ABSTRACT
Foster parents are often faced with serious externalizing behaviors of their foster child. These behavioral problems may induce family stress and are related to less effective parenting and often increase. Foster children with behavioral problems are also more at risk of placement breakdown. An intervention to support foster parents of young foster children with externalizing behaviors is necessary to improve the effectiveness of foster placements. Based on research on effective parenting interventions and special needs of foster children, a treatment protocol was developed. This paper describes theoretical foundations for the content and form of the intervention and gives an overview of the modular treatment protocol. Preliminary outcomes of this intervention as well as challenges and future developments and research activities are discussed.
Subject(s)
Child Behavior Disorders/therapy , Foster Home Care/methods , Parents/education , Belgium , Child , Child Behavior Disorders/psychology , Foster Home Care/psychology , Humans , Parents/psychology , Program Development , Stress, Psychological , Surveys and QuestionnairesABSTRACT
The high prevalence of mental health problems in foster children is well-documented (e.g., Armsden, Pecora, Payne, & Szatkiewicz, 2000; Tarren-Sweeney, 2008). From an ecological perspective, it can be expected that several factors in different systems (e.g., foster child, foster family, biological parents, and community) influence foster children's behavioral problems. Mainly, the influence of pre-care experiences, such as a history of maltreatment (Oswald, Heil, & Goldbeck, 2010), and in-care experiences, such as the number of out-of-home placements (Newton, Litrownik, & Landsverk, 2000), is investigated and confirmed. Although the body of research on predictive factors of foster children's behavioral problems is growing (McWey, Acock, & Porter, 2010), the possible influence of one important party is being neglected: biological fathers. This is remarkable given the central role of birth parents in family foster care (O'Donnell, 2001), and even more striking given the growing evidence of the influence of fathers on developmental outcomes of children (Lamb, 2010). This study reports on the involvement of birth fathers during foster care placement of their child and their association with the foster child's well-being. First, we review the literature on the influence of parents on foster children's mental health and discuss the limited research on fathers' involvement. Next, the results of our study are presented and discussed.
