Learning by rhythms: a co-operative inquiry about foster care

Foster care is a complex and temporary process, characterized by separation of children/parents as well as continuation of their affective bonds; by the need to preserve as well as to transform relationships. In this process many actors (children, social workers, birthparents, foster families, social and health agencies) are involved, interacting and learning by their explicit or implicit temporalities intertwined with systemic, social and cultural temporal dimensions. Thus, the concept of “rhythm” (Alhadeff-Jones, 2017) could be used to illuminate the coordination of these embodied and simultaneous temporalities, including continuities and discontinuities in care trajectories. In Italy, educational research on the temporal dimensions related to foster care has been scarce. My doctoral research will try to fill this gap by investigating, on one hand, how rhythms affect children’s and adults’ learning in the foster care process and, on the other hand, how professionals are called to look after them. Complex and systemic methodological design will guide the research. A pilot project was already conducted with 12 foster care professionals, using co-operative inquiry (Heron, 1996) to explore the participant’s multiple representations and ideas of foster care. In-depth interviews with other professionals were then used to point to the importance of rhythms. The collected data will be further analyzed by a group of 10 social workers through co-operative inquiry in order to illuminate the frames of meaning and presuppositions regarding the temporal dimensions and to critically explore the practices that sustain or hinder rhythms - individually, relationally, and institutionally. This research also aims to outline innovative professional training design connecting with time concepts and improving knowledge about foster care. Respect for the rhythms of families and children is in fact a requirement of any educational practice that should support their development, learning processes and relationships.