Improving Relationships in Child Welfare Practice: Perspectives of Foster Care Providers

Foster parents' experiences of using child mental health and welfare services in Norway: Associations with youth, placement, and service characteristics

“…However, a substantial portion of foster parents evaluated some parts of the service contact as low to medium, including receiving information about the child's condition, cooperation with other services and organization of the work. This is consistent with studies from the United States, which indicated that foster parents experienced problems receiving relevant information from CWS workers, a lack of continuity of services and difficulties navigating different services (Bass, Shields, & Behrman, 2004; Geiger et al, 2017; Pasztor et al, 2006). As research has shown that a large proportion of foster families were in contact with several service providers (Larsen et al, 2018; Minnis et al, 2006), it is especially important for this group that different services work well together.…”

“…We need future studies including more information on the form and content of the services provided to examine whether this difference is found in other samples and can be explained by features of the service content . Our findings regarding information and waiting time align with findings from the United States and Spain where foster parents reported difficulties with the availability and timeliness of mental health services (Hayes et al, 2015; López López & Del Valle, 2016) and had problems receiving information about the child in their care from CWS (Geiger et al, 2017; López López & Del Valle, 2016; Pasztor et al, 2006). However, our results showed that responders evaluating the CWS more often reported no waiting time, while responders evaluating specialized mental health services more often reported that they had to wait, but not long.…”

“…Studies have found that most foster parents were satisfied with health (Hayes, Geiger, & Lietz, 2015) and welfare services received (Geiger et al, 2017; López López & Del Valle, 2016). However, many foster parents felt insufficiently involved in decisions regarding the child (Geiger et al, 2017; Hayes et al, 2015; López López & Del Valle, 2016) and reported a lack of continuity of care within services (Pasztor, Hollinger, Inkelas, & Halfon, 2006), problems with availability and timeliness of mental health services (Hayes et al, 2015; López López & Del Valle, 2016) and issues with receiving sufficient information about the child from CWS workers (Geiger et al, 2017; López López & Del Valle, 2016; Pasztor et al, 2006). Moreover, foster parents expressed a need for more support and sensitivity from caseworkers (López López & Del Valle, 2016).…”

“…As foster parents are crucial agents for enabling positive change in foster children (Fernandez, 2007; Minnis & Del Priori, 2001), it is important to gain knowledge about their service experiences. Moreover, their ability to provide supportive care is affected by their interactions with service providers (Benesh & Cui, 2017; Geiger, Piel, & Julien‐Chinn, 2017), and a lack of support from child welfare services (CWS) and health services seems to increase the risk of placement breakdowns (Khoo & Skoog, 2014; Rhodes, Orme, & Buehler, 2001; Tonheim & Iversen, 2018).…”

Exploring Relational and Parental Factors for Permanency Outcomes of Children in Care

“…Finally, a study focused on foster parent perspectives about factors that help them prevent placement disruptions found that when caseworkers were responsive to their needs and provided both concrete and emotional support, this helped them manage the stress of the role. Foster parents did report the need for caseworkers to improve the understanding of the perspectives of foster parents, communication (such as what happened to children before coming to their homes), and teamwork (Geiger, Piel, & Julien-Chinn, 2017). In addition to training and support by the child welfare system, foster parents who have larger natural social support systems, such as extended family, have less risk of disruption (Redding et al, 2000; Walsh & Walsh, 1990).…”