Birth Parent Involvement at a System Level in Child Welfare: Exploring the Perspectives of Birth Parents in Parent Partner Programs

Abstract

Promoting child welfare services improvement and reform through the system level involvement of birth parents is an emerging national trend, but little is known about how this type of involvement is reflected in practice and what involvement achieves. One approach to involving parents is through parent partner programs, where parents with prior child welfare service experience provide direct services to families currently receiving child welfare services, and often serve as representatives to the child welfare agency. This exploratory qualitative study uses a pragmatic paradigm to examine birth parent involvement at the system level through parent partner programs. In-depth telephone and focus group interviews were conducted with 28 birth parents in parent partner and parent partner coordinator roles at two nationally recognized parent partner programs in the U.S. Interviews explored the perceptions and experiences of parent partners, including the factors that led to parent partners becoming involved at a system level, what they hope to achieve from this involvement, their experiences of involvement activity, and how their involvement may contribute to service improvement and reform. Findings indicate that birth parents’ life experiences are a substantial factor in their decision to become a parent partner, and that considerable development is required to prepare them for their system level involvement role. Parent partners are involved in a wide range of involvement activities that include varied roles and processes. Parent partners also identify child, family, system, and community outcomes they hope to achieve or perceive are being achieved through their system level involvement. This study develops new knowledge of birth parent involvement at the system level in child welfare and offers practice, policy, and research implications to inform the continued development of meaningful involvement practices in child welfare.