52

>Foster placement immediately poses the question of a cultural conflict between differing perceptions of what, for each of the stakeholders present, defines a family. Some of these appear to be compatible, while others are not. The child will construct her(him)self on that basis and the dialectic of tensions it generates. The author, a psychologist, explains the significance of the bond and of dialogue between the culture of the family of origin and the culture of the foster family. The present research work involves studying the relation with the child’s body, the relational processes encountered as he or she is brought into the foster family circle and the question of family and cultural values passed on to the child to address the consequences of a clash between different family cultures within the scope of placement. The institution must take the full measure of such a dynamic in order, firstly, to relieve the child of such a responsibility and, secondly, to promote a sort of family cultural melting-pot so as to vouchsafe the subjectivation process in a placement situation.