Agreement in foster care. Discrepancies between foster child and foster parent about the severity of problem behaviour

Abstract

Although studies have been found in which the agreement between foster parent and the foster child's teacher is reported, until so far no research has been found concerning the agreement of problem behaviour between foster parent and the foster child himself. Standardized questionnaires (Child Behavior Checklist, Youth Self-Report) with the same set of items were administered to the foster parent and the foster child. The same instruments were administered to a community sample of parents and children, this was the reference group. Between the family foster parent and the kinship foster parent no differences have been found in the mean severity scores and neither between the foster child in family foster care and the foster child in kinship foster care. The child as well as the foster child reported more severe problem behaviour with themselves than the parent and the foster parent do. Discrepancies are more common than exception and in foster care practice problem behaviour should be established with standardized instruments. The information from the foster parent and the foster child should be equally weighted in order to establish a diagnosis and set up treatment goals.