Today’s guest blogger is G Lee Xiong.
The journal article, “Who is willing to foster children with disabilities?” was written by John G. Orme, Donna J. Cherry, and Taylor E. Krcek, and published through the Journal of Public Child Welfare in December of 2013. These researchers conducted a study to extend results from the 1980 Survey of Foster Parents in Eight States and the National Survey of Current and Former Foster Parents (NSC&FFP) willing to adopt children with disabilities by utilizing a national sample of foster mothers. The national sample consisted of 304 foster mothers who were identified into two groups: one group who was willing to foster children with any type of disability except for HIV/AIDS (known as the unconditional mothers) and a second group who was more selective (Orme, Cherry, & Krcek, 2013).
These researchers examined reported willingness to foster children with a wide range of disabilities, given the availability of help and support; whether overall sample contained discrete types of mothers in terms of the range and types of children they were willing to foster; whether distinctions among different types of mothers were meaningful in the sense differentiated by number of years fostered, number of children fostered, number of foster children currently in the home, number of foster children adopted, proportion of foster children removed at foster parent request; and demographic differences among different types of mothers (Orme, et. al., 2013).
Findings were such that over 75% of mothers said they would foster children with all but one disability, HIV/AIDS, given help and support, but the percentage of mothers willing to foster children ranged from 59% for a child with HIV/AIDS to 100% for a child with speech problems (Orme, et. al., 2013). These results dispelled research and myths suggesting there are insufficient foster families willing to care for and adopt these children. In fact, the unconditional mothers were found to foster longer, foster more children, and have more foster children in their homes (Orme, et. al., 2013). However, the study presented parenting challenges and factors causing potential caregivers to be more selective about the types of disabilities they feel adequately prepared to handle mentally and physically. This promoted the myths that children with disabilities are not only less likely to be adopted but also, for those adopted and or reunified, the process takes longer as compared to children without disabilities (Orme, et. al., 2013). Overall, based on this study, it appeared foster parent willingness was not a primary roadblock to adopting children with disabilities. This further dispelled the myth there are insufficient foster parents and families willing to adopt children with disabilities.
The strengths of this study were such that it was generalizable due to a sample of foster mothers from 35 states; and the age, marital status, and employment status of foster mothers were similar to licensed nonkinship foster parents in the National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-being (NSCAW), the only recent representative sample of foster parents (Orme, et. al., 2013). Limitations were such that compared to the NSCAW, a higher proportion of foster mothers were European-American and college-educated, resulting in the overrepresentation of experienced foster mothers; the wording of some disabilities included in the list did not correspond with current terminology and the list did not include a full range of disabilities such as Autism Spectrum Disorder, which is an increasingly prevalent disability among children; and while this study addressed willingness, it did not explore motivation or positive aspects of fostering children with disabilities such as the benefits associated with adopting children with disabilities (Orme, et. al., 2013).
Reference: Orme, J. G., Cherry, D. J., & Krcek, T. E. (2013). Who is willing to foster children with disabilities? Journal of Public Child Welfare, 7(5), 566-585. doi:10.1080/15548732.2013.843494