Research Review: Parents’ service experience – a missing element in research on foster care case outcomes

Abstract

A large body of child protection literature focuses on termination of parental rights, family reunification, and children's re‐entry into care as outcomes for children in foster care. Studies have investigated child, placement, family, and parent variables as predictors of case outcome. However, one important group of variables remains largely unstudied: factors related to parents’ service experience. Parents’ service experience includes parents’ perceptions of and involvement in the various services in which they must participate in order to recover their children from foster care (e.g. mandated treatment programmes such as substance abuse rehabilitation, parenting skills classes, etc.). The parental perspective on the foster care process is a critical element in the life of a child protection case, and its influence on case outcome must be explored. A brief review of the current literature on case outcome predictors is provided and parents’ service experience is highlighted as an area in need of investigation. Suggestions for the measurement of parents’ service experience are also offered.

Social Support in Family Reunification: A Qualitative Study

“…Recent efforts to examine the perspectives of families lend support to the value gained through this approach (Alpert, 2005;Drake, 1995;Dumbrill, 2006;Kapp & Vela, 1999;Kauffman, 2007). In addition, Williams et al (2004) suggested research regarding social support should be context driven.…”

“…The results of these studies indicated that social support was indeed an important concept to be considered (Keating-Lefler, Hudson, Campbell-Grossman, Fleck, & Westfall, 2004;Manji et al, 2005;Trulsson & Hediin, 2004). As researchers seek to understand more about the process of change and development in family practice, recent attention has been given to the importance of examining the perspectives of families regarding their circumstances and the services they receive (Alpert, 2005;Drake, 1995;Dumbrill, 2006;Kapp & Vela, 1999;Kauffman, 2007). Given the lack of a clear definition of what social support is, the degree to which it is context specific, and the recent value given to seeking the perspectives of families, additional qualitative research can add understanding about how social support is defined and experienced for families in specific situations.…”

Family feedback in Child Welfare Services: A systematic review of measures

“…In this line, studies about service user feedback may serve as a means to empower parents and to give them a chance to have a voice with regard to their experiences with services. The process of being asked about their own opinions may actually change their perceptions about the staff and the services; it may also help to reduce the pronounced power asymmetry that exists between practitioners and child welfare users, and to provide client-centered and family-focused casework practice (Alpert, 2005;Baker, 2007;Tilbury, Osmond, & Crawford, 2010). Additionally, systematically assessing families' opinions about services is consistent with the principle of turning users into active agents of the intervention and promoting their autonomy (Rodrigo, Maiquez, Martín, & Byrne, 2008).…”

“…Compliance, in turn, predicts reductions in the likelihood of subsequent reports of child maltreatment and out-of-home placements (Littell, 2001), and engagement is positively associated with parents' perceptions that their children were safer because of their involvement with services and that their parenting had improved (Gladstone et al, 2012). It is likely that parents who feel better about the services they receive and the relationships established within those services will be more receptive to suggestions, referrals, and assistance offered by child welfare agencies (Alpert, 2005;Chapman, Gibbons, Barth, McCrae & the NSCAW Research Group, 2003).…”

Collaborative practice in statutory in child protection practice: Parental agreements and procedural justice

“…Parents are acknowledged within the literature as being a 'hard to reach' population. This is due to a myriad of factors including viewing research as a further intrusion into their lives, fear of repercussions for voicing their opinions, disempowerment and a wish for discretion regarding their involvement with child protection (Alpert, 2005;Buckley et al, 2011;Kapp & Propp, 2002;McWey, Bolen, Lehan, & Bojczyk, 2008). Reaching this group becomes more difficult when the statutory authority and the practitioners working with these parents are required to be utilised as gatekeepers.…”