Foster Parent Engagement in the United States: A Scoping Review

Background & Objective: Foster parents play an important role in positive outcomes for children and youth in the child welfare system. Children and youth who are placed in a foster family benefit from being in a family environment and have better outcomes than children and youth in other out-of-home settings. Despite the benefits of foster placements, the shortage of quality foster homes continues to be a problem in the United States. Therefore, increasing the engagement of foster parents is crucial. The majority of foster parent engagement research has focused on the demographics of foster parents, such as age, race, and educational level, and how those individual factors influence retention. However, while understanding the demographic characteristics of foster parents with better retention may be useful for recruitment efforts, identifying meaningful factors that can be changed by the agency is essential for improving foster parent retention. Research suggests a link between foster parent experiences and child outcomes, yet few evidence-based strategies exist to increase foster parent engagement. This may be due, in part, to a lack of understanding of the modifiable factors that impact behavioral and attitudinal engagement in foster families. This scoping review provides a systematic exploration of the literature on foster parent engagement.

Methods: Utilizing a comprehensive design, this scoping review examined the literature pertaining to modifiable factors impacting behavioral and attitudinal engagement (i.e., satisfaction, commitment, and retention) among foster parents. We mapped the extent, range, and nature of the literature and summarized the findings on strategies to increase foster parent engagement. Findings were categorized by engagement outcome to identify themes across articles. Studies were included in our review if they: (1) were conducted in the United States, (2) published between 2000 and 2020, (3) examined modifiable factors, (4) measured one of the outcomes of interest (i.e., satisfaction, retention, commitment), and (4) utilized a sample of licensed foster parents.

Results: We identified 393 articles and dissertations, of which 25 articles were eligible for inclusion. Three main themes emerged as factors impacting foster parent engagement: (1) specialized training, (2) concrete resources, and (3) social support. Five studies evaluated “training as usual” , and three studies examined evidenced-informed trainings . Concrete resources were examined in eight studies and included resources such as respite, financial assistance, and transportation. Social support, categorized as instrumental and affective support, was examined in 18 of the included studies.

Conclusion: Findings of this review suggest that agency resources, specialized trainings, and social support are vital to foster parent engagement. Study findings also indicate a need for multiple types of support from both the agency and the foster parent’s own network. Improving the well-being of youth in foster care will require a better understanding of the factors that impact foster parent engagement. Therefore, more research is needed to understand the effectiveness of specialized trainings to increase engagement over time.