Why are Pre-placement Visits Important?
When taking placement of a child as foster parents, it is essential that the child is a good match for your home and with all members of the family. As social workers, we will always look over child referrals as they come in and send you what we feel will be a good match for your home and environment. However, oftentimes, a child’s personality and behaviors can be very different when experiencing them in person versus in writing. This is why pre-placement visits are essential when preparing for placement.
Visits are a time for the child and foster parent to get to know one another prior to committing to taking placement. Allowing the child and foster parent to meet in advance can help reduce everyone’s anxieties with such a big change. Pre-placement visits can be anywhere from a virtual call to a few hours visit, to a few-days/weekend visit with the child. Meeting a child in person and having the ability to incorporate them into your home and environment can make a huge difference in determining if they are a good fit in the home, especially if you have other children in the home which often leads to a wide range of personalities and behaviors.
Not only are pre-placement visits good for determining if the child is a good match for the home, but they also help the child to get acquainted and build familiarity with the foster family. Finding the right fit for a child and a foster family can have a profound impact on the child’s wellbeing. Moving homes as a child can be a scary and intimidating process but giving them some time to build that trusting relationship prior to placement can be super helpful at reducing the child’s fears that are inevitable with changing homes. Allowing the child to meet the family before committing to placement can help to reduce the trauma related to changing placement and moving homes.
With the uncertainty of foster care, there are some circumstances which do not allow time for a pre-placement visit, however, if given the opportunity, it is always best to meet the child and spend some time with them before moving forward with placement. Social workers with Family Works will always advocate for a pre-placement visit to ensure the child and foster family are a good match.
Additional Resources:
Child Placement Best Practices For Permanency & Preservation
Child Well-Being and Placement “Fit”
Written by Family Works Social Worker Samantha Ross.
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