Theoretical reflection for psychopedagogical orientation in kinship foster care

Abstract

Kinship foster care is the most common child protection measure in Spain, but paradoxically it has received scant attention by educational researchers. The aim of this article is to analyse risk and protection factors of this measure in order to propose some lines for pyschopedagogical orientation. The method will be a bibliographical and hermeneutic analysis of previous research and others children protection measures. Among the main protection factors are the affective links with relatives, the reduction of social stigma or the elaboration of children life story. Nevertheless, due to the special characteristics of kinship foster care, it presents some risk factors as the age difference between caregivers and children, feelings of failure of caregivers "because of the education that they provided to their own children", overprotection of children, or conflictive relationships with parents. Therefore, some lines of psychopedagogical orientation are proposed to reinforce unconditional links, improve the stablishing of norms for children and reduce guilt feelings of parents and caregivers.