Bridging Disciplinary Boundaries (January 11 - 14, 2007)

Purpose. Effective foster parenting is time-consuming. It requires time to address the myriad of emotional, behavioral, and cultural needs of foster children, be active members of a foster care team, and work with multidisciplinary service providers. This presentation reports results concerning the psychometric properties of the Available Time Scale (ATS), a new standardized self-report scale designed to measure the amount of time foster parents are able to devote to various fostering activities. Methods. Licensed foster mothers (N = 304) from 35 states were recruited from foster parent associations. They completed the ATS and a battery of self-report measures designed to assess individual and family functioning. The ATS has 20 items rated on a 5-point scale ranging from never (0) to very often (4). Results. Exploratory factor analyses indicated a unidimensional factor structure (all loadings > .30). Coefficient alpha equaled .87. Consequently, a total score was constructed from all 20 items and the validity of the ATS total score was examined. Construct validity of the ATS was supported by predicted relationships with numerous indicators of the quality of foster parenting. Mothers with higher ATS scores were more willing to foster challenging children and, specifically, children with behavioral or emotional problems and children with special needs; more culturally competent; more receptive to fostering children from different cultures and, specifically, children of a different race, religion, culture or sexual orientation; more accepting of children; more likely to have potential to promote foster children's development; and more satisfied with parenting. In addition, mothers with higher ATS scores were more willing to participate in team activities, including maintaining foster children's connections with birth families and mentoring other foster parents. Construct validity also was supported by predicted relationships with behavioral indicators of the availability to foster and actual fostering. Foster mothers with higher ATS scores fostered longer, fostered more children, and had stronger intentions to continue fostering over the next year and three years. Contrary to expectation, ATS scores did not predict intention to continue fostering over the next six months; number of foster children adopted; number of foster children removed at mothers' request; and number of foster children currently in the home. Finally, only a small percentage of variance in ATS scores (5%) was accounted for by education, race, marital status, and income, which further supported the construct validity of the ATS. Implications. Available time to foster, as measured using the ATS, predicts important behavioral outcomes. A reliable, valid, and practical measure of time to foster would be useful for social work practice and research. This measure could be used in practice to help foster parents evaluate their available time for various activities and inform foster care workers about areas in which the foster parent may need assistance. Such a measure could be used in research to examine the availability of time as it relates to the functioning of foster parents and fostering outcomes, including the quality of parenting, involvement in team activities, and the availability and utilization of foster family placements.