Abstract
Foster parents care for our nation’s most vulnerable children and adolescents. Their ability to provide care is impacted directly and indirectly by their interactions with public child welfare agencies and workers. This study examines the perspectives of 1095 foster parents in a southwestern state in the U.S. regarding what they believe child welfare workers are doing well and their suggestions for ways to improve relationships between foster care providers and child welfare workers. Foster parents commended caseworkers who were responsive to their needs and provided ongoing concrete and emotional support, and believed there was a need for improved communication and enhanced teamwork. Foster parents consistently acknowledged an overwhelmed child welfare system and the impact on child welfare workers and child welfare-involved families. Understanding the perspectives of foster parents can improve relationships between child welfare workers and foster parents, improve recruitment and retention efforts of foster parents, prevent disruption of children from foster homes due to license closure, and improve the overall well-being of child welfare-involved children and families.
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Acknowledgements
This research was conducted in collaboration with the Arizona Department of Child Safety and the Arizona State University (ASU) Center for Child Well-Being. The authors wish to thank Dr. Judy Krysik and Dr. Cynthia Lietz for their guidance and support with this project and manuscript. We also would like to thank Andrea Hightower and Roxann Miller for their assistance with data collection and management.
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This study was funded by the Arizona Department of Child Safety.
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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.
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Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.
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Geiger, J.M., Piel, M.H. & Julien-Chinn, F.J. Improving Relationships in Child Welfare Practice: Perspectives of Foster Care Providers. Child Adolesc Soc Work J 34, 23–33 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10560-016-0471-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10560-016-0471-3