LAUSR

Abstract The Family Visit Coaching (FVC) model is an alternative to traditional child welfare visitation. It differs from traditional supervised visits in that parents interact with a coach before, during, and after visits to build pragmatic parenting skills and improve emotional capacity to engage with their children. Although variations on the model are used throughout the United States, no peer-reviewed research has been done to demonstrate that the intervention improves parenting. In this study, 106 parents in San Diego, California, participated in an FVC program from 2015 to 2018. They were assessed at the beginning and end of the program using the San Diego County adaptation of the Parenting Skills Assessment, 10th edition (PSA), which we validated. We found a statistically significant improvement in parenting and a statistically significant association between each additional visit and improved parenting skills on specific measures—a promising finding, as past research has shown that positive parenting skills are associated with child welfare reunification and reduced foster care reentry.