Willingness to foster children with emotional or behavioral problems

There is a large and growing number of children in family foster care with emotional or behavioral problems, but fewer families are willing to foster such children. We know virtually nothing about families who are willing to foster such children. This longitudinal Study of 142 foster family applicants found that most families were at least willing to discuss fostering children with most kinds of problems. Children who set fires, behave destructively, or act Out sexually were the least acceptable. In general, families with more resources were more willing to foster children with emotional or behavioral problems. Also, families who were more willing to foster such children were more likely to have children placed fourteen months after pre-service training. These results have important implications for recruiting, training, and providing support and services to foster families.