What criteria do foster care workers take into account when recommending foster children's visiting arrangements with their birth parents

Concept mapping was used to identify criteria foster care workers in Flanders use to regulate visiting arrangements for birth parents of foster children. A sample of 43 foster care workers were asked to answer in writing the question: ‘What criteria do you take into account when you have to regulate visiting arrangements?’ Fifty unique answers were identified by three researchers. In a second phase, 32 foster care workers individually grouped together the statements that according to them covered the same topic. Furthermore, they were asked to indicate the degree of importance and the difficulty to assess each response on a 7-point scale. Multidimensional scaling and hierarchic cluster analyses identified five clusters of criteria: child related criteria, attitudes of birth parent(s), criteria related to placement conditions, interaction with birth parents and criteria related to foster parents. Although sometimes differently grouped or named, the criteria mentioned by foster care workers were almost entirely in line with findings from other research. Foster care workers considered most criteria rather easy to assess. However, the more important criteria were (child related criteria and attitudes of birth parent[s]), the more difficult they were considered to assess. Identification of these criteria can help to improve and systemize the decision-making process.