As Counties continue to grow and the need for foster parent’s increases, resources become scarce. In San Bernardino County, Juvenile drug court is no longer offered, which has led to fewer resources for foster parents in need of substance abuse treatment services. Without access to juvenile drug court, foster youth are often in need of substance abuse treatment services after they have been placed, as part of rehabilitation and success. Substance abuse issues are often found at the initial interaction of children and family services, and foster youth agencies; however, for ongoing treatment, there are few resources. The purpose of this study focused on foster parent’s perceptions of barriers to accessing substance abuse treatment for foster youth. In order to create solutions and break these barriers, it was important to find out where the problem may have started. Data consisted of questionnaires given to San Bernardino County licensed foster parents who have had placement within the last two years. Given the information that was found, it was concluded that there are limited resources for foster parent caregivers, and having found this information has allowed for San Bernardino County Children and Family Services to ensure the barriers that limited access can be broken.

Not available / text

Thesis (Psy. D.)--Wheaton College, 2005. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 193-198).

Thesis (D Phil (Social Work))--University of Pretoria, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references. Available on the Internet via the World Wide Web.

Thesis (Psy. D.)--Wheaton College, 2005. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 193-198).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2004. / Supervisors: Edmund Emmer and Guy Manaster. Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Objective: The Casey Foster Applicant Inventory-Applicant Version (CFAI-A) is a new standardized self-report measure designed to assess the potential to foster parent successfully. The CFAI-A is described, and results concerning its psychometric properties are presented. Method: Data from a sample of 304 foster mothers from 35 states are analyzed. Results: Six CFAI-A subscales were identified, and internal consistency reliability for these subscales ranged from.64 to.95. The construct validity of all but one of these subscales is promising. Conclusions: The CFAI-A shows promise for use in research and practice, where it might be used to improve decisions about how to support, monitor, and retain foster families and to match, place, and maintain foster children with foster families.

Children with disabilities represent a significant and increasing proportion of children in foster care. In a national sample of 304 foster mothers we identified two groups of mothers, one willing to foster children with any type of disability except HIV/AIDS (51%) (Unconditional mothers), and a second group who were more selective (49%) (Selective mothers). Unconditional mothers fostered longer, fostered more children, and had more foster children in their homes.

Many foster parents serve only briefly, and foster and adopt few children. Anecdotal reports suggest that a small percentage of foster parents provide a disproportionate amount of care; however, we know virtually nothing about these parents. This study applied the Pareto Principle, also known as the 80-20 rule or Vital Few, as a framework to conceptualize these foster parents. Using latent class analysis, two classes of mothers were identified: one accounted for 21% of mothers and the other 79%. We refer to the former as the Vital Few and the latter as the Useful Many. Vital Few mothers fostered 73% of foster children - 10 times more than Useful Many mothers although only fostering three times longer. They adopted twice as many foster children while experiencing half the yearly rate of placement disruptions. Vital Few mothers were less likely to work outside the home, had better parenting attitudes, more stable home environments, more time to foster, and more professional support for fostering, but less support from kin. Further, they were as competent as the Useful Many on numerous other psychosocial measures. Understanding characteristics of these resilient Vital Few can inform recruitment and retention efforts and offer realistic expectations of foster parents.

Research suggests that lack of permanency is associated with an increased risk of aggression, mental instability, and delinquent behavior in children (Leve et al., 2012). A crucial component of permanency involves establishing stable connections, including relational permanence with peers and adults, which are believed to enhance the well-being of foster youth (Wekerle et al., 2009). Further, the literature suggests a relationship between a parent’s adverse traumatic experiences, their attachments to their own parents, and their ability to regulate their foster child’s relational permanence to supportive adults and peers. Foster parents who have experienced trauma are often insecurely attached to their biological parents (Reisz et al., 2023). Parents with insecure attachments are associated with lower parental involvement and consistency (Jones et al., 2015); it is hypothesized that these characteristics among foster parents may be associated with a failure to maintain relational networks in foster youth. The first research question examined the association between foster parents’ previous adverse experiences of trauma and hardship and their attachment to their mothers. The second question assessed the relationship between the quality of foster parents’ attachment to their mother and the relational permanence of foster youth. The third investigated how foster parents’ attitudes toward and behaviors in co-parenting were related to their youth’s relational permanence. Participants were recruited through foster parent associations via an online survey to test the relationships between foster parents' characteristics and foster youths’ relational permanence. Participants completed an adapted version of the Youth Connections Scale, the Inventory of Parents and Peer Attachment (IPPA), questions regarding foster parents’ exposure to hardship and trauma, and items measuring foster parents’ involvement in and willingness to facilitate relationship maintenance among foster youth. For the first research question, data analysis was conducted via a comparison of mean with foster parents’ experiences of trauma and hardship as independent variables and a foster parent’s attachment to their mother as an independent variable, measured via the Inventory of Parents and Peer Attachment. The second research question ran a series of bivariate correlations to determine the relationship between the quality of foster children’s relationships, frequency of contact in foster children’s relationships, and attitude towards and behaviors of co-parenting. Similarly, the third research question utilized bivariate correlations to determine if there was a relationship between the quality of attachment to one’s mother, as measured by the Inventory of Parent and Peer Attachment, and the quality or frequency of relationships in foster youth. The results failed to indicate a significant relationship between foster parents’ experiences of trauma and hardship and their attachment to their mothers. Furthermore, the data did not reveal any notable correlations between foster parents’ maternal attachment and the quality or frequency of relationships in fostered youth. The data did not suggest a correlation between co-parenting behaviors or attitudes and the quality or frequency of foster youth relationships with family contacts. However, a significant relationship was revealed between foster parents’ attitudes toward co-parenting and the quality of their fostered children’s relationships with both adult and child relatives outside of their immediate family.