Parents and children in the child welfare system struggle with multiple challenges, including court-ordered visits that are necessary for parents who want to remain close to their children and regain custody in the future. Research shows that high-quality, frequent visits between parents and their children in foster care can dramatically improve outcomes.
In 2014, researchers from Partners for Our Children in collaboration with the Washington State Department of Children, Youth and Families designed the Strive Supervised Visitation Program, an evidence-informed inte
rvention that teaches skills to parents aimed at improving the quality of parent-child visits. In a first-of-a-kind five-week education program that incorporates parent support into the visitation process, Strive helps parents maintain and build stronger bonds with their children and also navigate the foster care system.
Here’s how it works: Parents are matched with a “visit navigator” who meets with them for five one-on-one sessions each week before they visit with their child. Parents learn what is expected of them and some straightforward skill-building tools, such as how to communicate in a positive way with children.
With extensive feedback from numerous stakeholders, the Strive team designed the program so it could be adapted to different cultures, even different countries. Recently, Partners for Our Children staff and a team from Cowlitz Tribal Health-Seattle were funded to collaborate on a culturally specific adaptation of Strive for American Indian/Alaska Native parents.
Strive will be delivered to 525 families in Washington state within the next two years, but the program has already been tested with 100 families within the state and is being used outside of the state, as well. In February 2019, Strive team members trained 22 social workers and supervisors from San Francisco County as visit navigators and 50 others received a general overview of the program. San Francisco County is translating Strive curriculum and materials into Spanish to expand the program’s reach in the Bay Area.
Even farther afield, the Strive team visited New South Wales, Australia, in 2018 for a week to introduce a culturally specific adapted version of Strive. During the visit to Australia, 16 staff members from a nongovernmental organization serving child welfare-involved families were trained as visit navigators (called “contact partners” in Australia) and 14 others were trained as trainers of contact partners.
Future plans for Strive include creating modules to serve families with older children. The Strive team is also considering adapting it for use with military families returning from deployment and incarcerated parents.