Unfortunately, the retention rate of foster parents is low, and multiple challenges exist for agencies in maintaining long-term foster parents. Research examining perceptions of recruiting and licensing foster parents may provide some insight into supporting future foster parent recruitment and training for child welfare professionals. This study utilized administrative data from the state of Florida to examine and compare the perspectives of foster parents and child welfare workers regarding the recruitment and licensing of foster homes. This cross-sectional administrative survey included a total of 1,249 foster parents and child welfare workers in the state of Florida. Descriptive statistics and Mann-Whitney U tests were used to examine the perspectives of foster parents and child welfare workers across multiple questions related to the need for foster homes and recruitment and licensing processes. Results indicate that caseworkers and foster parents in this sample generally held different perspectives across most of the questions related to the need for foster homes, recruitment and licensing practices. Implications for recruiting and licensing foster homes and the need for consistent and accurate messaging to both foster parents and child welfare workers are discussed. More research is needed to explore recruitment and licensing processes, particularly research-supported strategies that have not been well-tested among foster care samples.

不幸的是，寄养父母的保留率很低，机构在维持长期寄养父母方面存在多重挑战。研究对招募和许可寄养父母的看法，可能会为支持未来的寄养父母招募和培训儿童福利专业人员提供一些见解。本研究利用佛罗里达州的行政数据来检查和比较寄养父母和儿童福利工作者对寄养家庭的招聘和许可的看法。这项横断面行政调查共包括佛罗里达州的 1,249 名寄养父母和儿童福利工作者。描述性统计和 Mann-Whitney U 检验用于检查寄养父母和儿童福利工作者对与寄养家庭需求以及招聘和许可程序相关的多个问题的看法。结果表明，在这个样本中，个案工作者和寄养父母在与寄养家庭的需求、招聘和许可做法有关的大多数问题上通常持有不同的观点。讨论了招募和许可寄养家庭的影响，以及向寄养父母和儿童福利工作者提供一致和准确的信息的必要性。需要更多的研究来探索招募和许可过程，特别是尚未在寄养样本中得到充分测试的研究支持策略。