Identifying the patterns of family contact for children in care

Abstract

Contact between children in care and family members is complex and often emotionally difficult for all concerned. In the context of a wider Australian cross-jurisdictional intervention trial, focusing on contact between children in long-term care and their parents, a snapshot survey of 901 children in Victorian foster care and kinship care placements was undertaken. The aim was to determine which children had seen parents, siblings or extended family members within a 12-month period, and how practitioners explained lack of contact between children and their parents. The study found that most children had had contact with parents or other family members, though children in long-term care were less likely to have seen their parents than those where reunification was still a possibility. Practitioners’ views on why parental contact had not occurred for 18% of the sample illustrate the complexity of the issues involved in contact.<br/ ><br/ >IMPLICATIONS<br/ ><br/ >To support children’s best interests, professionals should be clear about the purpose of family contact and provide support appropriate to that purpose.<br/ ><br/ >With children in long-term care less likely to see their parents, professionals have a role in helping these parents adjust to a new role.<br/ ><br/ >Developing strategies to maintain meaningful connections between children in long-term care and their parents may be more effective for children’s best interests than the current emphasis on actual visits.