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

Abstract

Although the importance of contact between children in care and their parents, when safe, is accepted, there is limited research about supervised face‐to‐face contact. There is no literature that has systematically critiqued how supervised contact can be best delivered. The aim of this systematic review was to evaluate the evidence for interventions aimed at improving the quality of contact visits between parents and their children who are in out‐of‐home care. Twelve studies were included in this review. Each study was graded and assigned scores according to the presence or absence of each of seven criteria. The studies demonstrated key similarities in the types of interventions provided, although delivery varied across group, individual and educational interventions. Parents reported improved capacity to manage their emotions and parents' satisfaction with the programmes was high. Although there was a lack of large scale, methodologically rigorous studies with long‐term follow‐up, some promising findings were identified: the literature indicates individual family support and group programmes have the potential to improve parent–child relationships and the quality of contact visits. This review suggests that future studies build on current evidence by addressing their methodological limitations and evaluating interventions that can be tailored to meet the needs of individual families.

Behavioral Observation and Analysis of Participants in Foster Care Visits

“…In developing such an instrument, it would be useful to incorporate a dyadic analysis of the parent–child relationship (La Valley & Guerrero, 2012). In addition, and in line with previous research (Bullen et al, 2017; Höjer 2009; Nesmith, Patton, Christophersen, & Smart, 2017), our findings highlight the need to provide birth parents with training, support, and information that can assist them in contact visits and improve family relationships in the context of foster care. We are currently in the process of designing a training program aimed at both birth parents and foster carers that seeks to meet these goals.…”

“…The question of whether parental contact is beneficial does not have a clear-cut answer (Bullen, Taplin, Kertesz, Humphreys, & McArthur, 2015;Quinton, Rushton, Dance, & Mayes, 1997). Some studies have concluded that visits with birth parents can promote the child's social and emotional development and well-being (Berridge, 1997;McWey & Cui, 2017;McWey & Mullis, 2004;Schofield & Beek, 2009;Schofield & Ward, 2011).…”

“…Consistent with these discrepancies, some authors strongly recommend that decisions about contact should be made on a case-by case basis by social workers to ensure that visits are beneficial to the child and do not produce anxiety (Boyle, 2017;Prasad, 2011;Sen & Broadhurst, 2011;Taplin, 2006). In this context, the review by Bullen, Taplin, McArthur, Humphreys, and Kertesz (2017) highlights the importance of designing interventions that meet the specific needs of each family involved in contact visits during foster placements. Both qualitative (Haight et al, 2005) and quantitative studies (McWey, Acock, & Porter, 2010) have shown that the involvement of birth parents through visits has a positive effect on children's well-being and their affective ties with relatives.…”

Growing up with parental substance use disorder: The struggle with complex emotions, regulation of contact, and lack of professional support

“…The informants had several examples of how they tried both to keep distance and to spend time with their parents. Professional support in families who do not live together could contribute to making contact between children and parents safe and confident and may prevent children's experience of loneliness and insecurity (Bullen, Taplin, McArthur, Humphreys, & Kertesz, 2017;Taplin & Mattick, 2014).…”

A brief history of contact in fostering and adoption: practice and power, and the coming of the mobile phone

“…Triseliotis concludes by commenting that the entire process of contact has inherent difficulties that, on the one hand condemn birth parents for failing to engage proactively with their child, and on the other, may criticise them for being far too dominant. In their literature review on supervised contact, Bullen and colleagues (2015) further substantiate Triseliotis’s perspective by indicating that the evidence base for such judgements about quality of birth parent–child interaction during supervised contact is considerably thin. They echo his observation of the ability for social work practitioners to assess and judge the quality of contact in the absence of empirically based guidelines and a standardised framework.…”