Arranging Focus Groups and Interviews with Foster Parents: Methodological and Cultural Considerations

Foster parents are an integral part of the service team for youth who are placed in out of home care. It is important to understand their concerns, practices and perspective in the relationships they create with youth placed in their homes. This workshop will discuss the methodological flaws and missteps which threaten the ability to recruit and interview foster parents for the study of sexual socialization of foster youth. Further, this workshop will explore innovative recruitment and interview approaches of specialized groups which incorporate ways of exploring motivation, willingness and availability. Focus groups proved impossible to facilitate with foster parents, given their multiple and ongoing daily tasks. While geography and logistical concerns are a natural concern of these methods, for this group there were additional aspects of their lives which prevented the focus groups from occurring. The critical feedback and data provided by foster parents was difficult to gain and was hampered by the oversight of cultural consideration of this participant group and sensitivity to those tasks which are integral to engagement. Foster parents possess vital information which can assist in understanding the needs of youth and the creation of interventions and policies necessary for their successful transition to adulthood