The Perceptions and Satisfactions of Youth in Residential Care with Two Caregiving Models

Former residents ( N = = 76) of a residential facility were interviewed 1 year after discharge to solicit their perceptions and degree of satisfaction with houseparent and child care worker models of caregiving. Youth expressed higher satisfaction with houseparents than child care workers. Houseparents were preferred because they provided consistency and a family atmosphere, and they were less likely to leave employment. However, some youth expressed dissatisfaction with house-parents because of greater demands for intimacy from them, and their resentment over someone trying to assume their biological parents role. Findings suggest that residential centers should consider using houseparents or redesign child care worker jobs so they contain some of the advantages that youth identified with houseparents.

Decisions on Child Care: Do Sex and Sexual Orientation Matter?

This experiment on person perception used a role-playing methodology to examine whether a target individual's sex and sexual orientation influence perceived abilities as a child care worker. Men and women ( N = 78) role played the part of a parent who has placed an advertisement for a full-time babysitter. They received information about a male or female, heterosexual or homosexual applicant (randomly assigned). Although participants preferred to hire (and felt more comfortable leaving their children with) a heterosexual woman than any other type of applicant, they believed that homosexual men and women were as knowledgeable about aspects of child care, e.g., nutrition, first aid, as their heterosexual peers. The least preferred child care worker was a heterosexual man, perhaps because such a target is inconsistent with traditional sex-role expectations.