SOURCES OF FOSTER PARENTS’ CONFUSION IN THE CHILD WELFARE SYSTEM

Background: Foster parents are a critical part of the child welfare system responsible for half the children in the child welfare. Despite this a literature gap exists when it comes to understanding foster parent experiences with the child welfare system that serves them. Objective: The aim of this proposal is to create a study that attempts to understand what areas of the child welfare system are confusing to foster parents. For the purposes of the study the child welfare system will be broken down into three parts: Foster family agencies, the dependency court system, and county child welfare agencies. Method: In the proposed study, foster parents recruited through social media would undergo qualitative interviews about their experience with the various aspects of the child welfare system. Afterwards Interviews will be transcribed by the researcher for any relevant themes.