Program Goals

The goals of Fostering Relationships are:

For birth parent:

• Strengthen the relationship with the foster parent
• Have a successful visit with their child
• Feel less rejected by their child
• Feel encouraged to repeat visitation with their child
• Increase use of play behaviors that promote self-regulation in young children; referred to as "following the lead"

For foster parent:

• Strengthen the relationship with the birth parent
• Increase use of play behaviors that promote self-regulation in young children; referred to as "following the lead"

Logic Model

The program representative did not provide information about a Logic Model for Fostering Relationships.

Essential Components

The essential components of Fostering Relationships include:

• Supports visitation between children and their birth parents.
• Provides an individual mentor who is typically a staff member of the Fostering Relationships program for the birth parent in order to support the birth parent's feelings during the visitation with their child and promote positive play skills.
• Provides a mentor session which occurs 20 minutes prior to visitation and includes example videos of children's reactions to visitation.
• Introduces the concept of "following the lead" during the mentor session which encourages birth parents to follow their children's lead in play:
• Parents play in a responsive manner in which the child is leading the interaction.
• Examples include imitating words, sounds, or behaviors, or commenting on what they see the child doing.
• Requires the foster parent to be present during the visit in the role of the primary caregiver of the child, which is designed to decrease child distress, and as a support to the birth parent.
• Trains the foster parent to recognize "following the lead" and make supportive comments to the birth parent:
• Trains the foster parent to say specific comments to encourage and reinforce the birth parent in following the lead.
• Promotes a positive foster and birth parent relationship.

Program Delivery

Parent/Caregiver Services

Fostering Relationships directly provides services to parents/caregivers and addresses the following:

• Birth parents who experience distress surrounding the visitation process may have challenges interacting sensitively with their child during visitation and/or have a potentially problematic relationship with the foster parent; foster parents/caregivers of children who feel distress during visitations with birth parents or would like to improve their foster child's experience of visitation

Services Involve Family/Support Structures:

This program involves the family or other support systems in the individual's treatment: Children (between 6 months and 6 years of age) of the birth parents are present at the visits. The birth parents are supported in their initial visitations with their children and their children's foster parent.

Recommended Intensity:

At least 5 visitation sessions, which typically vary with individual needs or agency standards. These 5 visitation sessions should be consecutive. They are often twice per week and one hour each, though individual agency standards are respected.

Recommended Duration:

At least 2 to 3 weeks (or however long it takes to complete 5 sessions).

Delivery Settings

This program is typically conducted in a(n):

• Foster / Kinship Care
• Outpatient Clinic
• Community-based Agency / Organization / Provider

Homework

This program does not include a homework component.

Resources Needed to Run Program

The typical resources for implementing the program are:

Staff for the "mentor" role and visitation space

Manuals and Training

Prerequisite/Minimum Provider Qualifications

There is no minimal education requirement for a staff person or foster parent to obtain before being able to be trained on Fostering Relationships.

Manual Information

There is a manual that describes how to deliver this program.

Training Information

There is training available for this program.

Training Contact:

• Dr. Mary Dozier
  mdozier@udel.edu

Training Type/Location:

Mix of onsite at foster care agency and through video and remote contact with the developers.

Number of days/hours:

4 hours of training.

Relevant Published, Peer-Reviewed Research

Currently, there are no published, peer-reviewed research studies for Fostering Relationships.

Additional References