ABSTRACT
The validation draws attention to the way programs which offer a specific cluster of services, have policies and practices that encourage parent/child connections, and have a workforce whose value position empowers parents and family members conform to the model of family centred group care. When completing the Trieschman Carolinas project instrument respondents were not asked to provide individual identifying data. As a consequence data relating to important characteristics of the respondent such as race, ethnicity, gender, marital status or age are not available. In the traditional model of group child care married couples, or single women, provided direct care for children but were often excluded from contact between the child and the birth parents or family members. The recruitment of untrained but well intended child care workers who identify with a traditional ‘child rescue’ philosophy will have to be reviewed, because this perspective places them in a competitive rather than collaborative relationship with parents.
