The purpose of this study is to examine the perception of satisfaction of both kinship and non-kinship caregivers of the services offered to them through the child welfare system.

The purpose of this study compared the emotional closeness of 56 mothers of sons with autism to 57 mothers of typically-developing sons.

The lives of family members of a child with a developmental disability are typically influenced by acute as well as chronic stressful events. These families are compared to families of typically developing children. In order for a family with a child with a developmental disability to function as effectively as possible, it may be necessary to renegotiate and reassign traditional family roles of parent, spouse, brother and sister.

This study examined the effects of an Adlerian-based parent education program on parental stress and perception of Learning Disabled (LD) childrens' behavior. Forty parents, randomly assigned to treatment or waiting-list control groups, took the Parental Stress Index (PSI) and the Adlerian Parental Assessment of Child Behavior Rating Scale (APACBS) as pre and post tests. Parents in the treatment group attended a six-session Active Parenting program. No significant differences were found on the analysis of covariance for perceived parental stress following the parent education program. Seventy percent of the parents in this study had total PSI scores in the range defined as high stress by the PSI author. All of the PSI Child Domain pretest z scores were elevated indicating that parents perceive their LD children to be demanding, moody, distractible, and unadaptable. LD children's behavior is perceived as unacceptable and does not positively reinforce parents. The elevated z scores on the PSI parent Domain pretest indicate that parents of LD children feel less competent as parents and experience less attachment to their children than do parents of normal children. No significant differences were found on the APACBS following treatment, but 80 percent of the parents in the treatment group did perceive some positive behavior change. A positive correlation was found between the PSI and the APACBS indicating that perceived parental stress and child behavior are related. Parents identified 67 perceived stresors of raising LD children on a questionnaire. The results of this study indicate that parents of LD children perceive themselves to experience greater parenting stress than parents of normal childrenn. This perceived parental stress was not reduced and perception of children's behavior was not improved after participation in the Active Parenting program. Therefore, parent education groups for parents of LD children may need to be smaller, provide more time to address the issues specific to raising an LD child, and include a stronger counseling emphasis in order to provide more emotional support for these highly stressed parents.

Older adopted children and their families often express high need for support for attachment and trauma related concerns. Post-adoption mental health intervention focused on enhancing the parent-child relationship among adoptive parents and adoptees is essential for fostering placement permanency among these families. This single group pilot study explored the effect of Child-Parent Relationship Therapy (CPRT) for adoptive parents of preadolescents who reported attachment related concerns, stress in the parent-child relationship, and child behavior problems. Participants were 11 adoptive parents ages 25 to 64 (55% male; 91% couples; 100% married; 56% European American, 27% Asian, 9% Hispanic, and 9% Black American) with adoptees between the ages of 8 to 14 (56% male; 56% Hispanic, 33% European American, and 11% Black American). All child participants were adopted out of foster care. Data was collected at baseline, pretest, midtest, and posttest. Results from non-parametric Friedman test of differences across 4 points of measure indicated that CPRT demonstrated statistically significant improvement for the 3 outcome variables: parental empathy, child behavior, and parent child relationship stress. Specifically, results indicated that prior to receiving CPRT (baseline to pretest), parents demonstrated no change or worsening in functioning across all variables, whereas during the intervention phase findings showed a large treatment effect for parental empathy, a medium effect for parenting stress, and a small effect for child behavior problems. Findings from this pilot study support CPRT as a promising mental health intervention for adoptive parents and preadolescent children. Clinical implications and recommendations for working with adoptive parents of preadolescents are explored within the context of these findings.

Family foster care is the main resource of alternative care for children in South Africa. The researcher is of the opinion, and is supported in this by literature, that very little is known about the dynamics within the foster family and its effects on the different family members. Of special interest to the researcher is to understand what happens in the lives of birth children of foster parents when they have to share their “world” with a foster child. Up till now little attention has been given to the children who are directly involved in the fostering process. The purpose of this study was to explore and describe the experiences of birth children in the foster care system within the context of the family systems theory. The qualitative method implemented in the research made it possible to come to an understanding of the effects of fostering on these children and to give a true description to their voices. / Social Work / M.A. (Social Work)

The purpose of this study was to look at the factors that lead to disruption in the adoption of special needs children. Families that adopt special needs children may or may not be aware that they need post adoption services and may be reluctant to ask for them even when they are experiencing difficulty.

Family foster care is the main resource of alternative care for children in South Africa. The researcher is of the opinion, and is supported in this by literature, that very little is known about the dynamics within the foster family and its effects on the different family members. Of special interest to the researcher is to understand what happens in the lives of birth children of foster parents when they have to share their “world” with a foster child. Up till now little attention has been given to the children who are directly involved in the fostering process. The purpose of this study was to explore and describe the experiences of birth children in the foster care system within the context of the family systems theory. The qualitative method implemented in the research made it possible to come to an understanding of the effects of fostering on these children and to give a true description to their voices. / Social Work / M.A. (Social Work)

The purpose of this study was to measure how effectively San Bernardino County, Department of Children's Services utilizes visitations for family reunification and stability.

This study was done to determine whether the recently employed program of Family Group Decision Making (FGDM) is working in the San Bernardino County Department of Children Services (DCS) in the way it was intended to by reunifying children with their parents and reducing children's time in foster care.