Communication patterns between foster parents and case managers

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2018.04.034Get rights and content

Highlights

  • Case managers and foster parent communication is crucial for child wellbeing.

  • Clear, frequent, and responsive communication facilitated engagement and commitment.

  • Mixed messages, infrequent, and unresponsive communication promoted negative views.

  • Negative communication led foster mothers to questioned roles or withdraw entirely.

  • Reciprocal trust assisted in better collaboration and team work.

Abstract

More than 435,000 children reside in foster care in the United States, and despite the high number of children whom need homes, only a fraction of the entire pool of foster parents care for the majority of foster children. Furthermore, about half of foster parents quit within one year of receiving placements. Research has demonstrated that a lack of appropriate foster homes is linked to placement instability and adverse effects on children's overall health and well-being. It is imperative to improve foster parent retention to enhance the well-being of children living in foster care. The current study examined how to best facilitate a healthier professional relationship between case managers and foster families with the goal of identifying concrete ways to improve the relationship and drive foster parent retention. Data were collected via in-depth, qualitative interviews to identify characteristics of the relationship with case workers that are most valuable to foster mothers. Six themes emerged in our study that reflects the importance of quality, timely communication on foster mother/case manager relationship satisfaction.

Introduction

Foster care is a critically needed public program in the United States, having served 437,500 children in fiscal year 2016 (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services [USDHHS], 2017). Maintaining such a large government program requires the ongoing and effective coordination of financial resources, employees, families, and community supports. Navigating this complex system can be difficult and time consuming, and as result, burnout rates are high among foster families. In fact, roughly 50% of foster families close their license within one year of receiving a placement (Gibbs & Wildfire, 2007; Whenan, Oxlad, & Lushington, 2009), resulting in higher placement transfer rates and less permanency and stability in foster children's lives. Some of the most common reasons children are removed from their homes and enter foster care include: caretaker neglect (61%), abandonment (5%), and/or inability to cope (14%); physical (12%) and/or sexual (4%) abuse of the child; the incarceration (8%), drug abuse (34%) and/or alcohol (6%) abuse of the parent; and/or inadequate housing (10%) (USDHHS, 2017). These experiences can create immediate and chronic difficulties for children, including developmental and academic delays and poor school performance (Barbell & Freundlich, 2001; Brown & Rodger, 2009) Healey & Fisher, 2011). The literature on vulnerable children suggests that some of the most effective ways to support children who have been exposed to neglect or traumatic life events such as these are to promote stability and patterns of resiliency in the child's life (Ridings, Beasley, & Silovsky, 2016). One strategy for improving stability among foster children is to reduce placement instability associated with high rates of foster family burnout.

Previous research has considered how the provision of adequate training is one way to increase foster parent retention rates (Cherry, Orme, & Rhodes, 2009; MacGregor, Rodger, Cummings, & Leschied, 2006). However, Fees et al. (1998) argued that one of the most important features of a properly working foster care system is the positive relationship between case managers and their foster parents. Although this relationship is vital for keeping families invested in the foster care system, little empirical work has focused on how to best facilitate a healthy, productive, and professional environment for both the case manager and the foster family. However, promoting a more positive relationship between case managers and foster parents could potentially increase the satisfaction and investment of foster families (MacGregor et al., 2006), and thus facilitate more positive outcomes for many foster children by lowering the overall turnover in the foster care system. Children thrive in an atmosphere of stability, but suffer social, psychological, physical, and economic hardships when faced with accumulating instability (Harden, 2004). Children in the foster care system have already been removed from their home of origin, and have new family arrangements, living quarters, and new roles and norms to negotiate, among other things. When the system fails to retain foster parents, it also fails, in many cases, to maintain the stability that foster children so desperately need (MacGregor et al., 2006). To address this critical need of improving foster parent retention, thereby increasing the stability of the foster care environment for children, this study examined which aspects of the case manager and foster parent relationship are most meaningful to foster parents. The goal was to identify successful communication and/or interaction approaches that can be built upon by individual case workers to enhance needed supports, increase retention, and promote foster parent satisfaction, with the ultimate goal of maintaining a safe and stable environment for disadvantaged youth.

To meet these objectives, qualitative interviews were used to identify foster parents' perceptions of their pivotal interactions with case managers, including the positive and negative experiences that facilitated or hindered their ongoing work as foster parents. Supplemental interviews with case managers were also collected to help frame questions for the foster parent interviews and provide perspective on which recommendations could be legally and ethically implemented within a government bureaucracy. The goal of this assessment plan was to provide empirically-based, legally sound, and practical recommendations for improving the foster parent-case manager relationship. We hope that these initial findings will be used by case managers and supervisors to create interventions and training resources designed to enhance positive communication between case managers and foster parents, and promote a more stable environment for foster youth. Additionally, these findings could minimize recruiting expenditures by increasing the retention rates of foster families and improve the overall well-being of all members of the foster care system.

Section snippets

Background

Previous literature assessing foster parents' experiences and interactions with case managers in the United States and around the world, has produced a relatively consistent picture of foster family needs across diverse communities and nations (Brown, Ivonova, Mehta, Skrodzki, & Gerrits, 2013; Fisher, Gibbs, Sinclair, & Wilson, 2000; Whenan et al., 2009). Although foster parents reported having some positive interactions with case managers in these studies, such as providing resources and

Methods

The current study utilized a four-part data collection plan, including: (a) in-depth qualitative pilot interviews with case managers to better understand the key foster parent-case worker relationship from the agency point of view, (b) an online quantitative survey of foster parents' basic demographic characteristics regarding themselves and their family, (c) in-depth qualitative interviews of current and former foster mothers regarding their relationship with case workers, (d) and

Results

The purpose of this study was to examine the drivers of relationship satisfaction between case managers and foster parents. The participants in this study were women from geographically linked, small town farming communities in the United States. In a few of the cases, women had selected into fostering after experiencing difficult pregnancies or infertility. Several of the families had previously adopted or were currently trying to adopt children through the foster care system. Although

Discussion

Previous literature has examined foster parent retention according to positive and negative interactions with case managers (MacGregor et al., 2006), often emphasizing the type and content of interactions as key drivers of foster parent satisfaction (Brown et al., 2013; Fisher et al., 2000; Whenan et al., 2009. The results of this study align with findings from prior research, but add additional insights into what positive communication and interactions might be enacted to support foster parent

Conclusion

The emerging themes from our study indicate a consistent signal as to what drives foster mothers' satisfaction in their fostering role: Clear, frequent, and responsive communication between case managers and foster parents promoted the most positive responses in our interviews, and conversely, mixed messages, infrequent discussions, and unresponsive communication were viewed as the most negative experiences. While positive communication helped foster mothers to feel engaged and committed to

Acknowledgments

This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

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    Present address: Central Washington University, Department of Family and Child Life, Michaelsen 230. Ellensburg, WA 98926. Email [email protected]; office line 509–963-2770.

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