Including parents, foster parents and parenting caregivers in the assessments and interventions of young children placed in the foster care system

Since the release of Zero to Three's principles on assessment of young children, child welfare social workers and other professionals have improved ways to incorporate parents and parenting caregivers into their child's team. However, given the increasing numbers of young children coming into care, and their risk for long-term disability, it is imperative that child welfare social workers become the catalyst to improve options for all young foster children. This paper provides a brief overview of young children in the foster care system and discusses the role of parents and parenting caregivers in the assessment of young children. The paper then explores the interdependence of assessment and intervention and the challenges involved with including parents and parenting caregivers in the assessment of their children. The final section of the paper synthesizes the findings to make several recommendations to improve social work practice for young children in foster care and their families.