Engaging parents during out of home placement : An integrated understanding

Parents’ engagement in child protective services while their child is placed out of home has been associated with benefits as maltreatment rates diminution and well-being enhancement for both parents and children. Levels of... [ view full abstract ]

Parents’ engagement in child protective services while their child is placed out of home has been associated with benefits as maltreatment rates diminution and well-being enhancement for both parents and children. Levels of engagement are generally low in this population. Engagement can be predicted by family characteristics (e.g.mental health, income), placement characteristics (e.g.judiciarisation) and caseworker practices (e.g.openness). Rare are studies that included those three types of factors to explain parental engagement, which makes this concept difficult to globally understand.

The goal of the study is thus to develop an integrated understanding of parental engagement during out of home placement by looking at contributing factors identified in precedent studies.

74 parents from Quebec, Canada having at least one child placed out of home were questioned on their engagement in the services and on their caseworker practices using validated instruments. Family characteristics have been documented by direct questions and placement characteristics from users’ files.

Hierarchical multiple regression analysis was conducted using as blocs variables: 1)family characteristics, 2)placement characteristics and 3)caseworker practices. Overall, the model explains 50% of the variance of engagement. Results reveal that family characteristics explain 11,3% of the variance of engagement (Finc(3,69)=2.93,p<.05). Placement characteristics explain 22% of additional variance (Finc(2,66)=10.88,p<.001) and 16,5% of variance is added by including caseworker practices (Finc(1,65)=21.54,p<.001). Results illustrate that parents suffering from mental health problems are less engaged. Also, the more flexible the placement characteristics are and the more the caseworker uses an inclusive approach, the more engaged the parent is.

Considering these factors seems to be a key to develop an integrated understanding of parental engagement. To maximize its benefits on children and parents well-being, interventions should be tailored with those in mind. Parental engagement will be defined, its advantages will be presented and results will be discussed regarding their implication for practice.