RE: research with biological parents of children in out-of-home care

[Kim Murphy <KimM@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Christina,

    You've probably tried these journals, but just incase ... Child Welfare,
Child Abuse and Neglect, Social Work Abstracts are a few possibilities for
places that would likely publish studies on biological parents of children
in foster care.  

    Regarding engaging these families in research, you'll run into the
problem of confidentiality of their names.  Agencies are reluctant to give
this info to outsiders.  If you are employed by the agency, then you can
legally have access to names.  However, if you are not, you might want to
get a packet of info together for each family (including description of the
study, benefits, risks for participating, etc; a self-addressed stamped
postcard/envelope that parents can mail back to you containing their names
and contact info if they are interested in participating).  Give these
packets of info (containing postage on the outside of the packet) to the
child welfare agency, and ask the agency to put mailing labels on the
packets and stick them in the mail.  That way, they don't have to give out
confidential info and you still access the families you wish to contact.  I
didn't have a great response rate from mail, but given the newness of the
situation for parents, they may want to be heard and be more likely to
participate.

     You could also stand in the waiting room of a court house on days that
judges hear the foster care cases and recruit families that way.  This
method may be somewhat intrusive, but I've read studies for which
researchers used this recruiting technique.  I guess this technique comes
down to the comfort level of the researcher and the committee that reviews
the rights of participants.

    Hope this helps.  Kim Murphy, American Humane Association




I am looking for research that may have been done directly with biological
parents of children (especially infants, or very young children) in
out-of-home care (ie. foster or kinship care). 

I have not been able to find much research information on this specific
population, and would welcome any suggestions.

I am also interested in any practical experiences that people have had with
engaging parents very soon after their child has been removed from their
custody. How best would I be able to gain parents' participation in a
research study focused on them and their children?

Thanks very much-
Christina Little, Ph.D.
___________________________________
Director of Research and Evaluation,
	Foster Care Initiative
Kempe Children's Center/UCHSC   
1825 Marion Street
Denver, CO 80218
phone: 303-864-5202
fax:     303-864-5179
email:  Little.Christina@tchden.org