Using an epistemological framework, we examine the process of change for two at-risk mothers participating in the Children's Ark, an innovative foster care program. The Children's Ark invited at-risk mothers who had lost custody of their children to live in a structured, supervised environment with their infants/toddlers while receiving intensive intervention. Focusing on two mothers who completed the program and regained custody of their children, we developed a coding system from Women's ways of knowing (Belenky, Clinchy, Goldberger, & Tarule, 1986) to analyze entry and discharge interviews, and as a means of exploring alternative conceptualizations to the helping professions' understanding of at-risk families. In terms of an epistemological framework, we found that mothers increased their capacity to acknowledge their own minds and voices and those of their children. Additionally, mothers came to recognize their capacity to generate knowledge, especially through dialogue and relationships with others. In conclusion, we discuss the utility of an epistemological perspective in describing and exploring change in at-risk mothers, including possible implications for practice.
Ainsworth, M.D.S., Blehar, M.C., Waters, E., & Wall, S. (1978). Patterns of attachment: A psychological study of the strange situation. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
2.
Bass, S., Shields, M.K., & Behrman, R.E. (2004). Children, families, and foster care: Analysis and recommendations [Electronic version]. The Future of Children , 14, 5-29.
3.
Belenky, M.F. (1996). Public homeplaces: Nurturing the development of people, families, and communities. In N. Goldberger , J. Tarule, B. Clinchy, & M. Belenky (Eds.), Knowledge, difference, and power: Essays inspired by women's ways of knowing (pp. 393-430). New York: Basic Books.
4.
Belenky, M.F., Bond, L.A., & Weinstock, J.S. (1997). A Tradition that has no name: Nurturing the development of people, families, and communities. New York: Basic Books.
5.
Belenky, M.F., Clinchy, B.M., Goldberger, N.R., & Tarule, J.M. (1985). Epistemological development and the politics of talk in family life. Journal of Education, 167, 9-27.
6.
Belenky, M.F., Clinchy, B.M., Goldberger, N.R., & Tarule, J.M. (1986). Women's ways of knowing: The development of self, voice, and mind. New York: Basic Books.
7.
Bond, L.A., Belenky, M.F., & Weinstock, J.S. (2000). The Listening Partners program: An initiative toward feminist community psychology in action. American Journal of Community Psychology, 28, 697-730.
8.
Bond, L.A., Belenky, M.F., Weinstock, J.S., & Cook, T. (1996). Imagining and engaging one's children: Lessons from poor, rural, New England mothers. In S. Harkness & C.M. Super (Eds.), Parents' cultural belief systems: Their origins, expressions, and consequences (pp. 467-495). New York: Guilford Press.
9.
Bond, L.A., Belenky, M.F., Weinstock, J.S., & Monsey, T.V.C. (1992). Self-sustaining powers of mind and voice: Empowering rural women. In M. Kessler, S.E. Goldston, & J.M. Joffe (Eds.), The present and future of prevention: In honor of George W. Albee (pp. 125-137). Newbury Park, NJ: SAGE.
10.
Bond, L.A., & Burns, C.E. (2006). Mothers' beliefs about knowledge, child development, and parenting strategies: Expanding the goals of parenting programs. The Journal of Primary Prevention, 27, 555-571.
11.
Bowlby, J.(1969/1982). Attachment and Loss, Vol. I. Attachment (2nd ed.). New York: Basic Books.
12.
Caplan, P.J. (1989). Don't blame mother. New York : Harper and Row.
13.
Charles, G., & Matheson, J. (1990). Children in foster care: Issues of separation and attachment. Community Alternatives: International Journal of Family Care, 2, 37-49.
14.
Clinchy, B.M. (1997). Connected and separate knowing: Toward a marriage of two minds. In N. Goldberger, J. Tarule, B. Clinchy, & M. Belenky (Eds.), Knowledge, difference, and power: Essays inspired by women's ways of knowing (pp. 205-247). New York: Basic Books.
15.
Creswell, J.W. (1994). Research design: Qualitative and quantitative approaches. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.
16.
Dozier, M., Albus, K., Fisher, P.A., & Sepulveda, S. (2002). Interventions for foster parents: Implication for developmental theory. Development and Psychopathology , 14, 843-860.
17.
Dozier, M., Dozier, D., & Manni, M. (2002, April/May). Attachment and biobehavioral catch-up: The ABC's of helping infants in foster care cope with early adversity. Zero to Three, 7-13.
18.
Eagle, R.S. (1993). `Airplanes crash, spaceships stay in orbit': The separation experience of a child `in care'. Journal of Psychotherapy Practice and Research, 2, 318-334.
19.
Eagle, R.S. (1994). The separation experience of children in long-term care: Theory, research, and implications for practice. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 64, 421-434.
20.
Egeland, B., Jacobvitz, D., & Sroufe, L.A. (1988). Breaking the cycle of abuse. Child Development, 59, 1080-1088.
21.
Fonagy, P., Steele, H., Moran, G., Steele, M., & Higgitt, A. (1991). The capacity for understanding mental states: The reflective self in parent and child and its significance for security of attachment. Infant Mental Health Journal, 13, 200-217.
22.
Fonagy, P., Steele, H., & Steele, M. (1991). Maternal representations of attachment during pregnancy predict the organization of infant-mother attachment at one year of age. Child Development, 62, 891-905.
23.
Fonagy, P., & Target, M. (2005). Bridging the transmission gap: An end to an important mystery of attachment research? Attachment & Human Development , 7, 333-343.
24.
George, C., Kaplan, N., & Main, M. (1996). Adult attachment interview. Unpublished manuscript, Department of Psychology, University of California , Berkeley (3rd ed.).
25.
Grigsby, R.K. (1994). Maintaining attachment relationships among children in foster care. Families in Society: The Journal of Contemporary Human Services, 75, 269-276.
26.
Ivey, A.E., D'Andrea, M., Ivey, M.B., & Simek-Morgan, L. (2002). Theories of counseling and psychotherapy: A multicultural perspective. Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon.
27.
Jefferis, P.G., & Oliver, C. (2006). Associations between maternal childrearing cognitions and conduct problems in young children. Clinical Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 11, 83-102.
28.
Kretchmar, M.D., Worsham, N.L., & Swenson, N. (2005). Anna's story: A qualitative analysis of an at-risk mother's experience in an attachment-based foster care program. Attachment and Human Development, 7, 31-49.
29.
Mahoney, M. (1997). Connected knowing in constructive psychotherapy . In N. Goldberger, J. Tarule, B. Clinchy, & M. Belenky (Eds.), Knowledge, difference, and power: Essays inspired by women's ways of knowing (pp. 126-147). New York: Basic Books.
30.
Mann, P. (1998). The Children's Ark. [Brochure]. Spokane, WA: Author.
31.
Marcus, R.F. (1991). The attachment of children in foster care. Genetic , Social, and General Psychology Monographs, 117, 365-394.
32.
Meins, E. (1997). Security of attachment and the social development of cognition. Hove, England: Psychology Press/Erlbaum (UK)Taylor and Francis.
33.
Miles, M.B., & Huberman, A.M. (1994). Data management and analysis methods. In N.K. Denzin & Y.S. Lincoln (Eds.), Handbook of qualitative research (pp. 428-444). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.
34.
Minuchin, P., Colapinto, J., & Minuchin, S. (1998). Working with families of the poor. New York: The Guilford Press.
35.
Oliver, J.E. (1993). Intergenerational transmission of child abuse: Rates, research, and clinical implications. American Journal of Psychiatry, 150, 1315-1324.
36.
Sellick, C. (2006). From famine to feast: A review of the foster care research literature. Children & Society, 20, 67-74.
37.
Siegel, D.J., & Hartzell, M. (2003). Parenting from the inside out: How a deeper self-understanding can help you raise children who thrive. New York: Tarcher/Putnum.
38.
Steele, H., & Steele, M. (1994). Intergenerational patterns of attachment. In K. Bartholomew, D. Permlan, et al. (Eds.), Attachment processes in adulthood (pp. 93-120). London: Jessica Kingsley Publishers.
39.
Talley, P.F., Strupp, H.H., & Butler, S.F. (1994). Conclusion. In P.F. Talley, H.H. Strupp, & S.F. Butler (Eds.), Psychotherapy research and practice: Bridging the gap (pp. 254-261). New York: Harper Collins.
40.
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (USDHHS), Administration for Children and Families. (n.d.). The AFCARS report: Preliminary FY 2005 estimates. Retrieved March 11, 2008, from http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/cb/stats_research/afcars/tar/report13.htm
41.
van IJzendoorn, M.H. (1992). Intergenerational transmission of parenting: A review of studies in nonclinical populations. Developmental Review, 12, 76-99.
42.
Worsham, N.L., & Kretchmar, M.D. (1999, April). The Children's Ark: A qualitative description of a model foster care program for children and mothers at risk. Poster session presented at the biennial conference of the Society for Research in Child Development, Albuquerque.
