Planning a mentorship initiative for foster parents: Does gender matter?

Despite the use of mentoring programs in fields such as business, career training, and youth development, little is known about how mentoring can be used to train and support new foster parents. This paper describes how Concept Mapping was used with current foster parents to develop a conceptual framework suitable to plan a foster parent mentor program. A secondary aim of this study was to explore priority differences in the conceptualization by self-reported gender (foster mothers vs. foster fathers). Participant data was collected via three qualitative brainstorming sessions, and analyzed using non-metric multidimensional scaling and hierarchical cluster analysis. Findings indicate that foster parents participating in this study conceptualized effective mentor programs via a seven cluster solution. Study results also showed no significant differences in cluster ratings by gender. Implications for practice and program planning are identified, as well as areas for future research.