Contact with parents from childhood to adulthood – a longitudinal study of children in kinship care and non-kinship care

Abstract

Previous research on parental contact for children in foster care shows that contact frequency is significantly related to parent’s gender and placement type. Yet very few studies have explored the impact of gender and type of placement on parental contact over time. Based on longitudinal quantitative data from kinship care and non-kinship care placements in Norway, we analyse contact between children and their birth parents at three timepoints: childhood, adolescence, and adulthood. The study shows different contact patterns for children’s contact with mothers and fathers. For most of the children, the possibility of contact with the mother was established from the first timepoint and contact occurred rather frequently throughout childhood, adolescence, and adulthood. Regular contact between fathers and children in childhood, on the other hand, was less common, and this could develop in different directions: either towards children coming into contact with their father later in life or not at all. From a longitudinal perspective, we can say that the most significant changes evolved around children’s contact with their fathers, while contact with mothers was more stable.