Sammendrag
Although the legal framework clearly states that the ethnic, cultural, religious, and linguistic background of the child must be considered in foster care decision-making, the Norwegian child welfare services have been largely criticized for not taking sufficiently into account children´s cultural rights and needs. Drawing on three focus group discussions with child welfare workers, this paper explores the significance of religion in in foster care matching. In the focus groups, we used vignettes asking the child welfare workers to reflect on issues emerging when matching three hypothetical cases of children with three potential foster families. The focus of our analysis is on how and why religion is important in foster care matching. The child welfare workers understood religion as a significant element of children’s identity and cultural background that could promote continuity and homing processes in the foster home. The findings present the several considerations regarding the child, the foster carers, and the birth parents that child welfare workers balanced in addressing children’s religious needs and continuity in matching. Child welfare workers weighed children’s religious needs up against other needs like autonomy, protection, and belonging. In this balancing act, children’s age and trauma emerged as important considerations that could result in a matching decision in which religious continuity was less prioritized. Maintaining religious continuity was regarded as important, but religious matching was not the only means for achieving this. Child welfare workers discussed what can help and hinder the promotion of religious continuity in both religious and cross-religious matched placements, like foster carers’ religious engagement and cooperation between foster and birth families. This discussion was marked by nuanced reflections on the complex issues that arise in practice when attempting to facilitate religious continuity. These findings can bring a better understanding of the dilemmas at play in matching practice, which can help the implementation of culturally sensitive foster care.
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