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oai:riuma.uma.es:10630/257782026-02-03T10:50:04Zcom_10630_2254col_10630_37953

Is contact with birth parents beneficial to children in non-kinship foster care? A scoping review of the evidence Ruiz-Romero, Kevin J. Salas-Martínez, María Dolores Fernández-Baena, Francisco Javier González-Pasarín, Lucía Niños -- Cuidado Many children in non-kinship foster care maintain contact with their birth parents, although debate continues about whether or not, or under what circumstances, it is beneficial to the child. In this scoping review we analyze the findings of studies conducted over the past two decades that have specifically examined face-to-face contact with birth parents for children in non-kinship foster care, our aim being to determine more clearly when it may contribute positively to the child’s well-being. The review was conducted in accordance with PRISMA-ScR guidelines and involved a search of nine electronic databases. A total of 21 studies met the criteria for inclu- sion in the review, namely primary studies analyzing one or more aspects of these contact visits, written in English or Spanish, and published during the period 1997–2022. In analyzing these studies we grouped their findings according to four broad areas of interest: characteristics of contact visits, appraisal of visits by families and professionals, relationship between contact and fostering outcomes, and impact of contact on children. The four main conclusions we draw from the review are: a) surprisingly few studies have specifically examined the effects of face-to-face contact with birth parents in non-kinship foster care; b) the findings to date are neither conclusive nor generalizable, although they are not generally encouraging; c) under the right circumstances (e.g., adequate supervision, conducted in a context of emotional security for the child), contact can contribute to the child’s well-being and increase the likelihood of family reunification; and d) more robust research is needed to guide the development of interventions that can improve parent–child relationships and the quality of contact visits 2023-01-24T13:14:14Z 2023-01-24T13:14:14Z 2022-12 journal article Kevin J. Ruiz-Romero, María D. Salas, Francisco Javier Fernández-Baena, Lucía González-Pasarín, Is contact with birth parents beneficial to children in non-kinship foster care? A scoping review of the evidence, Children and Youth Services Review, Volume 143, 2022, 106658, ISSN 0190-7409, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2022.106658. https://hdl.handle.net/10630/25778 10.1016/j.childyouth.2022.106658. eng http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ open access Atribución 4.0 Internacional Atribución-NoComercial 4.0 Internacional Elsevier