“Nothing but a pair of shorts and a lifetime of trauma”: Trauma-related concerns of US foster caregivers

Background Caring for a child who has experienced trauma is a common expectation for foster caregivers; it is well-recognized that youth entering care will have experienced at least some level of trauma, often needing trauma-sensitive caregiving and mental health supports while in care. Foster caregivers receive varying degrees of trauma-related trainings, and have a range of experience providing care for this population.Objective This study sought to understand the themes relating to trauma that foster caregivers raise when discussing their experiences with fostering, and how this relates to their reported trainings received.Method A convergent mixed-methods study was conducted with non-kinship foster caregivers (n = 45); we intentionally merged findings from a phenomenological inductive analysis of semi-structured interviews about their lived experiences with a description of quantitative results from a survey about trauma training experience.Results Five primary themes were identified, each with several sub-themes: recognition of child trauma, child behaviors linked to trauma, service issues, foster caregiver experiences, and trauma from the foster care process. The majority of participants reported receiving trauma training, yet felt unprepared to manage the trauma experiences and needs of children in their care.Conclusions Foster caregivers have a baseline training in trauma that facilitates their ability to identify the effects of trauma on child development and functioning. However, they still feel overwhelmed providing this care and see significant gaps in training and services that warrant attention and intervention.