With nearly 400,000 kids inthe U.S. foster care system, the process for recruiting and retaining foster parents can be difficult.
And new University of Georgia research suggests the quality of relationship between the foster caregivers can have a direct impact on their desire to keep fostering.
Researchers from UGA's College of Family and Consumer Sciences found that the less satisfied a couple was with their relationship, the less likely they - especially the mother - will want to continue fostering in the future.
The researchers surveyed dozens of foster caregiver couples, and three types of foster parent relationships emerged: Ones in which both partners reported having a strong relationship, ones in which both reported a moderately strong relationship and ones in which the fathers viewed their relationship as moderately strong, and the mothers viewed it as poor.
"The need for foster caregivers is extremely high right now, and retention is just as important. While foster family structure varies, in foster homes that are headed by a couple, a high-quality home involves a stable relationship and a warm and stable household," said Evin Winkelman Richardson, corresponding author of the study and an assistant research scientist and co-director of the Couple and Relationship Enrichment Lab in the Department of Human Development and Family Science. "If a child moves into a home and then the foster caregivers decide to stop fostering, that's another life disruption for that child, which adds to their traumatic experiences."
Fostering challenges like time, rehabilitation impact relationships
Couples who choose to foster children face a variety of challenges.
Many children in foster care have previously experienced abuse or neglect. Some have lost a parent or had a parent incarcerated. As a result, these children frequently require extra time and care.
These additional stressors can influence the relationship between the foster parents.
"A lot of couples know fostering is going to be hard, but they don't know how hard," Richardson said. "Time constraints and commitments they make to help the child leave a lot less time for everything else. Foster caregivers say all the time that that's one of their biggest challenges: They really don't have any time for themselves or their partner."
Couples who grew attached to their foster child often reported experiencing feelings of loss and grief when the child was placed in a permanent home.
"The foundation of your relationship is very important, especially in a challenging situation like being foster caregivers. If your relationship is strong, then you're probably feeling like you can get through it. You have a strong co-parent in your corner," Richardson said. "But with those challenges, really hard days and a relationship that isn't as strong, it's a lot more difficult to want to continue fostering."
Foster mothers may drive decision to continue fostering
Couples that ranked their interpersonal relationship lower were less inclined to continue fostering. This may be because foster caregivers often report higher levels of conflict and burnout, and a loss of control in their relationships.
Mothers, in particular, were more likely to report not wanting to continue to foster when they perceived their relationship with their partner as unhealthy. This may be due to additional stress to perform well in the caregiver role and a lack of support from their partner.
If the mother was struggling, the couple was less likely to foster in the future - even if the father described their relationship as moderate.
Interpersonal relationships are hard, and we all need a little help sometimes." -Evin Richardson, College of Family and Consumer Sciences
"In foster caregiver couples, women are much more likely to take on the caregiving responsibilities to be a homemaker and to take care of the children, so they take on a lot of the burden," Richardson said. "That might be the driver of saying, 'I'm the one that's taking on so much of this responsibility. I don't want to continue fostering because I'm taking on the bulk of the caregiving work.'"
Researchers recommend couples who foster children be open to relationship education and counseling to weather difficult circumstances.
"Interpersonal relationships are hard, and we all need a little help sometimes," Richardson said. "It doesn't mean that you're a bad person or that your relationship is falling apart. Learning new knowledge and new skills to improve your relationship with your partner can really make a big difference in your life."
This study was published in the journal Family Process and was funded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Additional co-authors include FACS faculty Ted Futris, FACS students Rachel Brown, Shuangyue Cui and Lydia Shepherd, and FACS staff Jessica Starke as well as East Carolina University's Jacquelyn Mallette.
