Kruisselbrink, Audrey Wilma2024-08-142024-08-1419931993https://hdl.handle.net/1828/18500The purpose of this study was to explore the marital relationship of foster parents, specifically examining their level of marital quality and the impact that foster children had on their marriage relationship. Forty foster parents completed questionnaires. including the Dyadic Adjustment Scale (Spanier. 1976) and the Kansas Marital Satisfaction Scale (Schumm, Paff­-Bergen, Hatch. Obiorah. Copeland. Meens & Bugaighis, 1986). Twelve of the 40 foster parents also participated in face-to-face interviews. Foster parents reported 'average ' levels of marital adjustment and 'very satisfied' levels of marital satisfaction. In answers to open and close-ended questionnaire and interview questions. foster parents clearly indicated that foster children did not have a negative impact on their marital relationship, but rather they had either no impact or a positive impact on the married foster couple's relationship. Reasons for the neutral or positive impact of fostering on foster parents' marriage relationship included the common goal and shared experience of fostering , the positive influence of increased communication between spouses and the building of personal relationships with foster children.107 pagesAvailable to the World Wide WebUN SDG 5: Gender EqualityThesis