Dissertation (Ph.D.) -- The Institute for Clinical Social Work, 2003. / A dissertation submitted to the faculty of the Institute of Clinical Social Work in partial fulfillment for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy.

Background and Purpose: Many foster parents serve briefly, and foster and adopt few children. This makes it difficult to ensure the placement, care, stability, and well-being of foster children. Rather than focus on this majority of foster parents, it may be more useful to understand highly productive foster parents. The Pareto Principle provides a useful conceptual framework for doing this. This principle originates from economics and has empirical support in other fields. It also is known as the 80-20 rule or the Vital Few and states that roughly 80% of effects come from 20% of causes. This presentation will report research that identified such a group of foster parents and will describe their characteristics. Methods: In Study 1 we used a cross-sectional design and a national non-probability sample of 304 non-kinship foster mothers. In Study 2 we used data from the National Survey of Current and Former Foster Parents (NSC&FFP), which included a national probability sample of 876 non-kinship foster families. We used latent class analysis (LCA) to identify discrete subgroups of foster families based on number of children fostered; years fostered; and number of foster children in home at the time of study participation. Study 1 also included number of foster children adopted and number removed at foster parents' request. In Study 1 we also examined differences between subgroups in the quality of care provided. Results: LCA revealed two classes: 21% and 79% of the sample in Study 1, and 19% and 81% in Study 2. We refer to the smaller group as the Vital Few and the larger as the Useful Many. Vital Few: families fostered 73% and 74% of children in Study 1 and 2, respectively; 10 to 11 times more children than the Useful Many, despite having fostered only two to three times longer. Also, in both studies the Vital Few had 50% more foster children in their homes. Finally, the Vital Few in Study 1 had adopted twice as many children and requested removal rate was of one-half. In Study 1 we regressed class membership on quality of care indicators using logistic regression. The odds of being in the Vital Few were higher for mothers who: were less likely to use psychological control in parenting or inconsistent parenting; had less need for social readjustment; had more time to foster; and anticipated more help with fostering from professionals. Mothers who anticipated more help with fostering from kin were less likely to be in the Vital Few. Conclusions and ImplicationsFindings suggest that a disproportionately small percentage of foster parents care for most foster children. Understanding the characteristics of these resilient Vital Few can inform recruitment and retention efforts and the designation of other limited resources. Embracing the phenomenon of the Vital Few can reduce frustration of workers and provide more positive and realistic expectations of foster parents. Further research on the Vital Few is warranted to assess the motivations of this group, the quality of care provided, and outcomes of children fostered by these families.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Duquesne University, 2009. / Title from document title page. Abstract included in electronic submission form. Includes bibliographical references (p. 144-151) and index.

The purpose of this study was to assess the impact of foster care services on Hispanic/Latino foster mothers' marital relationship.

Il est bien documenté que les représentations d’attachement des parents ont une influence sur différents aspects du développement de leurs enfants notamment le développement du lien d’attachement. Ceci est également observé chez les parents d’accueil et les enfants qu’ils hébergent, pourtant les représentations d’attachement de ces parents ne sont pas prises en compte lors de leur évaluation pour devenir famille d’accueil. Les représentations d’attachement des adultes peuvent être évaluées à l’aide de l’Entrevue de l’attachement adulte (AAI) et du Projectif de l’attachement adulte (AAP) qui utilisent les mêmes catégories d’attachement pour classifier les individus, mais à partir de systèmes de codification distincts. Plusieurs études ont étudié la validité convergente entre les catégories de ces deux outils, mais aucune ne l’a fait avec un échantillon de mères de familles d’accueil. Par ailleurs, des études ont démontré que les caractéristiques individuelles de l’attachement seraient mieux représentées de façon continue plutôt que catégorielle. Ainsi, il semble pertinent d’évaluer la convergence entre les dimensions du AAI et du AAP. Ce mémoire visait donc à évaluer la convergence entre les catégories et les échelles dimensionnelles de ces deux outils ainsi que leur association à l’Inventaire de dépression de Beck (BDI). L’échantillon est composé de 54 mères d’accueil québécoises d’un âge moyen de 39 ans. Les résultats révèlent une convergence acceptable lorsque les participantes sont divisées en catégories autonomes et non-autonomes alors que les résultats ne sont pas concluants pour les quatre catégories d’attachement et la division résolue et non-résolue. Certaines échelles dimensionnelles du AAI et du AAP ont été associées et une échelle du AAP a été corrélée significativement avec le score de dépression obtenu au BDI. En somme, les deux outils catégorisent les participantes selon des systèmes de classification semblables, mais des disparités sont observées particulièrement en ce qui concerne les états d’esprit insécures. / Parents’ attachment state of mind is known to influence their child’s development in various domains as well as the attachment relationship. Indeed, the attachment type that children develop is significantly associated to their parent’s attachment state of mind, including among foster families. Adults’ attachment representations can be assessed using the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI) and the Adult Attachment Projective (AAP) that categorize adults in corresponding attachment categories with very different classification systems. Studies have examined convergent validity between the both measures among different populations, but none among foster mothers. Moreover, studies revealed significant convergence between attachment categories, but none has examined the convergence between dimensional scales of both measures. Some authors have proposed that differences according to attachment may be better explained continuously rather than with categories. Thus, this study aims to investigate the convergent validity between the overall classifications as well as dimensional scales of the AAI and the AAP and their association to the global score of depression obtained at Beck’s Depression Inventory (BDI). The sample consists of 54 foster mothers (mean age: 39) from Quebec (Canada). Results show acceptable convergence when participants a separated in autonomous and non-autonomous categories but not for the four-way classification and the resolved and unresolved division. Some dimensional scales of the AAI and the AAP were significantly associated and one scale of the AAP was associated to the global score of depression as assessed by the BDI. In sum, the two measures categorized adults in similar manners, but some discrepancies are observed in the insecure states of mind.