North Carolina, which has a state-supervised, county-administered child welfare system with significant private agency involvement, began practicing shared parenting in 2005. Caseworkers resisted the practice at first, because they were concerned that it would add to their heavy workload. They ultimately embraced shared parenting because direct communication between birth and foster families meant they no longer had to act as middlemen. Some county child welfare administrators thought the practice was optional because it was not in policy. In response, the state Division of Social Services adopted a formal policy in 2008, which was revised in 2015.1 The policy covers the purpose and strengths of shared parenting, preparation for the initial shared parenting meeting, safety, confidentiality, role of the social worker and post-permanency.
Policy now mandates that every county and private agency implement shared parenting as part of every foster care case. Shared parenting is taught to every prospective foster and adoptive parent by a team consisting of an experienced foster parent and a “MAPP leader,” a county or private agency licensing worker trained by one of three master trainers.
Shared parenting proceeds through several steps, beginning with a phone call by the foster parent to the birth parent, in which the foster parent acknowledges the fear and worry being experienced by the birth parent and asks how the birth parent would like her child to be cared for. The foster parent provides assurances that she wants the child to be reunified and that she is not hiding the child from the birth parent. The next step is a shared parenting meeting, which policy requires be held within seven days of placement, although some counties hold an initial meeting within 48 hours. This meeting, which includes the caseworker, is an opportunity for more discussion of the child’s needs and preferences, as well as the nature and extent of ongoing contact. Over time, contact may be expanded to include the birth parent’s participation in school meetings and other activities involving the child. Eventually, the birth parent may be invited to visit the child in the foster parent’s home.
Although North Carolina has not formally evaluated shared parenting, anecdotal evidence suggests that it expedites reunification, lowers rates of re-entry, and facilitates adoption by the foster parent if reunification is ultimately ruled out. Shared parenting also reduces trauma for the child and the birth parent and makes it more likely that the foster parent can maintain contact with the child post-reunification.
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