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The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of a 2-component intervention for biological and foster parent (pairs) to improve parenting practices, co-parenting, and child externalizing problems. Participants were biological and foster parents (N = 128) of primarily neglected children (ages 3 to 10 years) placed in regular foster homes. Biological and foster parents were randomly assigned in pairs to the intervention (n = 80) or a usual care (n = 48) condition. Intervention families received a 12-week parenting course (Incredible Years) and a newly developed co-parenting component. Key findings included significant gains in positive parenting and collaborative co-parenting for both biological and foster parents at the end of the intervention. At follow-up, intervention parents sustained greater improvement in positive parenting, showed gains in clear expectations, and reported a trend for fewer child externalizing problems. Findings supported the feasibility of offering joint parenting training to meet the needs of participating families and demonstrated that the co-parenting construct applied to families in the foster care system was amenable to intervention.

To authenticate to the full-text of this article, please visit this link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1545-5300.2010.01338.x Byline: LOURDES ORIANA LINARES ([dagger]), JENNIFER RHODES ([dagger]), DANIELA MONTALTO ([dagger]) Keywords: Coparenting; Foster Care; Child Problems Abstract: All abstracts are available in Spanish and Mandarin Chinese on Wiley Online Library (http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/(ISSN)1545-5300). Please pass this information on to your international colleagues and students. Although literature supports the association between harmonious coparenting practices and lowered child problems, little is known about coparenting influences among family constellations in the foster care system. Via a compilation of a new coparenting practices measure, we examined similarities and differences on foster parent-derived perceptions of support/flexibility, shared communication, conflict/triangulation, and total coparenting between foster and biological parents and their independent contribution to child internalizing and externalizing problems. Self-reports were gathered from foster parents (N=80) in 2 groups: kin and nonkin. As compared with nonkin, kin foster parents reported higher perceived support/flexibility, shared communication, and total coparenting. A tendency for higher conflict/triangulation among kin foster parents was also found. After considering foster parent group, psychological distress, and harsh discipline, hierarchical regression analyses revealed that perceived total coparenting and conflict/triangulation contributed to child internalizing and externalizing problems. Results support the linkage between perceptions of coparenting and child problems among caregivers (foster and biological alike) in kin and nonkin arrangements and highlight training in coparenting in general, and conflict management in particular, as an important intervention focus to reduce the high level of child problems in this vulnerable population. Abstract (French) RESUMEN Aunque existe documentacion que respalda la asociacion entre practicas armoniosas de cocrianza y menos problemas en los ninos, se sabe muy poco sobre las influencias de la cocrianza entre constelaciones de familias en el sistema de cuidado tutelar. Mediante la recopilacion de una nueva escala de practicas de cocrianza, estudiamos las similitudes y diferencias de las percepciones derivadas de los padres sustitutos con respecto a apoyo/flexibilidad, comunicacion compartida, conflicto/triangulacion, y crianza total entre padres sustitutos y biologicos, y su contribucion independiente a problemas internalizadores y externalizadores en los ninos. Se reunieron autoinformes de padres sustitutos (N=80) en dos grupos: emparentados y no emparentados. Comparados con los padres sustitutos no emparentados, los padres sustitutos emparentados informaron una mayor percepcion de apoyo/flexibilidad, comunicacion compartida y cocrianza total. Tambien se encontro una tendencia a mayor conflicto/triangulacion entre padres sustitutos emparentados. Despues de considerar el grupo de padres sustitutos, la angustia psicologica y la disciplina rigurosa, los analisis jerarquicos de regresion revelaron que la cocrianza total y el conflicto/triangulacion percibidos contribuyeron a problemas internalizadores y externalizadores en los ninos. Los resultados confirman el vinculo entre las percepciones de cocrianza y los problemas infantiles entre todos los cuidadores (sustitutos y biologicos por igual) en situaciones de cuidado tutelar con relacion de parentesco y sin relacion de parentesco y destacan la capacitacion en cocrianza en general, y el manejo de conflictos en particular, como foco de intervencion importante a fin de disminuir el alto nivel de problemas infantiles en esta poblacion vulnerable. Palabras clave: cocrianza, cuidado tutelar, problemas infantiles Author Affiliation: ([dagger])Department of Pediatrics, Mount Sinai Adolescent Health Center, New York, NY. Article note: Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to L. Oriana Linares, Department of Pediatrics, Mount Sinai Adolescent Health Center, 320 E. 94 St., Room 201, New York, NY 10128. E-mail: oriana.linares@mountsinai.org

To synthesize current knowledge of the impact of pediatric neuropsychological evaluations on child functioning, we conducted a systematic review of the literature on parents' overall satisfaction with their child's evaluation and perceptions of how helpful the evaluation was for understanding their child's abilities and how useful the evaluation was for providing actionable information to elicit change. Parent satisfaction is important in this context because studies on healthcare consumption indicate a substantial relationship between patient satisfaction with services and implementation of recommendations and follow-up care. We followed PRISMA guidelines to conduct a systematic review of the literature on parent perception of pediatric neuropsychological evaluations for children aged 3-21 years. Using a set of predefined search terms, we identified 1,163 abstracts across PubMed, PsycINFO, Cochrane Library, and Web of Science electronic databases and included 12 studies in our qualitative synthesis. In general, parents reported high levels of satisfaction with their child's evaluation. Feedback from the evaluation was helpful for understanding their child's pattern of strengths and weaknesses and included useful information for obtaining support. Although parents did report improvement in their child's functional participation in home, school, and community settings, they tended to rate the usefulness of the evaluation for eliciting change lower than their overall satisfaction with the evaluation or how helpful the evaluation was for understanding their child's abilities. Additional effort appears to be needed for pediatric neuropsychological evaluations recommendations to result in durable, meaningful change in child functioning.