This is a hybrid seminar. If you would like to attend online, please register on Zoom: us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZMocu6uqTwvGtUeHaf9lK6I3FJIvOMGn03r

In this seminar, Daniela Reimer and Mariela Neagu will discuss in-depth about biographical experiences in out of home care settings based on their biographical studies of foster mothers in Germany and Romanian born foster children and adoptees respectively. This talk will explore the complexity of family life, an essentially private territory, through the social care lens and how it impacts on the identity of those involved as ‘carers’ or ‘cared for’.

Daniela Reimer is Professor at the Institute of Childhood, Youth and Family at the Zurich University of Applied Science. She has conducted research on foster care and residential care and is the Coordinator of the International Foster Care Research Network, Member of the AcademiaNet and of the International Association for Outcome-Based Evaluation and Research on Family and Children’s Services. She is the author of the chapter on “Unplanned Breakdown of Foster Mothering” where she used biographical research methods to explore the identity challenges of foster mothers.

Mariela Neagu is Research Associate at SKOPE, Department of Education the University of Oxford. Her research interests encompass identity and wellbeing theories, in particular the recognition theory and the Capability Approach, children’s rights and the ethics of care. Her book ‘Voices from the Silent Cradles’ (Policy Press, 2021), sheds light on children’s homes, foster care, domestic and international adoption from the perspective of the young people who experienced these types of care.