Abstract
M.A. (Social Work)
This study serves to provide social workers in foster care practice in South Africa with
a social technology innovation that is:
Contextually appropriate
Grounded in theory and
User friendly.
Social workers in South Africa do not have access to a set of standardised
assessment criteria with which to assess prospective foster parents, and yet there are
over half a million children in the foster care system in South Africa. Consequently,
the research goal of this study is to design and develop a contextually appropriate
protocol in social work for the assessment of prospective foster parents in South
Africa. In order to achieve this, a number of objectives are linked to this goal:
1. To conduct a literature study for the identification of the dimensions
(assessment) areas of the protocol.
2. To design a theoretically grounded model of the competencies of effective
foster parents in South Africa.
3. To develop a professional social work protocol with which to assess the
competencies of prospective foster parents.
4. To conduct focus groups and Delphi cycles to improve the face validity and
content validity of the protocol.
Developmental research methodologies were used to design the protocol. In the
process of using the DR&U model (Thomas, 1984), a further outcome of the study is
the development of a research method for the development of a contextually
appropriate protocol in social work.
The study comprises two stages: Stage 1 entails the design of a model of the
competencies of effective foster families (determining “what” constitutes a good
foster parent and developing a model of the ideal foster parents). The dimensions
or assessment areas of the protocol are identified by means of a detailed literature
study. Data obtained from the literature study is integrated with the outcomes of two
Nominal Group Techniques and a Delphi Technique. This is to ensure user
participation and to contextualise the model and protocol.
Stage 2 entails the design and development (to a limited degree) of an assessment
protocol with which to assess prospective foster families (specifying “how” one
determines if foster parents meet the criteria of the ideal foster parents in the model
designed in Stage 1). The conceptual framework of a model of the assessment of
prospective parents is refined through a workshop and Delphi Technique with foster
parents and social workers. This is to ensure a measure face validity and the
adequacy of the protocol.
This study concludes with an evaluation of the outcomes of the study, as well as the
research method used to develop the model and the protocol. The model and the
protocol are attached to this study.