Search

Regular parent visits in foster care are linked to child well-being while in care and to reunification. Parents often face emotional and logistical challenges to visiting. Yet practices to engage with parents by encouraging visits and problem-solving barriers are inconsistent. This study explores the effect of three factors on parent visits among 75 foster children: specific caseworker efforts to engage parents around visiting, whether the visit supervisor is the caseworker or a designated foster parent, and the role that kin versus non-relative foster relationships play in visiting regularity. Logistic regression models demonstrated that caseworker attempts to engage parents have a significant effect on the regularity of parent visits. Focus groups with kin caregivers, non-relative foster parents, and caseworkers revealed a lack of clarity or agreement about who is responsible for engaging parents to attend visits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]