Att bli fosterbarn i tonåren: Om frigörelsen från internaliserade föräldraobjekt

The aim of the study is to improve on the understanding of the implications for adolescents of being placed in foster care. The basis for the study is that the adolescents´ previous relationship with their parents has significance for the manner in which the adolescents will handle the separation from the parents and how they will relate to foster parents. 27 adolescents aged 13-16 years were examined 2-3 months after placement and two years thereafter. Their "adaptation" was investigated in two different perspectives. The first perspective deals with the attitudes of the parents towards the adolescent prior to placement. "Adaptation" in this perspective is defined through three main questions: How does the adolescent´s relationship with their parents develop after placement? What is the adolescent´s relation to the foster parents? How do the adolescents develop in general: intellectually, emotionally and socially? The second perspective deals with the adolescent´s global experience of being a fosterchild. Differences in experience were examined in adolescents who continued to live with the foster parents two years after the initial placement as compared with those who left the foster home during this period. The findings within the two perspectives seem to converge into one specific point within the object-relation theory, namely the impact of the child´s - and adolescent´s is argued - need to be seen and confirmed by the primary objects, before genuine detachment is possible.