I chose to do my research at the OU because I had heard a lot about the OU’s record in health and social care.
I had a background in this field as I was working as a social researcher in Malta. I am a social psychologist and I chose to do my PhD in psychology and social work.
I had two great supervisors at the OU – Professor Jane Aldgate and Ms. Wendy Rose were always there through thick and thin and they were very supportive when I had difficulties.
I decided to do research about children in foster care because I had been working in a social welfare agency in Malta and I was struck by the number of children going into long-term care. I wanted to understand how fostering affected children’s lives as in Malta, children rarely go back to their family of origin, they stay in long-term care.
My research started as an academic project and became more of a personal journey as I got married during my PhD and had four miscarriages so my research became my lifeline. My research made me realise that there were children out there facing greater difficulties than I was. I am happy to say that I now have a child of 20 months old.
"My research looked at the experience of 136 fostered children and then went further in depth to study contact with the family of origin. Children’s experiences differed but on the whole I found that contact with their parents presented certain difficulties but contact with their siblings helped them to make sense of their identity."
When asked how my research will change the world, I am working towards supporting social workers manage foster children’s contact with their family of origin. Although I have changed my job and work as a senior lecturer in post secondary education, I feel very passionate about changing how social workers manage these vital relationships and continue to be involved in offering training to social workers to enable them to be more effective in this field. Currently I am also working on contact management practice guidelines for social workers and my plan is to continue providing my expertise to other stakeholders involved in the management of children’s contact experiences with their family of origin.