Foster Parent Attitudes Toward Birth Parents and Birth Parent Visitation

Foster parents are a vital component to the child welfare system and play an important role, one of which is supervising parental visitation (Muniz, 2018; Neil et al., 2003). With visitation as the primary intervention for family reunification (Haight et al., 2003), foster parents and birth parents are more than likely to interact with one another at some point in time. The purpose of this research study was to examine if foster parent attitudes toward birth parents influence foster parent attitudes toward birth parent visitation. Data was collected from 40 participants, 36 females and 4 males, from a foster family agency based in California and Texas. The study used a survey design and questions were distributed in a group setting, a mailed hard-copy, and a web survey link. The study’s findings revealed that that when foster parents had a more positive attitude toward birth parents, they had a more positive attitude toward birth parent visitation. The study concludes with recommendations for public child welfare agencies and foster family agencies to develop trainings for foster parents and for social workers to increase efforts in assisting foster parents and birth parents build cooperative relationships