Fostering confidence: Foster caregivers' relationship efficacy and associations with marital and co-parenting relationship quality

Although healthy marital and co-parenting relationships are important characteristics of a high-quality, two-parent foster home, little attention has been given to foster caregiver couples' perceptions of their marital and co-parenting relationships and the contextual factors that influence these perceptions. Guided by the contextual model of family stress and social cognitive theory, the current study explores patterns of foster caregivers' relationship efficacy, covariates associated with efficacy, and how efficacy is associated with marital and co-parenting relationship quality. On the basis of data collected from a random sample of 93 foster caregivers, latent profile analysis identified 49.5% as reporting moderate levels of relationship efficacy and 50.5% as reporting high relationship efficacy. Additionally, findings suggested that those who had been married previously, did not have a current placement, had been married longer, had fewer children, and received support from family reported higher levels of relationship efficacy, which was positively associated with positive marital and co-parenting relationship quality. Implications for how the child welfare system can support foster caregiver marital and co-parenting relationships are shared.