What do foster parents think of the natural parents? A comparative study

By means of standardized case vignettes and rating scales, this study compared attitudes of short-term foster parents, professional social workers and parents in the general population respectively towards birth parents of abused children received into foster care. Significant differences arose between the foster parents and comparison groups on dimensions about issues relating to the desirability of foster care, restrictions on contact with birth parents and conditions under which the abused child might return to its family. Wide variation occurred both between individual foster parents and also in the degree of correspondence of views between the foster parents and each of the comparison groups on individual dimensions. Such an anomalous position, if unacknowledged, might affect outcomes of individual foster placements and hold implications for the recruitment, training and support of foster parents.