Assess Quality of Parent–Child Contact in Out-Of-Home Care

Although the quality of contact between parents and a child who lives apart from the parent has been identified as an important topic, few guidelines have been published about to assess whether a non-resident parent maintains high-quality contact with their child. No scale has previously been identified to measure the quality of parent–child contact. This chapter reviews literature from three sources where the quality of parent–child contact is important (separated parents, foster care, and adoptive parents). The chapter includes advice from parents who have adopted children. The chapter identifies both constructive practices and disruptive practices by birth parents. Two scales are proposed to measure the quality of parent–child interactions during contact visits by birth parents, focusing on constructive practices and disruptive practices.