Early specialized foster care, developmental outcomes and home salivary cortisol patterns in prenatally substance-exposed infants

AbstractChildren in foster care (CFC) are at increased risk for negative developmental outcomes. Given the potential influence of foster parents’ parenting on the development of CFC, this literature review and meta-analysis provide an initial overview of how parenting factors in foster families relate to CFC’s developmental outcomes. We aimed to explore (1) whether foster parents’ parenting conceptualizations are related differently to various CFC developmental outcome variables and (2) how characteristics of foster parents and CFC moderate these associations. Following the recommendations of the PRISMA statement, we searched four databases in 2017 (with an update in May 2020). Forty-three primary studies were coded manually. The interrater agreement was 92.1%. Parenting variables were specified as parenting behavior, style, and goals and were distinguished further into functional and dysfunctional parenting. CFC development was divided into adaptive (including cognitive) development and maladaptive development. Meta-analyses could be performed for foster parenting behavior and developmental outcomes, as well as for functional parenting goals and maladaptive socioemotional outcomes in CFC. Associations between functional parenting behavior and adaptive child development were positive and negative for maladaptive child development, respectively. For dysfunctional, parenting effects were in the opposite direction. All effects were small to moderate. Similar results were found descriptively in the associations of parenting style and child developmental outcomes. We found similar effect sizes and directions of the associations between parenting behavior in foster families and the child’s developmental outcomes as those previously reported for biological families. These findings provide strong support for the significant role of parenting in foster families regarding children’s development in foster care.

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Specialized Foster Care: A Home for Children With Special Needs

From Child Abuse to Foster Care ◽

10.4324/9780203791431-11 ◽

2017 ◽

pp. 179-194

Author(s):

Richard P. Barth ◽

Mark Courtney ◽

Jill Duerr Berrick ◽

Vicky Albert

Keyword(s):

Foster Care ◽

Special Needs ◽

Children With Special Needs ◽

Specialized Foster Care

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Developmental outcomes of infants adopted from foster care: Predictive associations from perinatal and preplacement risk factors

Infancy ◽

10.1111/infa.12319 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 25 (1) ◽

pp. 84-109 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Irene Tung ◽

Allison S. Christian‐Brandt ◽

Audra K. Langley ◽

Jill M. Waterman

Keyword(s):

Risk Factors ◽

Foster Care ◽

Developmental Outcomes

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Family-Centered Practice with Foster-Parent Families

Families in Society The Journal of Contemporary Social Services ◽

10.1606/1044-3894.971 ◽

1996 ◽

Vol 77 (9) ◽

pp. 545-558 ◽

Cited By ~ 14

Author(s):

Emily Jean McFadden

Keyword(s):

Foster Care ◽

Foster Parents ◽

Foster Parent ◽

Family Care ◽

Foster Families ◽

Critical Issues ◽

Family Style ◽

Specialized Foster Care ◽

Work Done ◽

Family Centered

Foster parents face many stresses in their family life, whether they provide kinship care, general foster care, specialized foster care, or treatment family care. Critical issues include maintaining open boundaries while sustaining cohesion and integrity of the core family structure. Pressures from the agency, the community, the foster child, and his or her parents affect the way in which this family style functions. Focusing on the work done by family-centered practitioners with foster parents facing various types of developmental and situational crises, the author examines the responses of foster families to the multiple and chronic experiences of loss that they face. Guidelines for practitioners include placement issues, therapeutic issues, and knowledge of systems that clinicians need to work effectively with foster-parent families. Case materials illustrate the crises of dismemberment and demoralization as well as the crisis of accession.

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