Views and opinions of biological families, foster families and social workers about children's contact with birth parents

It is generally agreed that contact visits with birth families are important both for the foster child’s wellbeing and for ensuring that the foster placement is successful. However, the benefits and potential disadvantages of contact visits for children in family foster care have been the subject of much debate and controversy in recent decades. In order to this, the present study analyzes the opinions of birth families, foster families and social workers responsible for supervising contact visits regarding the benefits and problems associated with contact visits. The sample for this study comprised 23 birth families, 8 social workers and 9 foster families. In the case of biological parents, semistructured individual interviews were conducted in order to explore the parents’ opinions regarding the contact visits. Regarding foster families and social workers, data were gathered through two focus groups. Transcriptions of the parents’ interviews and of the two focus groups were examined using an inductive method and ATLAS.ti v7.0 software. The findings showed that, in the case of the birth parents, the main themes to emerge concerned their general view of contact visits, the input and support from social workers, the contribution of foster families, the contact venue, and the organization of visits. In general, when comparing the results about the opinion manifested by the participants, it is worth highlighting the positive view that biological families show regarding support they received from social workers and saw the relationship as being based on mutual trust. More specifically, they felt that the social workers, were prepared to answer questions, and made them feel welcome when they attend the visits. The results suggest several ways to improve social work practice. For example, is necessary to develop a specific program aimed at providing birth families, foster carers and foster children with adequate training in relation to contact visits.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech