Shortage of Foster Parents: Exploring the Attrition of Prospective Foster Parents during the Licensing Process

Background and Purpose: Physical, sexual, and/or emotional abuse, and/or neglect affects children’s emotional, physical and psychological development. To minimize the effects of these experiences, it is important that these children are placed in living situations able to meet their individual needs. Despite the importance of foster care, the shortage of foster parents influences the multiple placements children in care experience or may result in placements that do not match child characteristics with caregivers’ strengths and preferences. In addition to negative effects on children’s behaviors, multiple placements are correlated with poor school performance, identity confusion, low self-esteem, illicit drug use, changes in social networks and increased arrests as juveniles.

Little is known about adults who begin the licensing process but do not complete it. This study addresses this gap in the literature. An increased understanding of how adults perceive the foster care licensing process could serve as an initial step in increasing the available pool of foster parents, thereby improving the care provided to children in state custody.

Methods: Twenty semi-structured, in-person interviews were conducted with adults who attended foster parent information sessions, the first step in the licensing process. For those participants who intended to continue the licensing process by attending pre-service training classes, follow-up phone calls were made. Additionally, a survey was used to collect demographic data of adults attending the information session and compared with data, as shared by the agency, on who completed the licensing process.

Interviews consisted of discussions on participants’ perceptions of children in care, the meaning of stipends available, perception of their parenting skills and traits and responsibilities required of foster parents. Initial and follow-up phone interviews were transcribed verbatim and coded thematically using NVivo Software.

Findings: Data analysis reveals thematic differences based on socioeconomic status and prior experiences with the child welfare system in regards to the support needed in the licensing process, roles as a foster parent, and understanding of the licensing process. The majority of participants indicated their love of children was their primary motivation for fostering and that they did not expect financial stipends to cover the cost of caring for children. Across demographics, agency recruitment was intricately tied to agency reputation as a provider.

Conclusion and Implications: The results of this research demonstrate the importance of agencies collaborating with potential foster parents, during the licensing process as well as supporting them when children are in their homes. This collaboration circles back to recruitment as most foster parents choose to foster because they know someone who fostered and choose an agency they “heard” was “good.” Practice implications include adapting the current licensing process to include flexibility based on individuals’ prior knowledge and experience and clarifying the licensing process. Parenting any child is work, and this work is complicated when foster parents are not clear of their roles and responsibilities.