DSW-Candidate California Baptist University Upland, California, United States
Overview: Identifying contributing factors in addressing engagement efforts between resource parents and birth families is beneficial in addressing foster children’s needs. Foster care agencies encounter resistance when co-parenting difficulties arise. Child welfare agencies are responsible for providing parent education to resource parents to deal with reunification issues effectively.Proposal text: Conflicts between resource parents and birth families are harmful to children (Children’s Trust Fund Alliance, 2020). Collaboration challenges exist between resource parents whose motivation is different from birth families. Engagement efforts help address and provide support services (Murray et al., 2019). Studies have examined factors that interfere with resource parents’ motivation to foster children, such as lack of support and struggling to understand the child welfare system (Geiger et al., 2016). Resource parents cite a lack of training and support from agencies engaged in child welfare efforts (Greeno et al., 2016). Providing co-parenting resources to community stakeholders is vital in promoting the welfare of foster children. Few studies investigate foster care caseworkers as stakeholders in collaborative relationships between resource parents and birth parents (Ankersmit, 2015). This current study investigated the experiences and perceptions regarding co-parenting relationships between resource parents and birth families. An interview with foster care social workers was conducted, and a reoccurring theme was the preconceived notions encountered by each set of parents, such as negative perceptions of each other. Likewise, opposite case goals may exist for each parent, which may put them at odds. Quality Parent Initiatives address co-parenting issues, such as comfort calls. Using a comfort call approach in co-parenting relationships will address the ongoing sharing of the child’s information in care. Stakeholder meetings and feedback sessions will be utilized to develop solutions together. Having resource parents and birth families learn with each other regarding the child in common will be beneficial to the process. Challenges, including encountering resistance from both sets of parents during the engagement process, will be discussed in meetings to circumvent these issues. Ultimately, this study provides education to social workers in the child welfare field to better prepare parents working with foster children.
