Date
4-2022
Department
School of Behavioral Sciences
Degree
Doctor of Education in Community Care and Counseling (EdD)
Chair
Bridgette Hester
Keywords
Social Support, Foster Parent Satisfaction, Intent to Continue Fostering, Foster Care Displacement
Disciplines
Education
Recommended Citation
Watts, Latasha Denise, "Social Support as a Moderator to Foster Care Displacement and Foster Parent Outcomes" (2022). Doctoral Dissertations and Projects. 3566.
https://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/doctoral/3566
Abstract
The recruitment and retention of licensed foster parents in the United States is a priority among child welfare professionals. There exist many factors impacting one’s decision to foster or discontinue fostering, resulting in the child welfare system’s constant struggle to recruit and retain foster parents and maintain placement stability for foster youth. Therefore, foster parent turnover and placement displacements negatively affect the wellbeing of foster youth, foster parent success outcomes, and the child welfare system. This quantitative study employed a nonexperimental correlational design using multiple regression to determine the type and quantity of foster care support services that moderates the relationship between foster care displacements, foster carer satisfaction and intent to continue fostering among 102 nonrelative licensed foster carers licensed within five foster care agencies in North Carolina. This study utilized online survey instruments, the Treatment Foster Parent Satisfaction Survey (TFP-SS), the Family Support Scale (FSS), and the Turnover Intention Questionnaire (TIQ) to examine the perceptions of foster carer support services. SPSS was employed to aid in the analysis of the findings. Results were analyzed using multiple regression to determine the relationship between the variables. Results revealed a significant relationship between foster care support services, foster carer satisfaction, intent to continue fostering, and foster care displacements. The findings of the relationship between foster care support services and foster parent success outcomes could promote practice and policy change within the child welfare system to better support foster parents.
