High-frequency family contact: a road to nowhere for infants

Abstract

A B S T R AC TUnderstanding the practices which support the best interests of infants when placed in out-of-home care in the first year of life is a significant challenge. A study based in Victoria, Australia, explored the practice by the Children's Court of ordering high-frequency contact (4-7 days a week) with the infant's mother and father when they are placed in care in the first year of life. A literature review revealed little attention to the issue of frequency of family contact for infants. An audit of case files of all infants in care in mid-2007 showed that at 1 year follow-up, there was no difference in the reunification rate for children with a period of high-frequency contact and those with less contact with their mothers and fathers. Focus groups revealed deep divisions of opinion about high-frequency family contact which are played out in the adversarial Children's Court system in Victoria. The study highlights the complexity of understanding and supporting the attachment relationships at this critical period in the infant's life.

Interventions to improve supervised contact visits between children in out of home care and their parents: a systematic review

“…Some research has investigated the experiences of participants to help tailor supervised contact services. This research has led to recommendations such as minimizing the frequent transport of young children by strangers, which can disrupt routines, cause distress and send conflicting messages to children (Humphreys & Kiraly ; Morrison et al . ).…”

“…Some research has investigated the experiences of participants to help tailor supervised contact services. This research has led to recommendations such as minimizing the frequent transport of young children by strangers, which can disrupt routines, cause distress and send conflicting messages to children (Humphreys & Kiraly 2011;Morrison et al 2011). Reviews continue to highlight a lack of research evidence about when contact is beneficial or not and how to manage contact (Quinton et al 1997;Triseliotis 2010;Sen & Broadhurst 2011;Bullen et al 2015).…”

“…Parents also report challenges engaging with their children when there are restrictions placed upon conversation topics (Höjer 2009). High frequency contact may affect parents' consistent attendance, when they may be experiencing the issues that led to their children being placed into care (Kenrick 2009;Humphreys & Kiraly 2011). The quality of visits or the parents' behaviour towards children also influences whether contact is beneficial or detrimental for children (Moyers et al 2006;Morrison et al 2011;Sen & Broadhurst 2011).…”

‘It's about the whole family’: family contact for children in kinship care

“…Where there has been abuse or neglect by parents, it would seem obvious that purpose of parental contact arrangements should be clear and customized to children's best interests (Sen & Broadhurst 2011;Saini et al 2012). However, this view is sometimes observed to be in tension with the use of contact arrangements as a bargaining chip in court disputes over perceived parents' rights (Humphreys & Kiraly 2011).…”

Improving outcomes for children in out‐of‐home care: the role of therapeutic foster care

“…However, carers described children in their care as experiencing frequent disruptions to their routines, particularly with requirements to travel to and from frequent access visits with biological parents. This phenomenon has been identified in the literature (Humphreys & Kiraly 2011).…”