Abstract
This study presents descriptive findings from a project designed to understand different perspectives about family visits, to pilot a guidebook tool to help participants reach shared goals, and implement best practices. A sample of 133 parents, children, foster parents, and social workers reported their reactions to the tool. Findings revealed that, depending on the role played in visits, there was variation in perceived goals of visits and ideas about handling difficult visits. After using the tool, parents reported feeling better able to manage their emotions during visits, children reported believing their feelings about visits were more normal, and foster parents were more open to discussing parent no-shows with children. Implications for practice are discussed.
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Notes
The number of paired pre- and post-questionnaire items per participant group was too small in most cases to run significance tests. When a large detectable effects existed, a paired t test analysis was used to determine if there were statistically significant changes in ratings over time with the same individuals. This is noted when the significance is at the p < .05 level.
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Nesmith, A. Parent–Child Visits in Foster Care: Reaching Shared Goals and Expectations to Better Prepare Children and Parents for Visits. Child Adolesc Soc Work J 30, 237–255 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10560-012-0287-8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10560-012-0287-8