In April, 1996, a survey conducted by Portland State University at the request of the State Office for Services to Children and Families was sent to approximately 1,200 foster families across the state (one-third of all foster parents). The survey was intended to learn about the experiences of foster families as SOSCF implements a new strengths/needs based service delivery system. 

We began receiving return surveys days after we mailed them, and they continued to arrive for several weeks. As they began to come back, we were pleasantly surprised at the results; many of the respondents were very positive about their experiences as foster parents and interactions with the agency. To ensure that the replies were not from only the contented foster families, we called an additional group of families and went through the survey on the telephone. The responses were very informative and detailed. Some of the highlights of the results are below. 

Description of Foster Homes 
Foster families from all over Oregon completed our survey; there was at least one reply from every county. The length of time families have served as foster parents ranged from one month to 45 years. While only 10% of foster families in our sample statewide are relative foster homes, in the metro branches this number is much higher, 30%. Two-thirds of the families were described as "regular." 

Surprisingly, foster families in Oregon are not exceptionally large. Fifty-four percent of foster families in Oregon have one or two foster children in their homes. In addition to foster children, roughly 40% of the families in our sample reported having 1, 2, or 3 other children. 

Matching Children with Foster Families 
Foster parents were asked about the placement process, about the degree to which their preferences regarding a child had been met, and about the "goodness of fit" that they thought the child had in their home. We found from the responses that, despite being asked to step in during crisis situations, foster families were generally pleased with the fit of the foster children in their homes. 

Forty-three percent of the foster care placements had been emergency placements, and 45% of the placements were made before the certification process was complete. Despite this, 61% of respondents felt that the certification process had given adequate information about fostering, and 52% reported that their worker had adequately reviewed the needs of the child prior to placement. 

Foster parents were asked if their preferences about the type of child they would like to have placed in their home had been met with this placement. Fifty-eight percent replied that their preferences had been fully met; only 6% thought that preferences had not been met. Eighty-one percent thought the "fit" of the child to their home was very good, while only 2% thought it a poor match. 

Foster Parent Participation 
When we asked a series of questions about the use of foster parent involvement in the planning process, respondents were most positive. Needs of the children were at least partially reviewed with families 79% of the time, and fully reviewed more than half of the time. Foster parents thought that SOSCF correctly identified the child(ren)'s needs 71% of the time, and the caseworker listened to the foster parent's views about the child(ren) at least partly in 79% of the cases. Finally, 83% of the families were asked to help plan services for their foster children. 

Agency Supports 
Foster parents seem to use the caseworker as a major source of support in their task of fostering. Given a list of choices, the caseworker was cited by 44% as being the first person foster parents would call for support and advice during a crisis with the child. Almost two-thirds listed someone at SOSCF (caseworker, certifier, or supervisor) as the first person they would call. Fifty-two percent reported that when they telephoned with a problem or question, their caseworker returned calls the same day or, at latest, the next day, and an additional 33% said they received calls within 4 days. Once the call was returned, 86% of all foster families described the response as at least somewhat helpful; of these, 47% call the response very helpful. 

Looking at our data, there does seem to be some connection between the responsiveness of the caseworker and the level of foster parent satisfaction. Eighty-five percent of the 160 foster parents whose caseworkers returned calls immediately thought the agency had identified the child's needs correctly; and 86% of these foster parents thought services were meeting the child's needs. Those who said their calls to the worker were returned immediately were also more likely to say that the agency was their first resource when a problem arose with the child. On the other hand, foster parents who said the worker typically did not return their calls within four days were more likely to call someone not connected with the agency when they had a problem. 

In addition, for those respondents who received prompt responses from caseworkers, there is a feeling that the agency is meeting the child's needs, and that there is participation with the agency in the care of the foster child. 

In the Foster Parents' Words 
We asked several open-ended questions in the survey; in addition, many respondents included other information in the margins of the survey. We were impressed with the thoughtful responses and useful information the foster parents included. Below are a selection of the kinds of responses we received. 

Suggestions for improvement included: 

Some of the reflections on strengths/needs based service delivery included: 

In addition to constructive criticism, one response noted the particular difficulties facing SOSCF: 

Finally, one of the most common sentiments was summed up by one response: