Parenting and Caring: Types and Impacts

• Parenting and caring involves various types of parents and carers
• It's important to understand the impact of legal, social, and technological changes on social parents

Types of Parents

• Biological parents are related to their children by blood or through IVF
• Pregnancy typically lasts up to 40 weeks
• Social parents nurture and raise a child they are not biologically related to

Adoption

• Adoption is a legal process where biological parents transfer rights and responsibilities to adoptive parents, as per the Adoption Act 2000 (NSW)
• Adoption is pursued because biological parents may lack financial stability or be unfit to care for the child
• Adoption is becoming less common

Social factors affecting Adoption

• It is becoming more socially acceptable to adopt
• There is positive adoption representation in the media
• Government support for sole parents has led to fewer adoptions
• More lesbian couples are adopting

Legal Aspects of Adoption

• Adoption Act 2000 (NSW)
• Family Law Act 1945
• All legal rights and responsibilities transfer from birth parents to adoptive parents
• Change is permanent, but with family permission, biological parents can have info and contact
• Children aged 12 and up need to consent to adoption

Technical Impact on Adoption

• Social media has potentially impacted the number of children available for adoption
• Medical information on biological parents is more readily available
• Access to records and identifying information has increased
• Improvements in contraception, especially among young couples, have led to fewer adoptions

Foster Care

• Foster care involves biological parents temporarily giving up their rights and responsibilities to a foster family
• Caregivers are paid to help with the child’s needs
• Emergency care is for children requiring immediate placement due to danger
• Respite care is for parents who need a short break
• Long-term care involves children in foster care for over 6 months

Social Aspects of Foster Care

• Foster care is acceptable
• It can create cultural connections between children and foster families
• Families feel a sense of giving back to the community
• Parents want to make a difference in a child's life

Legal Aspects of Foster Care

• Children and Young Persons (Care and Protection) Act 1998 covers foster care
• Foster parents cannot make medical decisions or undertake legal proceedings for the child
• Foster parents are entitled to a paid allowance fortnightly
• Foster parents must comply with a code of conduct

Technological Aspects of Foster Care

• Social media connects foster children to their birth parents
• Online support makes it easier for foster parents to access support services
• Advances in ART have reduced the number of children needing adoption, increasing the number in foster care

Surrogacy

• Surrogacy is when surrogate mothers become pregnant with another couple's child
• In altruistic surrogacy, the surrogate is not paid, as is common in Australia
• Partial surrogacy is when the child is biologically related to the father and surrogate mother
• Gestational surrogacy is when the child is biologically related to the intended parents, not the surrogate mother

Social Aspects of Surrogacy

• Many religions still oppose intervention with natural conception
• Surrogacy is a controversial topic
• It may become more normalized over time
• Media attention to celebrities like Kim Kardashian has increased awareness

Legal Aspects of Surrogacy

• The Surrogacy Act 2010 (NSW) makes commercial surrogacy illegal

Technological Aspects of Surrogacy

• The issue of social infertility arises as some women choose to freeze their eggs in the hopes of finding a suitable partner
• If natural conception fails, frozen eggs may be used

Step-Parents

• Step-parents are individuals who become parents through remarriage of a biological parent
• Step-parents have no legal rights or responsibilities for the child

Social Aspects of Step-Parenting

• Step-parents do not have legal authority to provide medical care, apply for passports, or sign school forms
• Conflicts may arise between step-children and biological children
• Rules set by step-parents can cause stress on children
• There's greater social acceptance of separated/divorced parents with less stigma

Legal Aspects of Step-Parenting

• Divorce rates have increased
• Conflicts can occur between children and step-parents, especially in older children
• Rules are set by the step-parent, but they have no legal authority

Technological Aspects of Step-Parenting

• Issues arise around conflicting views on discipline and technology use
• Step-parents can "over-indulge" with technology gifts to build relationships
• Issues arise for remarried couples undergoing ART to conceive

Carer Relationships

• Carers are individuals who take on the responsibility for another person's well-being, either voluntarily or as a job
• A primary carer is often designated when applying for financial assistance
• Primary carers meet a child’s basic needs and supervise appropriately for their age
• Informal care can be unpaid, such as grandparents caring for a grandchild

Informal vs Formal Carers

• Informal carers are unpaid, such as family, friends, or neighbors assisting someone
• Formal carers are trained professionals who are paid and work through institutions
• Trained doctors and teachers are formal carers

Significance of age and gender to carers

• The age of a primary carer often correlates with the age of the care recipient
• Elderly individuals are cared for by adult children, while younger individuals with disabilities are cared for by parents
• Women are more likely to take on caregiving roles than men, with 61% of caregivers being women (AARP, 2020)

Reasons For Carers Taking on The Role

• Emotional obligation: Carers often feel a sense of duty
• Alternative care is too costly: Professional services can be prohibitive
• Lack of available services: Some areas may lack professional options
• Cultural expectations: Some cultures expect family members to care for elders

Roles of Parents and Carers

• The roles of parents and carers include fulfilling needs, building relationships, and promoting well-being
• All three are interrelated

Satisfying Specific Needs

• SHE SEAS (Safety, Health, Education, Sense of Identity, Employment, Adequate Standard of Living) covers the specific needs to be met by parents and carers

Safety and Security

• Safety covers physical and emotional aspects
• Providing shelter along with protecting the child from strangers contributes to safety

Health

• Health incorporates five dimensions which are physical, social, emotional, mental, and spiritual
• Taking children to medical practioners contributes to health

Education

• Education covers knowledge and skills
• Education can involve taking the children to school, teach and learn with them, read to them, provide funds for school supplies

Sense of Identity

• Sense of identity covers idea of who they are, influences confidence and self esteem
• Show care and affection, love the child for who they are, be accepting and teach them morals and values contributes to sense of identity

Employment

• Employment covers job from where income generates and effort is put in
• Employment helps meets specific needs
• Employment can enhance well-being because of recognition of talents and the reward of wage

Adequate Standard of Living

• Adequate standard of living requires primary needs such as food, optimal health, clothing and safe shelter
• Parents should encourage the child to stay hydrated

Building Positive Relationships

• Building a positive relationship with any dependant is a necessity
• Effective communication can contribute to that relationship
• Trust and Security – Safe environment, consistency, meeting basic needs helps in this regard

Wellness

• Positively promote the wellness of a dependant
• Social interaction with others
• Safe environment that promotes friendships promotes wellness

Physical health and safety and effect on Wellness

• Adequate nourishment for growth, sleep, physical activity is key aspects of safety
• Safe environment with minimal harm from external forces helps them be able to focus on things like education and health

Feelings

• Emotional and financial
• Sense of belonging with society and security and emotional stability promote stability

Economic and Finance

• This means paid employment bank accounts, credit, budgeting, inheritance shares or welfare
• Increased knowledge and skills from gainful employment are useful

Culture

• Wellness comes from Identifying and belonging to a cultural group
• Teaching and developing C,B,V,T, of family/community promote it

Spiritual

• Moral/ religious areas
• Helps the person have great emotional stability

Change

• One must consider making changes to their health behaviours as parents
• Switching to eating more healthier is one of the many changes
• A variety of healthy, fresh foods and making them available to their dependants when appropriate help with this

Training and Skills

• Education and training can begin with perinatal and postnatal classes
• Information can be gained from courses from reputable professionals about what to expect when expecting

Change of pace

• You may have to prepare their living arrangements to suit the better care of the dependant
• Finding places to safely store wheelchairs walking frames and other specialise equipment is a good way to start

Budgets

• There may be costs associated with it that one must be fully prepared for
• savings to cater time off work is key

Characteristics that affect parents

• There might be special allowances that the child is entitled to that they can benefit from
• As the child ages, special needs may occur
• Their capabilities become different
• As it relates to disability, there must an interlink of capabilities

Influences on parents and carers

• Parents and carers have many influences on them, whether it is parenting styles, assistance to manage or personal commitments
• Culture customs and traditions is a big part of that
• There are even negative aspect to consider from religion
• Education is a huge factor
• It is also essential to note education is greater through knowledge of parenting
• One example is the first parent aren't experiences in caring for kids
• There is also a huge effect on own upbringing in which the parents were raised

How multiple parents affect parenting

• One is that parents are going to enroll the child in a lot more activities
• When there's special needs in the family
• parents can communicate with each other more and bond
• Society influences a lot parent styles
• Community values change the way they are raised and the environment they are raised.
• Gender expectations may influence how they parent

There are 4 main kinds of parenting

• Authoritarian
• Democratic - less shared but still has limits
• Permissive/indulgent - child has limited limits because the parent wants to be their friend
• Negligent