Foster parents ‘seem reasonably happy’

Press, 22 May 1978, Page 6

Foster parents ‘seem reasonably happy’

Foster parents seem rea-i scnably satisfied with their lot, according to preliminary results of a Department of Social Welfare survey on Foster care.

The survey bases its conclusions on results of questionnaires answered by 210 foster parent couples. ' The preliminary report says that the department had become increasingly concerned about reports of rapid turn-over in foster placements, and that the survey was intended to give basic data about the fostercare system. The survey set out to look at foster children and social workers as well as at foster parents, but the preliminary report concentrates mainly on results of the section of the survey which dealt with foster parents. Of the 31 per cent of foster parents who said they would not foster again, only 7 per cent said this was because they were dissatisfied or disillusioned with some aspect of their role. The most frequent reason given for not wanting to

I foster again was that the foster parents thought they were getting too old for the job. In response to a question on the rewarding aspects of fostering, 30 per cent said there were no drawbacks, or only the normal problems of caring for children. The unrewarding features mentioned most often were problems with the child, difficulties with the child’s natural family, and uncertainty through the threat of removal of the foster child. Neither financial strain nor tension within the family emerged as a significant cause of discontent, says the report. It seemed clear that most foster parents had undertaken fostering because they wanted to provide a service, and most opposed payments to foster parents above compensation for their expenses. This was in contrast to social workers, most of whom said they thought foster parents should be paid an amount over and above the costs of food and accommodation. “Among foster parents

generally there was little support for the idea of formal types of training, but a majority were interested in informal activities and programmes such as group meetings between foster parents and group meetings with social workers,”' says the report. The level of clothing allowance emerged as the most common complaint, 37 per cent of foster parents considering it insufficient. The overall impression, says the report, is that foster parents are reasonably satisfied with the service they get from the department. ‘‘Nevertheless, foster parents had a great many suggestions about how the service could be improved.” The most common suggestions for improvement had been provision of a better back-up by the department, more adequate financial recompense, and a more effective information system to give a better idea of what was involved in fostering and to give parents a better understanding of their foster child.