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Learning Objective 1: The learner will be able to identify the prevalence of health, mental health and behaviors problems among children and teens in foster care.
Learning Objective 2: The learner will be able to identify the member of the foster parent formal social network who provides foster parents with the most perceived support.
Methods: A quantitative descriptive cross sectional study was conducted with 26 certified foster parents in upstate New York. Data were gathered using a social network questionnaire, the Child Behavioral Checklist parent report (CBCL), the parental competence subscale of the Parental Stress Index and the Parent Development Interview (PDI). Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, correlations and UCINET 6. John Belsky’s Determinants of Parenting Model was adapted for use in this study.
Results: Foster parents had small (M = 4.7, SD =2.74), fairly dense social networks (M = 0.724, SD = 0.193). Caseworkers were the most important members of the foster parent formal social network system. Foster parents who were more satisfied with the emotional support they received from their network members (r = .619, p = .001) were also more satisfied with the advice and information received (r = .619, p = .002). Foster parents often had missing ties to the educational, legal and health care network members. Foster parents had ordinary parental reflective functioning (M = 5.81, SD = 1.55) and felt competent in parenting their child in foster care (M = 26.85, SD = 5.87).
Conclusion: The study results suggested a need for greater integration of foster parent formal network systems in order to provide the supports needed to enhance better health and mental health outcomes for children in foster care. Foster parents and formal network members including health care providers also require additional training to effectively meet the needs of children in foster care.