An intervention to improve sibling relationship quality among youth in foster care: Results of a randomized clinical trial (original) (raw)

Sibling Relationship in Foster Care: Foster Parent Perspective

Journal of Family Issues, 2018

The sibling relationships of youth in foster care has garnered increased attention over the past few years indicating the potential protective role these relationships can have. Despite this growth, very little is known about how foster parents perceive the sibling relationships of youth in foster care and ways to promote these relationships. Thematic analysis was used to analyze semistructured interviews of 15 foster parents. Three major areas emerged as a result of the analysis: (a) the experience of sibling relationships in foster care, (b) how sibling relationships should be treated in foster care, and (c) ways to promote sibling relationships. All of the foster parents in this study discussed the importance of sibling relationships for the youth in their care and offer ways to promote these relationships through collaboration and education. Implications for foster parent training and child welfare practice are discussed.

Reducing Sibling Conflict in Maltreated Children Placed in Foster Homes

Sibling aggression among maltreated children placed in foster homes is linked to other externalizing problems and placement disruption. The reduction of sibling conflict and aggression may be achieved via a multicomponent ecologically focused intervention for families in the foster care system. The focus of the study is to evaluate the feasibility and short-term effectiveness of a transtheoretical intervention model targeting sibling pairs and their foster parent that integrates family systems, social learning theory, and a conflict mediation perspective. In this pilot study, sibling pairs (N=22) and their foster parent were randomized into a three-component intervention (n=13) or a comparison (n=9) group. Promoting Sibling Bonds (PSB) is an 8-week prevention intervention targeting maltreated sibling pairs ages 5–11 years placed together in a foster home. The siblings, parent, and joint components were delivered in a program package at the foster agency by a trained two-clinician team. Average attendance across program components was 73 %. Outcomes in four areas were gathered at pre-and postintervention: observed sibling interaction quality (positive and negative) including conflict during play, and foster parent reports of mediation strategies and sibling aggression in the foster home. At postintervention, adjusting for baseline scores and child age, intervention pairs showed higher positive (p<0.001) and negative (p<0.05) interaction quality and lower sibling conflict during play (p<0.01) than comparison pairs. Foster parents in the intervention group reported a higher number of conflict mediation strategies than those in the comparison group (p<0.001). Foster parents in the intervention group reported lower sibling physical aggression from the older toward the younger child than those in the comparison group (p<0.05). Data suggest that the PSB intervention is a promising approach to reduce conflict and promote parental mediation , which together may reduce sibling aggression in the foster home.

The Protective Effect of Kinship Involvement on the Adjustment of Youth in Foster Care

Child Maltreatment

Child maltreatment and family dysfunction (e.g., conflict) can have a long-term deleterious impact on youth well-being. Using a child welfare sample, this study examined whether dysfunction in the nuclear family of origin was associated with adjustment problems, including internalizing and externalizing behavior problems, beyond the effect of child maltreatment, and whether extended family (kinship) involvement protected against youth’s adjustment problems. Participants included 171 children and adolescents (mean age = 10.15; 50.3% female) who entered foster care due to child maltreatment. Results indicated that greater dysfunction in the nuclear family of origin and child maltreatment were independently associated with greater internalizing and externalizing behavior problems. Results also showed that kinship involvement was protective against externalizing behavior problems. Moreover, kinship involvement buffered the association between dysfunction in family of origin and internal...