Foster Parents Speak: Preferred Characteristics of Foster Children and Experiences in the Role of Foster Parent

Foster parents play a pivotal role in the child welfare system. A study that employed focus groups with foster parents was conducted at a private foster care agency with the initial purpose of understanding the characteristics of foster children that foster parents both preferred and not preferred. In the qualitative research tradition, their answers addressed the topic of characteristics and expanded to provide additional data on their experience as foster parents. Using theme analysis, the following themes were generated: foster care as service; foster parents' preferences of foster children's characteristics; foster parents do not feel valued or trusted; increased caseworker and foster parent partnership; problems in the foster care and related systems; and focus group as support. Implications for research and practice are forwarded.     

Infants in Foster Care

Abstract

This article highlights the importance of attachment issues for infants placed in foster care. We offer a framework for understanding how early separation and maltreatment may affect infants' ability to securely rely on a foster parent. We argue that disruptions in foster infants' primary attachment relationships, combined with a history of maltreatment, place these infants at risk for developing predominantly insecure or disorganized attachments to foster parents, regardless of foster parent characteristics. We argue that foster infants' successful passage through the foster care system requires a high level of foster parent sensitivity to their unique attachment needs. We also argue that this level of sensitivity is likely to require specialized training for foster parents.     

Preparing and Partnering with Families to Support the Adoption of Children from Foster Care

ABSTRACT

This investigation evaluated the effectiveness of a pre-placement education and preparation curriculum (PREP) for prospective foster/adoptive parents in improving attitudes toward children with prenatal substance exposure and their substance-using birth parent and increasing willingness to adopt these children. Participants included 1,836 prospective parents seeking adoption through foster care who received three 3-hour sessions of PREP. Prospective parents completed questionnaires assessing their knowledge about important issues involved in adopting a child from foster care, attitudes, and willingness to adopt children with a variety of characteristics. Changes from pre- to post-intervention were examined. Results indicated significant increases in self-reported knowledge; significantly more positive attitudes toward substance-abusing parents and children with prenatal substance exposure; and significantly increased willingness to adopt children with a variety of potential difficulties, including children with serious behavior problems, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and a biological history of mental illness. In sum, findings suggest that prospective adoptive parents who attended the PREP sessions felt better prepared by the end of training with regard to issues related to adoption of high-risk foster children with special needs, particularly those with prenatal substance exposure.     

Decision-making around psychotropic medications for children in foster care: Perspectives from foster parents

Background and objectiveChildren in foster care have complex mental health needs and receive high rates of psychotropic medications. Rarely can foster parents make legal decisions about treatment, yet they are intricately involved in the child's life and responsible for the child's safety and well-being. We aimed to conduct the first study of foster parent perspectives on decision-making relevant to the use of psychotropics with children in foster care.MethodsWe conducted semi-structured phone interviews with 13 parents in a small northeastern state who had fostered a child receiving psychotropics in the past 5 years. The state child welfare agency sent information about the study via email to all foster and adoptive parents for whom they had email contact. Interviews queried parents' knowledge and attitudes toward psychotropics, engagement in decisions, and recommendations for the decision-making process. Interview responses were coded and synthesized using mixed inductive and deductive methods in Dedoose software.ResultsChildren came into care on an average of four psychotropics. Parents reported receiving little information about the medications and finding information on their own. Parents acknowledged the potential benefits of medications, yet attitudes were largely against their use. Internal and external pressures for and against the use of medications were described. Many parents felt left out of the decisions and recommended team decisions.ConclusionsEfforts to improve foster parents' knowledge of medications, side effects, and monitoring, as well as team decision protocols, are sorely needed to improve decisions for this population.     

Parenting stress and parenting behavior among foster mothers of foster children with externalizing problems

Foster children often have externalizing problems. Since foster parents are selected and trained, they are often expected to be able to handle the externalizing problems of these children. Very little is, however, known about foster parents' parenting stress and parenting behavior in the context of challenging foster caregiving. In this study, the parenting stress and parenting behavior of 39 foster mothers of recently placed foster children with externalizing problems were studied. By using standardized measures with normative data, foster mothers' scores on different parenting stress and parenting behavior subscales were compared to published norms. Foster mothers of children with externalizing problems experienced more parenting stress than the norm group. The parenting context, provided by these foster mothers, was similar to the parenting context provided by the norm group. The prevalence of specific dysfunctional parenting behaviors (e.g., less involvement in positive parenting) was small to moderate, but nearly half of the foster mothers could be classified as making dysfunctional adaptations to their parenting environment. Moreover, only the minority of foster mothers provided an adaptive parenting context (e.g., more than average involvement in positive parenting). The implications of these results for pre-service training and on-going support for foster parents are discussed.     

South African social workers' knowledge of attachment theory and their perceptions of attachment relationships in foster care supervision

Despite the prominence of attachment theory in international foster care literature and the importance of attachment relationships in successful foster care, attachment theory and practices do not feature prominently in South African foster care research. Against this backdrop, we interviewed twenty South African social workers' about their knowledge of attachment theory and their perceptions of attachment relationships in their own foster care work. Thematic analysis was used to analyse the interviews. We found that the social workers had limited knowledge of attachment theory and interventions; experienced most biological parents as unmotivated to improve their circumstances and attachment relationships with children; indicated that family reunifications were rare occurrences; reported foster parents were mostly kin; and experienced constraining contextual factors that hindered optimal consideration of attachment relationships in foster care supervision.     

Issues of shared parenting of LGBTQ children and youth in foster care: preparing foster parents for new roles

Foster parents have increasingly assumed new and challenging roles during the past decade. Meeting the developmental, attachment, and grieving needs of children and youth in out of home care is challenging by itself, but can become even more difficult with the issues that arise when the child is lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or questioning (LGBTQ). Preservice and in-service foster parent training programs can strengthen shared parenting skills by focusing on the universal critical issues of safety, well being, and permanence for children and youth in foster care. This article will focus on these skill areas: (1) sharing parenting to promote healthy growth and development of LGBTQ youth in foster care, (2) threats to safety of LGBTQ youth in foster care, and (3) general challenges and strategies for preparing foster parents of LGBTQ youth to build support systems.     

Making visits better: the perspectives of parents,foster parents,and child welfare workers

Mothers of children recently placed in foster care, foster mothers, and child welfare workers participated in semistructured, clinical interviews focusing on the challenges of parent visitation with young children. Mothers described their feelings of grief, trauma, and rage about the forced separation from their children and stressed the importance of emotional expression and communication during visits. Child welfare workers described the complexities of supporting emotionally close parent-child interactions while monitoring and assessing parental behavior during visits. Foster mothers described the importance of preparing children for visits and the difficulties of supporting the children afterward. Implications of understanding mothers', foster mothers', and child welfare workers' perspectives on enhancing the quality of visits with young children are discussed.     

Attachment in Foster Care: The Role of Maternal Sensitivity,Adoption, and Foster Mother Experience

The attachment relationships between 76 young foster children and their foster mothers were examined with the purpose of understanding how maternal sensitivity, adoption status, and foster mother experience contribute to relationship quality. Demographic variables were also included in the analyses. Attachment quality was assessed through home observations. More than half of the participating dyads constructed secure attachments. Maternal Sensitivity and foster mothers with little prior experience predicted higher scores on attachment quality. Additionally, variables associated with adoption status and full-time employment predicted maternal sensitivity. The results are interpreted and limitations of the study are discussed within the context of recent foster care reform policies and applications for practice.     

Flemish Foster Mothers’ Perceptions of Support Needs Regarding Difficult Behaviors of Their Foster Child and Their Own Parental Approach

Family foster care is a valuable, but vulnerable type of out-of-home placement. Adequate support of foster parents is an important factor for placement success. This requires an accurate assessment of the support needs of foster parents. This paper focuses on the support needs of foster mothers concerning difficult behavior of the child and their own parenting behavior. Data were gathered from 282 foster mothers. 46 % of the foster mothers needed support on at least one behavior of the child, 40 % on at least one parenting behavior. Foster mothers, who felt less competent to deal with the child, expressed a higher support need on both areas. A high support need concerning difficult behaviors was further predicted by the foster mother’s age, the type of foster care, and the number of biological children. A high support need concerning parenting was further predicted by the quality of support by the foster care worker and the number of foster children. Careful monitoring of all types of foster care situations with special attention to problem behaviors and how to handle them could make this type of out-of-home-placement more effective.     

Externalizing problems in young foster children: Prevalence rates,predictors and service use

Objective

Examining the prevalence of externalizing problems, their predictors and mental health service use for these problems by foster children and foster parents in a representative group of foster children aged 3 to 12 in Flanders.

Method

Survey data were collected on 212 foster children, who had been in the foster family for approximately four months. Foster parents filled out a Child Behavior Checklist to measure foster children's externalizing problems. Foster care workers reported on several potential risk variables for externalizing problems and on foster children's and foster parent's mental health service use. Predictors of externalizing problems were identified from a large number of variables using the method of purposeful selection of variables in linear regression.

Results

40.6% of the foster children had externalizing problems. Foster children who were placed because of behavioral problems had more externalizing problems. Only 20.9% of the foster children with externalizing problems and only 13.9% of their foster parents received professional help.

Conclusions

This study showed that externalizing problems are prevalent in this young foster care population, that it is hard to predict which foster children had externalizing problems, and that foster children and their foster parents rarely receive services for these problems. These findings call for a standard protocol of assessment of foster children's externalizing problems. Moreover, from a preventive viewpoint, guidelines are needed to systematically link young foster children with externalizing problems and their foster parents to appropriate services.     

Internet Risks for Foster Families Online

ABSTRACT

Foster parents and children (n = 64 families) who participated in a program to reduce the digital divide among foster children were surveyed about difficulties experienced in use of online communications. Providing Internet access to foster families increased Internet use, but was not perceived by parents or children as taking away time from other family or social relationships. A minority of parents and foster youth, however, reported a variety of problems ranging from benign arguments over access to the computer or frustration over equipment failure to serious concerns about children receiving pornography or meeting a sexual predator online. Although the majority of both parents and social workers were confident in their ability to deal with Internet-related problems, approximately one-third had low confidence in their ability to deal with foster family's Internet-related difficulties. Training foster parents on using filtering software to prevent pornography from coming into the child's experience of the Internet significantly reduced problems related to pornography when compared to foster families not in the program. Implications for social work practice are discussed.     

Foster parents exposed to political violence: The role of social support in addressing emotional and functional difficulties

BackgroundBeing a foster parent is stressful. It becomes even more stressful when foster parents face major threats to their own families and to the foster children in their care, such as during war situations. This study focuses on foster parents' reactions to the war with Gaza in southern Israel that took place in 2014. The first goal of this study was to describe posttraumatic symptoms (PTS) and problems in functioning among foster parents following their exposure to the war. The second goal was to identify background and social support predictors of PTS and functioning problems among these parents. The third goal was to examine the role of formal and informal support received by the parents as a moderator of the association between exposure to war events and PTS and problems in functioning.MethodsParticipants were 354 Israeli foster parents who were exposed to the war. Participants completed structured instruments of exposure to war events, PTS, functioning, and social support.ResultsExposure to war events was associated with PTS and related functioning problems. Education and religiosity were correlated with PTS and problems in functioning. Contrary to our hypothesis, more formal social support was associated with more PTS. Social support did not moderate the association between exposure to war events and PTS.DiscussionThe unexpected positive correlation between support and PTS was interpreted as either reflecting the fact that foster care agencies targeted foster parents who were most in need, or as a reflection of the inadequacy of the support they received. The findings indicate that foster parents need support during times of major stressful events such as natural disasters and wars, so that they will be able to help the children in their care. Specialized professional training for foster care workers needs to be implemented. Future longitudinal and mix-methods studies are suggested to help address the limitations of the present study.     

Caucasian Parents and Korean Adoptees

Abstract

This study explored the transracial adoption experiences of Caucasian parents who adopted children from Korea. Self-report data from parents of 117 adoptive families were used to compare mothers and fathers' perceptions in three key areas: parent reasons for adopting, family adjustment related to the adoption, and racial identity of adoptees. On the topic of adoptee's racial identity, parents' perceptions were compared over a seven-year period. Overall, mothers and fathers' perceptions were more similar than different, and parents appear to downplay their Korean children's race. The findings have implications for post-adoption training for transracial adoptive families.     

Writing a Book Review for JFSW

ABSTRACT

For children in foster care, continued contact with biological parents may have significant implications. This article seeks to synthesize literature examining attachment theory and visitation between children in foster care and their parents. The results of the research synthesis indicate that although the exploration of attachment theory began over 40 years ago, the questions regarding the implications of foster care visitation and attachment continuation surprisingly remain unanswered.     

Jokes and routines make everyday life a good life—on ‘doing family’ for young people in foster care in Sweden

The aim of this article is to identify inclusion practices in foster families by studying the everyday life of young people entering various types of foster family. Structure and warmth in the family stand out as important dimensions of everyday life. What is not so evident in previous research is the way emotional ‘warmth’ is created. In particular, joking, gentle teasing and laughing, which in this paper stand out as important inclusion practices, seem to be rather unknown aspects in foster care, as is the importance of doing things together in everyday life. The young people's contributions in creating a good family atmosphere are visible in the study, as is their capacity to adapt to a new family. Daily routines normalise the adolescents' everyday life. Negotiations make them part of important decisions, and may strengthen them as social agents. Foster parents' positive attitude towards birth family facilitates birth parents' support to their children. In this case study, mixed qualitative methods are used: interviews, network maps, ‘beepers’ and video recordings in the foster home.     

Role Perceptions of Foster Care in African American Kinship and Nonkinship Foster Parents: A Quantitative Analysis

This article reports on a study that examined a cohort of African American kinship (n = 57) and nonkinship (n = 53) foster parents' perceptions of their role responsibilities as a foster care provider. The Foster Parent Role Perception (FPRP) scale was used to measure perceived role responsibility. Results indicated that both the kinship and nonkinship foster parents perceived their primary role responsibilities as that of caring for the needs of the foster child(ren), while perceiving much less role responsibility for working with the biological family of the child(ren) or partnering with the agency. The implications of these findings for practice are discussed.     

Attachment Behavior of Children Adopted Internationally at Six Months Post Adoption

The purpose of this pilot study was to describe attachment behavior in children adopted internationally at six months post adoption. Twenty-two children and their adoptive mothers were observed at home for completion of an attachment measure. Mothers also completed a questionnaire on their child's preadoption care. Comparisons of children low and high in attachment security suggested that low secure children showed predominantly ambivalent attachment behavior or that they were still in the process of forming an attachment. Children having foster versus orphanage care prior to adoption differed in quality of preadoption care and in certain attachment behaviors, but not in overall attachment security.     

The Impact of Adoption on the New Parents' Marriage

ABSTRACT

This literature review examines the effect of adoption on the new parents' marriage. There are many factors in common with the transition to biological parenthood. A general decline in marital satisfaction is related to the partners' ability to balance marital and parental roles, to expectations about the division of housework and child care, and to time demands. Adoptive parents' marriages are also affected by infertility and its investigation. Adoption, especially of older children, adds further strains, including differing responses to the child's acting-out behavior. Social support, including parent relief, can enhance a marriage. The paper also discusses needed research and implications for practice.     

Use of a Parent Management Training Intervention with Urban Foster Parents: A Pilot Study

The development of effective interventions for foster children with behavior problems is essential given the consequences of behavior problems for children's placement stability and permanency outcomes. This article presents findings from a pilot study of an intervention providing parent management training (PMT) and support to foster parents in groups and home visits. The intervention was an adaptation of the KEEP (Keeping Foster Parents Trained and Supported) group intervention, provided in a large urban child welfare agency serving predominantly African American foster parents. The study used an intent-to-treat design, with 25 foster parents of 31 children (ages 4-12) in specialized foster care assigned to either an intervention or treatment as usual control group. Longitudinal outcomes were analyzed using random effect regression models. Over time, children's behavior problems were significantly lower in the intervention group relative to the control group, and the effect of the intervention was partially mediated by parents' understanding of how to appropriately use the intervention parenting skills. These results provide support for the effectiveness of KEEP with urban foster children with significant behavior problems.