Communication and Satisfaction within a Foster Parent Mentorship Program

Background: Foster parents have expressed dissatisfaction in their roles (Crum, 2010), which leads to placement breakdown and early exit from care providing (Wulczyn et al., 2018). To mitigate challenges related to foster caring and increase social support practices, the Kentucky Foster Parent Mentoring Program (FPMP) was conceptualized in conjunction with foster parents and a team of researchers (Miller et al., 2016) aimed at stabilizing placements and increasing the longevity of service for foster parents. The program consists of matching a seasoned foster parent (i.e., mentor) with a newly licensed foster parent (i.e., mentee). During the mentorship process, the mentor provides information and resources related to foster caring, with an expectation of once-weekly communication and additional support as needed. FPMP provides support to mentees in understanding grief, self-care, boundaries, and prioritizing family (Pope et al., 2020). To date, little research has explored how mentorship can mitigate challenges associated with foster caring. The FPMP is one program that has produced promising qualitative results. To further explore the FPMP, this study sought to investigate communication patterns between mentees and mentors and understand what factors are associated with higher levels of program satisfaction.

Methods: A cross-sectional exploratory survey was sent via email to foster parents participating in the foster parent mentorship program during Winter 2024. A total of 141 mentees responded to the survey. Foster parent mentees were asked to report the frequency, length of time, and type of communication with their mentors. The Information Seeking Effectiveness scale was used (ISE; Nabisan, 2011) to measure effectiveness in communication with their mentor. Program satisfaction was evaluated by asking eight questions on a 4-point semantic differential scale. Questions were asked about the support received, how the program met their needs, and overall satisfaction with the program. Finally, participants were asked about the degree to which mentorship has assisted them in various aspects of foster caring across 15 questions, on a 6-point Likert scale. Univariate analyses were run to explore communication patterns. A regression analyses was run to explore associations between program satisfaction and communication length, information seeking, and aspects of foster caring.

Result: Findings suggest that dyads communicate on average twice monthly, for five minutes, and most often via text message. Mentees reported a broad range of impacts from mentorship.Results of the regression indicated the independent variables had a significant (R² = .73, F_{(5, 47)} = 22.998, p < .001) association with satisfaction. Communication length of time was found to have a significant association with satisfaction (b = -2.59, t = -1.98, p = .05, 95%CI: -5.23, .04). Mentorship helpfulness to various parts of foster caring (b = .374 t = 4.62, p < .001, 95%CI: .21, .54) and obtaining effective information (b = .143, t = 3.98, p < .001, 95%CI: .07, .22) was associated with higher satisfaction scores.

Conclusion: This study adds to the current literature on foster parent mentorship by identifying key factors of program satisfaction. Implications for foster parent mentorship programs and future research will be discussed.