A Review of Parent Training Programs in Child Welfare

High rates of reabuse and recidivism in reunifications, foster placements, and adoptions indicate a need for effective and specific parent-training programs for biological, foster, and adoptive families. Biological parents currently receive the most effective behavioral training, while foster-parent training is more likely to emphasize the role of the foster parent in the child welfare system, with less emphasis on behavioral methods. Adoptive parents receive the least comprehensive preparatory activities of these groups. Child welfare workers can learn more effective techniques from behavioral training programs with a parent-enhancement component that attend to the environmental stressors these parents endure.