Foster care placement stability/instability : a meta-synthesis

This meta-synthesis study will survey qualitative research studies that relate to placement\ud stability/instability for children and youth in the foster care system. This study seeks to\ud understand the principles behind placement stability and instability by utilizing Noblit\ud and Hare???s 1988 meta-ethnography approach to synthesizing qualitative research studies\ud in an effort to understand the ramifications the lived experiences of foster children and\ud youth, who have experienced placement stability and instability, have on social work\ud policy, social work practice, and future research directions. The researcher utilized\ud academic search engines to find qualitative research studies. The search yielded five\ud articles related to placement stability and instability. The qualitative research articles\ud were coded for major themes and relationships as prescribed by Noblit and Hare.\ud Findings were categorized into four major thematic areas including: detrimental effects of\ud placement changes, engagement of foster youth, foster care providers, and Kinship care\ud that provided potential areas to create social work policy and practice changes including\ud how and who get recruited to be substitute care providers, providing meaningful\ud opportunities to engage youth in the life planning process, and changing the foster care\ud system to resemble Kinship care