This project funds the dissertatin research of a student from the University of Connecticut. The project tests the hypothesis that, irrespective of race, ethnicity, age, or social class, women who participate in Connecticut state-sponsored fostering programs create an identity of `mother` to the children in their care. This entails incorporating foster children into their family based on affective bonds, rather than biology or law. The student will select a sample of 120 individuals (60 couples) for extensive ethnographic interviews on their experiences as foster parents. Based on this knowledge the student will construct and adminster cultural tests of meaning to a total of 360 women in the 3 primary ethnic groups in the region (Euro-American, African-American, and West Indian), subdivided into novice and experienced foster parents and private or state-sponsored programs. By examining if, how, and why, in the face of child welfare policies premised on legal or biological definitions of `family,` women create and maintain a sense of themselves as `mothers` rather than `foster mothers` and `children` rather than `foster children,` the project will clarify the circumstances that lead to foster parent disillusionment, fatigue and, finally, drop-out. The knowledge created by project will contribute to the formation of more effective child welfare policy and practice.
