As foster and kinship carers are central to the lives of looked after children, it is important to recognise their unmet needs and the impact of these on the caring task. This article explores these issues by applying a hierarchy of needs to the foster and kinship care context, drawing on the perspectives of those involved. A group of Australian foster carers (n = 52) and kinship carers (n = 16) were interviewed using the CUES-C, a 13-item questionnaire that collects both qualitative and quantitative responses with regard to carers’ perceived needs and satisfaction. Thematic analysis was undertaken and participant responses were coded and organised according to the updated hierarchy of human motives proposed by Kenrick and colleagues (2010), based on Maslow’s (1943) widely used hierarchy of needs. The findings support Lyubomirsky and Boehm’s (2010) conclusion that parenting may interfere with the capacity to meet our other human needs and so has significant implications for the form of intensive parenting practised by foster and kinship carers. It was found that without the provision of timely and holistic supports and intervention, the two-way relationship between the needs of looked after children and their carers may create a feedback loop where stress and trauma can be endlessly amplified, to the detriment of both parties. The evidence highlights the importance of addressing both the needs of carers and those of the young people they look after, and suggests some basic improvements that could ease the burden of care and simultaneously increase satisfaction in the caring role.

中文翻译：

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照料者的需求：将需求层次应用于寄养和亲属照料环境

由于寄养和亲属照料者是被照料儿童生活的核心，因此重要的是要认识到他们未满足的需求以及这些需求对照料任务的影响。本文通过将需求层次应用于寄养和亲属照料环境来探讨这些问题，并借鉴了相关人员的观点。使用 CUES-C 采访了一组澳大利亚寄养照顾者（n = 52）和亲属照顾者（n = 16），CUES-C 是一个 13 项问卷，收集关于照顾者感知需求和满意度的定性和定量回答。进行了主题分析，并根据 Kenrick 及其同事（2010 年）基于马斯洛（1943）广泛使用的需求层次结构提出的更新的人类动机层次结构对参与者的反应进行了编码和组织。研究结果支持 Lyubomirsky 和 ​​Boehm (2010) 的结论，即养育可能会干扰满足我们其他人类需求的能力，因此对寄养和亲属照顾者实行的强化养育形式具有重要意义。研究发现，如果不提供及时和全面的支持和干预，被照顾儿童的需求与其照料者之间的双向关系可能会形成一个反馈循环，压力和创伤会无休止地放大，对双方都不利. 证据强调了满足照顾者和他们所照顾的年轻人的需求的重要性，并提出了一些基本的改进，可以减轻护理负担，同时提高对护理角色的满意度。