No abstract

No abstract

Objective: A new measure of the potential of foster family applicants to provide quality family foster care is described and field tested in this study. The measure is titled the Foster Parent Potential Scale (FPPS). Method: Prospective data from 105 foster applicant families are analyzed. Results: Results support the internal consistency reliability of the FPPS, and for the most part its predictive, convergent, and discriminant validity. The notable exception to these results is that applicants of African American and other races had higher scores than did European American applicants, although the effect of race was small. Conclusions: The internal consistency reliability and construct validity of the FPPS is supported by these findings. The measure has several potentially useful applications. Keywords: foster care; foster parents; coster families; out-of-home care; substitute care; measurement Foster family applicants form the pool from which caregivers are selected for 75% of the 568,000 children in foster care (Department of Health and Human Services [DHHS], Administration for Children and Families, Administration on Children, Youth and Families, Children's Bureau, 2000). However, we do not have standardized measures with demonstrated psychometric properties for assessing the potential of foster family applicants to provide quality