A qualitative survey on distressful voice of children living in foster care

BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to evaluate the physical and mental condition of children living in a foster care, highlighting the standpoint of social educators working in these settings. METHODS: The data were collected between September and October 2016. The residential child care involved in this study hosted 100 children. All the interviews were registered and transcribed. To analyze the data we used Grounded Theory (GT) methodology. RESULTS: The interviewed underline some aggressive (anger, threats, bullying) and passive (depression, social isolation) children behavior. Aggressive behaviors are more frequent than passive behaviors and the most common children reaction is anger. The most common problem has a psychological aspect, such as excessive responsibility due to the crucial nature of the decisions these professionals have to take and the probability of making mistakes with serious consequences. CONCLUSIONS: Children living in residential child care, like foster care, have still serious deficiencies in their overall health and wellbeing, particularly in emotional health and behavior.