Ande Nesmith, Principal Investigator
2009

Regular visits with parents while children are in out-of-home placement is widely recognized as important for improving a host of child welfare outcomes. However, few policies are in place to guide these and encourage these visits. Thus, many decisions are left to the discretion of the individual social service provider or its designee. This study uses data from electronic foster care case records and focus groups with child advocates, parents, relative caregivers, and foster parents in Broward County, Florida, to investigate factors that may be associated with routine mother-child visits and explore the variation in visiting philosophies and practices among different designees (e.g., child advocates, foster parents, and relative caregivers).