Parent Interviews

In addition to consumer surveys, follow up telephone interviews are attempted with every parent whose Family Time Coaching has ended. Respondents include parents who have reunified with their children, parents who have dropped out of the service, and parents whose rights have been terminated.

The interview data, responses to open-ended questions, is then analyzed using grounded theory methodology by a team of staff from various Easterseals programs and management. Over the years, the resulting analysis has been very helpful in understanding how coaching actually works and what can go awry. Family Time Coaching is a relational model, and a primary finding from the first round of parent interviews (n=41) was that positive changes in parenting and parent lifestyle were promoted by an enhanced parent/child relationship, being recognized as a family, and partnering with the coach, foster/kin caregiver, and social worker in the context of that parent/child interaction. When there was progress, whether in the location, time, quality of family time, parent/child relationship, or case plan, parents felt empowered. When there was no movement, parents grew discouraged, disempowered and devalued the coaching and foster care process. The implication is that coaches and social workers must explore ways to create movement within the context of risk. For social workers, this could mean breaking down case plan requirements into achievable objectives within specific time frames. For coaches, this may be working with or building strong partnerships between parents and foster parents/kin caregivers (called Shared Parenting in Vermont). Coaches also work with parents to overcome challenges within and around Family Time to better allow parents and parent/child relationships to grow and to be seen as growing. 

For example, even if Family Time cannot be moved into the home, times can be changed to include the joys and challenges of meal time. Correlates to a strong coach/parent relationship included: 

• Regular feedback (recognizing skills and building trust)

• Movement (see above) and opportunities for the parent to demonstrate growth

• Strong identity as a family

• Parent awareness of child development

Many parents were able to recite their child’s needs list that they had worked on meeting, even some interviewed after termination of parental rights. Parents reported adopting numerous new practices, habits, or skills that improved their parenting including: patience, self-regulation, attunement, appropriate voice tone, accessing health care, healthy boundaries, and behavior management.

In our data analysis process, following the coding process typical of grounded theory methodology, a map is created by the team of the codes for each parent. This process allows the team to reach consensus around the primary themes in that parent’s interview. The creativity promoted by the mapping of each parent’s responses develops a felt sense in the analysts of each parent and their experience. The mapping process reveals the richness we have discovered in parent responses. In one example, the parent described feeling empowered, becoming aware of how much she had grown, having a positive relationship with the coach and with the foster parent, from whom there was ongoing support, as well as an improving relationship with the child welfare agency.

Pre and Post Measures

AAPI-2 and KIPS

Two assessment instruments have been used to further understand potential impact of Family Time Coaching. The Adult Adolescent Parenting Inventory (AAPI-2.0) has a long history of measuring change, based on self-report, in parenting belief systems. The constructs measured, as correlated with child maltreatment, are inappropriate parental expectations, parental lack of an empathic awareness of children’s needs, strong belief in the use of corporal punishment, parent-child role reversal, and oppression of children’s power and independence. While we do not have sufficient pre and post inventories for statistical significance, there is a positive trend, particularly in increased empathy and awareness of child needs and a decrease in parent-child role reversal. Keys to Interactive Parenting Scale (KIPS) involves a certified scorer viewing a short video of parent and child interaction. It is hoped that pre and post KIPS shows a strengthening of that parent-child interaction. Without sufficient returns to establish statistical significance, there is a strong positive trend where pre and post scales have been completed. Both instruments are challenging to use in the context of Family Time Coaching, with the extreme stress parents and their children are experiencing and the number of parents who may not be available at the prescribed post time (6 months or closing). In response, Easterseals Vermont has worked hard to have both instruments serve as interventions as well.  Both AAPI and KIPS results are incorporated into treatment planning and needs lists.