Re: Researched reasoning for relative contact

[Vincent Fish <vfish@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi, Rolf--As one source among many for a summary of some of the research in
this area, I recommend The Foster Care Crisis: Translating Research into
Policy and Practice, ed. by Curtis, Dale, & Kendall, U. of Nebraska Press,
1999. The data (as usual) are complex and there's not as much of it as one
would like, but particularly the study by Davis, et al., (1996) could be
used to support point 1, in that parental visiting was associated with
reunification (it's a little more complicated than that, but that's the
basic point). Regarding kinship care, I think this is a more difficult
issue but, overall, there are a number of benefits, including increased
probability of parental visiting (Berrick, Barth & Needell, 1994; LeProhn,
1993).
Good luck!
Vince

Berrick, J.D., Barth, R.P., & Needell, B. (1994). A comparison of kinship
foster homes and foster family homes: Implications for kinship foster care
as family preservation. Children and Youth Services Review, 16(1-2), 33-63.
Davis, I.P., Landsverk, J., Newton, R., & Ganger, W. (1996). Parental
visiting and foster care reunifcation. Children and Youth Services Review,
18, 363-382.
LeProhn, N.S. (1993). Relative foster parents: Role perceptions,
motivation, and agency satisfaction. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, U.
of Washington.

At 01:34 PM 5/3/01 +1000, you wrote:
>
>Dear Colleagues,
>
>I have been asked to provide (for a court action), some fundamental 
>reasoning based on current research which explains or reasons why :
>
>1	Children in CPS (foster-care) must / should have (safe) contact with 
>relatives
>
>2	Children in CPS (foster-care) must / should be placed (safely) with 
>satisfactory / suitable caring relatives in preferance to fostercarers
>
>I have 15 years experience in the field and I am a regular here on the .... 
>BUT the question has stumped me in terms of recent research to base my usual 
>frameworks on!!
>
>Please help if you can.
>
>Thank You in anticipation.
>
>Rolf Nilsson
>Department of Families, Queensland 
>AUSTRALIA
>
>
>=============================================
>The information contained in this e-mail is intended for the
>recipient(s) only. It may contain privileged or confidential
>information. If you are not the intended recipient of this
>e-mail, you must not copy, distribute or take any action
>that relies on it.
>
>If you have received this e-mail in error, please notify the
>sender immediately and then delete the message.
>
>This footnote also confirms that this e-mail message has
>been checked for the presence of computer viruses.
>FYCCQ provide no guarantee that all possible viruses
>have been detected and cleaned during this process.
>
>=============================================



Vincent Fish, MSSW
700 Rayovac Drive, Suite 220
Madison, WI  53711
USA
608-276-9191
vfish@facstaff.wisc.edu