"What More Do You Want Us to Do?": Foster Parenting during COVID-19

Overview: This presentation will detail a qualitative study of foster parent experiences of stress and support during the COVID-19 pandemic. Findings indicate that in addition to experiencing challenges faced by most families during COVID, foster families experienced unique and additional stressors and impactful changes to their systems of support.Proposal text: "I'm Lysoling my cereal for heaven's sake, I don't need added stress on top of it. Like, what more do you want us to do?"
-Study participant

Foster parents provide care to the majority of children in the U.S. foster care system (U.S. Children’s Bureau, 2021). As primary care providers for some of our most vulnerable children, it is imperative that we understand the stressors and supports inherent in this critical role. In addition to typical stressors faced by most parents, foster parents navigate additional and unique challenges (Thompson et al., 2019), such as children’s heightened needs (Barnett et al., 2017; Lanigan & Burleson, 2017) and foster care’s inherent impermanence (Pickin et al., 2011). Though the role is uniquely stressful, social support may serve as a buffer, protecting against the detrimental effects of this stress (Sharda, 2020).

Understanding stress and support of foster parents is important at any time, but even more so during exceptional circumstances such as the COVID-19 pandemic. Foster families have experienced pandemic-related challenges faced by most families, such as the loss of regular childcare (Patrick et al., 2020). However, they experienced additional challenges specific to their role: shift to remote visitation (Singer & Brodzinksy, 2020), service delays (Callejas et al., 2020), and reunification disruptions (Callejas et al., 2020). Initial research indicates that foster parents experienced an increase in parenting stress during COVID-19 (Miller et al., 2020).

While preliminary research offers insight into the experience of fostering in the pandemic, further research is needed to fully understand the impact of these unprecedented circumstances on individuals in this critical role. The current study aims to address this gap by utilizing qualitative methodology to explore the experiences of foster parents during COVID-19. Specifically, the study uses the following research questions:
What did foster parents experience during the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly in terms of stress and support?
How did they experience it?

The above research questions reflect the phenomenological approach of the study, which aims to increase understanding of a particular experience and results in a narration of the essence of that experience.

The sample for this study included foster parents in one midwestern state. Following IRB approval, participants were recruited via online foster parent groups. The sample of 16 foster parents comprised 15 females and one male. Fifteen participants were white. Data were collected via semi-structured interviews conducted online in summer 2021. Qualitative analysis consisted of identifying significant statements, clustering into meaning units, and finally, identifying themes in response to the research questions (Creswell, 2013).

Initial findings indicate that foster parents experienced increased and unique stressors during COVID-19, and that their sources and types of support were notably impacted. These findings expand on preliminary research conducted early in the pandemic by offering an in-depth accounting in the words of foster parents themselves. These findings offer insights for practice both within and beyond COVID-19, in terms of how best to retain and support foster parents in their essential role providing care for children in the foster care system.