Information to be Obtained about the Family 622-05-20-20-20

(Revised 8/15/2010 ML #3224)

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Information to be obtained about the family should indicate current functioning of individual members and of the family as a unit, past life experiences and pattern of relationships, attitudes, expectations, and motivations in regard to family foster care.  Essential points to be discussed or noted include:

  1. Reasons for the family’s application to be a foster family at this time.(Motivation of applicants for wanting a foster child should be evaluated in terms of the reasons which applicants recognize and can verbalize, as well as underlying needs revealed in the study, both of which are important in understanding the total personality).
  2. Current relationships within the family, such as marital relationships and parent-child relationships; attitude and expectations in regard to own children; problems between children or parents which may affect the foster child differently from their own children.
  3. Relationships outside the family with relatives, friends, and other members of the community.
  4. Education, employment, and patterns of social relationships.
  5. Religious observances, affiliations, activities, whether or not the foster parents support the child’s religious preferences.
  6. General social, intellectual, and cultural level of the family.
  7. Current functioning in relation to normal everyday living, as well as in relation to stress or crisis.
  8. Pattern of the family’s daily life, routine, habits, etc.
  9. History of family member’s significant childhood relationships with parents, siblings, or other meaningful persons.
  10. Significant experiences in the history of the family members, including information about separation or loss through death, desertion, divorce, etc., and reaction to these experiences.  These life experiences may affect the families’ feelings about separation from and return of children to their own parents.
  11. History of any involvement in sexual abuse, either as a victim or perpetrator, of each prospective foster parent (father and mother), even if no charges were filed. If an individual has been involved as a perpetrator, follow-up with questions related to treatment. Secure releases to access treatment records.
  12. History of experiences with other children and feelings about special problems.
  13. Feelings, attitudes, and expectations in regard to being a foster family.
  14. Capacity of husband and wife to share with each other in the care of a foster child and to give proper consideration to the feelings of their own children, positive and negative, in arriving at a plan to care for foster children.
  15. Capacity to absorb the pressure of a foster child without undue disruption of the family’s life; and to accept the foster child’s feelings about their relationships with their own parents, both positive and negative.
  16. Ability to accept the child’s parents and to work with the social worker in helping the children to resolve their conflicting feelings about them; including supporting contact between the child(ren) and family.
  17. Ability to work with the agency in attaining its goals for children.
  18. Agreement to participate in foster parent training.
  19. Opportunity for child’s socialization with other children. Foster parents shall give every child the opportunity for appropriate social relationships and shall encourage the child to participate in neighborhood group activities, such as 4H, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, school clubs, athletics, etc. The child, with the foster parents’ permission, shall be free to invite friends to the foster home and to visit in the home of friends.