Foster Parents’ Perceptions of Services Needed to Help Manage Foster Children’s Emotional and Behavioral Issues

Children entering the foster care system in the United States have higher rates of behavioral and emotional issues than children in the general population. Research has revealed that foster parents need to be trained in how to manage the emotional and behavioral problems of children placed in their care. However, there is a gap in knowledge regarding foster care providers’ perceptions of services they may need to assist them in managing their foster children’s behavioral and emotional problems. A generic qualitative approach was used to address the question: What are foster parents’ perceptions of services they need to effectively manage the emotional and behavioral problems of foster children in their care. Relational development systems theory and ecological systems theory provided the conceptual framework for this study. Thirteen participants with at least one year of experience from a rural, low socioeconomic community in North Carolina participated in semi-structured interviews. Results revealed that foster parents desired the following: help in managing foster children’s emotional and behavior issues; full disclosure about children’s emotional and behavioral problems during placement; a greater voice in decisions regarding foster children in their care; effective services for meeting foster children’s emotional and behavioral issues; opportunities for foster children to interact with their siblings and engage in other social activities. Improving foster parents’ ability to manage the emotional and behavioral problems of foster children in their care may reduce the number of placements that foster children experience, thus leading to social change