family make sense of the process of placement to prevent the sense of ambiguous loss. Second, any types of family connection are significant in foster care, even when children are placed for long-term care and family reunification is assessed impossible. Third, family connections should not be limited to connections with birth parents. The sense of belonging can be developed in connection with any family members. Lastly, independent living services should pay special attention to those who may return home after aging out. Family relationship recovery should be part of the program.