In our societies, where parental authority is a fundamental norm, foster care placements are almost always a response to a need for protection arising from a complex situation experienced by the child in care. As a protective body, the Fribourg Cantonal Child and Youth Service (SEJ) plays a major role in supporting the children concerned: it is responsible for ensuring that they develop their resources and giving them the means to (re)take control of their lives.
In this context, intra-family placements often offer the greatest continuity, which is why they are preferred whenever possible. However, they create a collateral difficulty, as the previous relationships between the people involved (the child, biological parents and foster family) may be marked by prejudice. Redefining roles and getting everyone to accept them is therefore a key challenge.
The aim of the ‘travel journal’ project is to give children a tool to help them turn these initial conditions into a resource. In practical terms, the tool is designed as a receptacle, filled throughout the placement, which can contain objects, photos and other mementos, as well as drawings or written expressions of emotions, desires or plans for the future. Symbolically, it is a true companion, stable and reliable on a path strewn with changes.
The tool will be designed through a collaborative process involving the people concerned and SEJ professionals. In Fribourg, each child is looked after by a child protection worker (IPE), who ensures that the legal and administrative aspects of the placement run smoothly. The tool will therefore be designed to respond to a wide range of complex situations and will result in a harmonised procedure, in which all those involved will be gradually trained.
The canton of Fribourg will produce a user guide detailing the tool and the procedure, and will have it translated with a view to distributing it to other cantons. This dissemination will be facilitated by the close contacts maintained by the SEJ and its project partners – namely the Haute école de travail social (HETS-FR) and the Observatoire latin de l’enfance et de la jeunesse (OLEJ) – with numerous other state and non-governmental organisations.
