“I want to be there when he graduates:” Foster parents show higher levels of commitment than group care providers

Group care is a frequent placement for adolescents placed in out of home care when their birth parents' care is deemed unsafe. In the present study, we assessed whether foster parents show greater commitment to children than group care providers. Given that group care represents a number of living arrangements, we considered both shift care (where staff work shifts and do not live with the children) and cottage care (where staff live for extended periods of time with the children in a group living context). Commitment was assessed using the This Is My Child Interview (adapted for adolescents). Thirty-one foster parents, 18 shift workers, and 28 cottage care providers were interviewed. As predicted, foster parents showed higher levels of commitment than both shift care workers and cottage care providers, and the associations held when children's externalizing behaviors and the number of children the caregivers had cared for were controlled. The results suggest that foster care promotes greater commitment among caregivers than other out of home placements, and add to other findings that favor foster care as the out of home placement of choice for adolescents.