Behavioral Correlates of Parental Visiting During Family Foster Care

Frequency of visiting with biological parents during family foster care placement in two different groups of children with differing adjustments to care was found to be generally low and to be related to both the length of time the children had been in care and the number of placements they had experienced. Those children who were visited more frequently were found to exhibit fewer externalizing and internalizing behavior problems than those visited less frequently or not at all. These behavioral correlates of visiting were, however, to depend on the type of behavior focused on and the degree of adjustment the child had made to family foster care.