Paternal involvement in kinship foster care services in one father and multiple father families

Using data from case records and from questionnaires completed by caseworkers, this article describes contact between 132 fathers of children in kinship foster care and their caseworkers over a period of 12 months, and the fathers' involvement in permanency planning for their children. The data indicate that most fathers had no contact with the caseworkers during the period under study and had never participated in planning. Analysis revealed that paternal involvement varied significantly by the child's family composition. Fathers of two or more children from a one-father family were most involved, while fathers of one child from a multiple-father family were least involved. Possible explanations for the findings are identified, and implications for practice and research are presented.