Introduction

In 2022, 56,240 children were in family foster care and 16,752 in institutional forms (CSO, 2023). An analysis of data from the Central Statistical Office also shows that foster care environments for individual children regularly change. Thus, 2,107 children were transferred from family foster care to another form of foster care, and 1,078 to institutional forms. With regard to the movement of children in institutional foster care, 4043 children were placed in other types of institutional care and 3414 in family care. This means that the total number of children who have changed foster environment at least once in 2022 is 10,642.

The consequences of these changes are borne mainly by the children, who experience double rejection: first by their natural parents and then by their foster parents, with whom they should establish a relationship and among whom they should feel safer than in the family home. This rejection by foster parents is what Irena Jundziłł (1992) and Marzena Ruszkowska (2015) call secondary social orphanhood. The movement of children between foster environments and their various forms is not a new phenomenon. This problem was already highlighted by Józefina Hrynkiewicz (2006), who conducted research in 2004-2005. She described the situation of socialization-type child care facilities in the Mazowieckie, Łódzkie, Pomorskie and Warmińsko-Mazurskie voivodeships, in which children previously residing in foster families lived. A similar trend could be observed in Podlasie (Januszkiewicz, 2011).

In this article I consider the issue of children’s social orphanhood and its consequences, highlight the importance of the bond between children placed in foster care and their carers, and analyse the consequences of changes in the foster environment.

(Social) orphanhood and its consequences

The concept of social orphanhood has raised concerns among some researchers (Baron, 2014), particularly in relation to children placed in foster care who have one or both parents. Nevertheless, the term has functioned in the literature and has been used by foster care researchers. Instead of the term “social orphanhood”, the term “family orphanhood” is proposed, indicating that children placed in foster care have parents. Alicja Kurcz (2006, p. 732) understands family orphanhood as: a child’s social situation created as a result of a disturbed or complete lack of parental care, requiring intervention and short- or long-term pedagogical and social interventions aimed at normalising the child’s development conditions by using alternative forms of compensatory foster care and working towards the recovery of the ability to fulfil care and educational functions. Family orphanhood can be considered as covert, when children experience emotional rejection from their parents, or overt, when it concerns children growing up in dysfunctional families in which they are exposed to disorders of normal development (Kurcz, 2006). Overt family orphanhood also applies to children who are in foster care. It seems that simply removing the concept of social orphanhood will not change the thinking about foster care as such, and will certainly not contribute to greater involvement of natural parents in improving the situation to enable children to return to the family home.

For the purposes of this article, however, the author decided to use the definition of social orphanhood, being aware that it is associated with certain limitations and does not fully reflect the situation of children placed with foster families or in foster care. The author referred to the meanings given to the notion of social orphanhood in order to specify the group of children who have parents and are raised in foster environments. After all, it is not the concept itself that is important, it is the creation of a permanent, safe and reasonably stable environment conducive to children’s development, whether these children are referred to as social orphans or not.

Social orphanhood is defined as a condition in which a child is deprived of his or her natural family environment as a result of family breakdown (Okoń, 2001) and care is taken over by other persons or institutions (Badora, 2002; Ruszkowska, 2013b). This phenomenon mainly concerns the legal and psychological state, the experiences that accompany the child, as well as the manifested behaviours, which are symptomatic of an emerging process that is long- lasting and sometimes develops over years within the family (Olearczyk, 2007).

Social orphanhood, in terms of its sources, can be divided into legal, random, social as a result of family disintegration and resulting from rejection (Cudak, 1998), and its consequences depend on many factors, such as the age at which the child became a social orphan, the traumas experienced, the conditions and course of the process of separation from parents and the quality of contacts with the family (Ruszkowska, 2017), as well as the environment in which the child is raised after leaving the family home (Węgierski, 2006).

Children experiencing social orphanhood face loneliness (Yaqoob, Qamar, Yasin, 2021), characterised by feelings of lack of love and understanding, feelings of rejection and lack of acceptance, which has a negative impact on the child’s social-emotional adjustment. A state of prolonged loneliness triggers defence mechanisms to reduce the suffering of rejection. These mechanisms include denial, suppression, repression, apathy, escape into the unreal world, as well as various forms of aggression or addiction (Olearczyk, 2007; Czeredrecka, 1987). Loneliness often correlates with hostility, aggression, depression, dissatisfaction with oneself, low self- esteem, a sense of the unfairness of the world and general anxiety (Rembowski, 1989). In addition, these children experience personality disorders and relationship difficulties (Dorsey et al., 2015; Shafiq, Haider, Ijaz, 2020). Disrupted communication with others triggers negative emotions, contributes to an inappropriate self- image, lowered self-esteem, increased stress levels (Mohammadzadeh, Awang, Ismail, & Kadir Shahar, 2018), poor coping with internal and external stressors (Gaviţa, David, Bujoreanu, Tiba, & Ionuţiu, 2012) and contributes to psychosocial problems (Zhou, 2012). One of the consequences of children’s social orphanhood includes school difficulties, which result from lowered self- esteem, lack of self-confidence and a reluctance to make efforts (Czeredrecka, 1987; Kelm, 1983).

The failure of a child’s carers to meet such basic needs as love, kindness or care adversely affects psycho-physical development, causing developmental delays and difficulties in building a sense of security and belonging (Czeredrecka, 1987). Children who do not feel loved by their parents experience stress that they cannot always cope with. Consequently, they manifest educational difficulties and, if they do not receive timely support, they are unable to adapt to life in society (Hungarian, 2006). These children feel unneeded, marginalised in family life, experience psychiatric disorders, personality disorders and have difficulties in establishing relationships with others (Czeredrecka, 1987; Dorsey et al, 2015; Shafiq et al, 2020; Maciaszkowa, 1991).

The importance of the bond between the child and the adult carer

Attachment theory has evolved into a basic model of child development and serves as the basis for cognitive and behavioural development throughout the lifespan (Cassidy, Shaver, 1999) and, in the case of foster care, is the core of the professional consensus on the importance of matching the foster environment to the child’s needs and securing social bonds with significant adult carers (Bowlby, 1988; D’Andrade, 2005; Steinhauer, 1991; Pecora, Whittaker, Maluccio, Barth, DePanfilis, 2009; Steinhauer, 1991).

The bond a child establishes with a caregiver can be understood as a biological-social relationship, mainly needed by infants to survive and grow up safely (Jadczak-Szumiło, 2016). The quality of this bond determines whether the child will be able to establish correct relationships with other people in the future. Sensitive caregivers help the child cope with agitation and distress (Schore, 2001), and as the child grows, the need for physical closeness is alleviated by an awareness of the availability of a caregiver who is there to help (Kobak, 1999). This also applies to children who gain a sense of security and attachment with foster carers (Dozier, Stovall, Albus, Bates, 2001; Steele, Hodge, Kaniuk, Hillman, Henderson , 2003).

There are four types of attachment: trusting- secure, anxious-avoidant, anxiety-ambivalent (Ainsworth, Blehar, Waters, Wall, 1978) and disorganised. The most beneficial style is the secure style, which is formed in the relationship with the parent and influences the child’s ability to relate to other people. The other three types are referred to as anxious and are characterised by a failure to recognise parents as caregivers who are able to create safe developmental conditions. The anxiety-avoidant style is characterised by the child being connected to the parent, but cannot count on having his or her needs met, so they minimise their needs because they fear rejection from the caregiver (Gray, 2010; Ijzendoorn, Bakermans-Kranenburg, 2003). The anxiety- ambivalent style is associated with a difficulty in trusting parents. Children get closer to their parents and at the same time reject them (Gray, 2010; Ijzendoorn, Bakermans-Kranenburg, 2003). In contrast, an anxiety-disorganised style often appears in children in foster care. It concerns children who have experienced difficult situations, rejection or aggression from their parents. These children struggle with fear, anxiety, feeling helpless, attraction and repulsion of the parent (Gray, 2010; Bakermans-Kranenburg, Ijzendoorn, Juffer, 2003). Extreme cases are referred to as reactive attachment disorder (RAD). According to the DSM-IV (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders), RAD is only diagnosed when there is a known history of pathological care, characterised by persistent neglect of basic emotional needs, permanent deprivation of physiological needs and/or repeated changes of caregivers (Barth, Crea, Kare, Thoburn, Quinton, 2005).

Reactive attachment disorder affects the child’s close social relationships and appears before the age of five, extending to other social interactions over time. It may manifest itself through children’s difficulties in establishing and maintaining relationships with other people or through a lack of inhibition in relationships. Inhibited behaviour manifests itself in the inability to initiate or respond to most social interactions. The child focuses on one or more adults and their relationship bears the signs of ambivalence or excessive vigilance on the part of the child. The second type is uninhibited behaviour, which is characterised by a lack of reluctance to interact with others and may manifest itself by approaching strangers to satisfy social needs, the need for closeness or reassurance. The child’s behaviour is characterised by uncritical sociability, exaggerated confidentiality with strangers and an inability to bond with others (Bartnikowska, Ćwirynkało, 2013; Sheperis, Renfro-Michel, Doggett, 2003; Kemph, Voeller, 2007; Hall, Geher, 2003; Schwartz, Davies, 2006; Tobin, Wardi-Zonna, Yezzi-Shareef, 2007; O’Reagan, 2005; Keck, Kupecky, 2010).

Forming new bonds can cause anxiety, potentially leading to unfriendly behaviour in the child (Tucker, MacKenzie, 2012). Fear is the main emotion that arises in children when they are separated from “significant adults” (attachment figures). Other feelings that these children may experience include shock, a state of alarm, denial, longing, anger, guilt or despair. Children’s reaction to separation may depend on factors such as: previous attachment experiences; the child’s age; gender; length of time in foster care and the number of placements the child has been in; quality of foster care; placement of siblings in foster care; the relationship between foster carers and biological parents; and the child’s behaviour.

A child who enters foster care may have experienced either complete deprivation of the ability to form emotional bonds (privation) or deprivation, in which bonds have been broken and not replaced. This can cause developmental delays in children in the physical, cognitive and mental areas. In addition, the child may develop patterns of behaviour that are indicative of maladaptation. Another difficulty that emerges in children in foster care can be the blocking of emotions (Aldgate, 1998; Ciczkowska-Giedziun, 2016).

Children who have been harmed by their parents often present a disorganised attachment pattern and demonstrate aggressive, unpredictable behaviour, and in adulthood develop a rigid self-efficacy that becomes a compulsive need to control all aspects of their lives (Lyons- Ruth, Jacobvitz, 1999; Hughes, 2004). They do not perceive carers as a source of security, but as a source of distress, and tend to be manipulative, overly submissive, intimidating or role reversing (Hughes, 2004). Children who are neglected are unable to regulate their own emotional states and have a non-secure attachment style, and those who have experienced parental abuse do not know how to cope with stress in the future and may manifest dissociative reactions, which manifest themselves through withdrawal, reduced emotional experiences and dissociation from their own feelings (Schore, 2002). Due to feelings of insecurity and chaos, they often seek to regain a sense of control over their environment, thus displaying a disorganised attachment style (Hughes, 2004). This style in the case of children in foster care reveals itself as insolent, manipulative, insincere and interactive and results from the child becoming accustomed to an unstable and inconsistent parental unit, leading to the development of premature independence (Prather, Golden, 2009). These children present an antisocial, emotionally reserved, manipulative personality, and are convinced that caregivers are a source of chaos and fear, and this attitude, in turn, leads to inconsistent relationships and difficulties in establishing and maintaining relationships with others (Prather, Golden, 2009).

The consequences of changing foster environments

Placing children in foster care after they have been taken from their parents is associated with a strong experience of rejection (Tucker, MacKenzie, 2012), causing many of them to begin functioning in their new environment with excessive irritability, with successive changes in foster environments being taken as confirmation of the need to maintain their readiness for rejection (Tucker, MacKenzie, 2012). This is related to the perception of a lack of love from parents, a lack of interest in the child’s fate and the loss of the family home (Olearczyk, 2007). The role of foster parents becomes particularly important, as they should ensure that the need for love is met and provide a safe nurturing environment that fosters a sense of belonging (Ruszkowska, 2013a). It is worth emphasising that children who are placed in foster care from their natural family may display various types of delays and have behavioural problems, and their care requires special attention from their new carers. If the foster family in which the child has been placed from the natural family is dissolved and the child is transferred to an institution, the child will become even more affected by orphanhood through the fact of further rejection (Olearczyk, 2007). The child then develops emotional distance as a result of fear of further rejection and of losing attachment and love.

The transfer of children between different forms of foster care causes them to leave each successive fostering environment with a sense of rejection and loss (Diorio, 1992; Klee, Kronstadt, & Zlotnick, 1997; Leslie, Gordon, Ganger, & Gist, 2002; Gauthier, Fortin, Jéliu, 2004; Mihalec-Adkins, Christ, Day, 2020; Miranda, Tadros, Molla, 2020). These children represent a population at high risk of attachment disorders. First, they are exposed to toxic relationships in the natural family, they are removed from it and placed in a foster family or several foster families, then they are moved from the foster family and placed in foster care and consequently develop a lack of trust in adults (Gauthier et al. 2004).

Research shows that adults who have been in various forms of foster care during childhood are at a disadvantage in terms of well-being and personal achievement compared to adults without such experiences (Pecora et al., 2006; Courtney et al., 2007). The instability of the foster environment and its repeated changes have been identified as factors negatively affecting children (Unrau, Seita, Putney, 2008; Price, 2004). With frequent changes in care environments, children show increased behavioural problems (Newton, Litrownik, Landsverk, 2000; Rubin, O’Reilly, Luan, Localio, 2007) and have learning difficulties (Eckenrode, Rowe, Lairde, Brathwaite, 1995; Pecora et al, 2006; Sun, Li, 2014). Children who are in foster care have often already experienced trauma in their natural family (Bellamy, 2008; Strijke, Knorth, Knot-Dickscheit, 2008; Doyle, 2013; Miranda et al, 2019), lack a sense of stability and may find it difficult to bond with subsequent caregivers (Bretherton, 1992; Strijker, Knorth, Knot-Dickscheit, 2008; Miranda et al, 2019).

It is noteworthy that children who experience constant changes of caregivers and who do not have their basic physiological and emotional needs met in the natural family may develop a reactive attachment disorder, manifested through inhibited or uninhibited behaviour, which will prevent children from establishing proper relationships with other people and adversely affect their social-emotional development.

Conclusion

There is no doubt that the situation of children removed from their natural parents and placed in foster care is emotionally difficult. Children who enter foster care should be provided with safe conditions that are essential for their proper development and have the chance to establish bonds that are important for their future social functioning. Foster families are a more favourable educational environment than institutional forms, but nevertheless they are not always able to cope with the difficulties in implementing their function. However, it seems that children who are transferred from family foster care to care and educational facilities are in the most difficult situation. Educators who have several children in their care are not able to give each of them as much attention as a parent in a well-functioning family. In addition, a child needs stability and a person who will be available at all times if difficulties arise, which is not possible with educators working in institutions.

A child rejected by his or her parents experiences a sense of lack of love (Yaqoob et al., 2021) and acceptance, and may develop various types of defence mechanisms involving, among other things, withdrawal, denial or manifesting aggression towards new carers (Olearczyk, 2007; Czeredrecka, 1987). Failure to meet a child’s emotional needs can contribute to disruptions in psycho-physical development and building a sense of belonging (Dorsey et al., 2015; Shafiq et al., 2020). Taking care of children rejected by their parents requires taking into account possible disorders arising in the area of establishing bonds with adults. If there is a change of foster environment (to another foster family or to foster care), then the child experiences a double rejection and the consequences of these changes can intensify the children’s emotional disturbances. It is emphasised that these children represent a population at high risk of attachment disorders (Gauthier et al., 2004).

It seems, therefore, that when deciding to change the foster environment, it is important to take into account the mechanisms involved in establishing relationships with other people and to provide children with support using professional therapy, so that they are able to establish proper and safe relationships with others in the future. In addition, the need to tailor the foster environment to the child’s needs in order to secure social bonds with significant adult carers is also pointed out (Bowlby, 1988; D’Andrade, 2005; Steinhauer, 1991; Pecora et al, 2009).