Underserved Parents, Underserved Youth: Examining Factors That Influence Foster Parent Willingness to Foster Substance-Using Youth

Introduction:When compared to the general population, youth in foster care are more likely to abuse or be dependent on alcohol and other drugs (AOD). When assessing willingness to foster youth, foster parents are generally unwilling to foster youth who use AOD. Understanding factors that influence parent willingness to foster an AOD-using youth is critical. Using a national sample, the purpose of this study is to estimate the proportion of parents who are willing to foster AOD-using youth, and examining whether willingness is influenced by drug class, and individual- and agency-level factors.

Methods:A total of 752 licensed foster parents (86% female, M age=46.55) completed a 145-item online survey. Independent variables consisted of past AOD-specific trainings attended, confidence addressing the behaviors of AOD youth, difficulty addressing behaviors of AOD youth, confidence in having a positive effect on AOD youth, past helpfulness of placement agency in dealing with youth with diagnosed disabilities (e.g., medical, behavioral, etc.), and past difficulty attaining services for youth with diagnosed disabilities. Covariates included whether parents fostered a child with an AOD problem in the past, years as a foster parent, number of children typically fostered, religiosity, therapeutic foster parent status, and foster home type. The dependent variable was willingness to foster an AOD-using youth. Logistic regression analyses in SPSS were used.

Results: Sixty-one percent of foster parent participants were willing to foster an AOD-using youth. Willingness varied by type of drug; parents were less willing to foster youth who used “harder” drugs (e.g., opiates). Attending AOD trainings was a significant predictor of willingness to foster an AOD-using youth (b=.38, p<.05), however, this effect was fully mediated by parental confidence in dealing with AOD behaviors (b=.87, p<.001) and confidence in having a positive effect on the youth (b=.31, p<.05). Parents who reported that their foster care agency was not helpful in the past were significantly less willing to foster AOD-using youth (b=-.60, p<.05).

Conclusions: These findings shed light on barriers that impede parent willingness to foster AOD-using youth within the foster care system. At an individual level, providing foster parents with more skill-based, hands-on training may increase their confidence and subsequently increase their willingness to foster AOD youth. At a systems level, increasing placement agency responsiveness may also increase willingness. The need for increases in therapeutic foster care slots as well as other fostering models (e.g., Multi-dimensional Treatment Foster Care, Teaching Family Programs) will be discussed.