Systematic Skills Training for Foster Parents

Abstract

This article describes the development and implementation of a systematic skills training program for foster parents. The ten week training program was an eclectic one which emphasized personal development as a prerequisite for skill development. The program was piloted with a sample of inner‐city, lower socio‐economic minority foster mothers and their foster children. Results were assessed by comparing the foster children of mothers trained in the program with those of a no‐contact control group before and after training. Outcome measures included two child report tests (assessing self‐esteem and asocialization), one foster parent report (assessing emotionality‐tension), one parent‐child interaction measure (assessing self‐disclosure), and a criterion index of placement stability. Children of training group mothers were found to have improved significantly more than control children on emotionality‐tension, but not on the other measures.