The Landscape of Foster Care Interventions: A Scoping Review of Strategies and Outcomes for Children

This project is a scoping review that aims to systematically identify and map interventions delivered within foster care systems that are intended to support children’s developmental, mental health, behavioral, and well-being outcomes. Children involved in foster care experience elevated risk due to early adversity, maltreatment, and family instability, and a wide range of interventions have been developed to address these needs. However, existing evidence is fragmented across intervention types and stakeholder groups. This review adopts a stakeholder-inclusive approach, examining interventions delivered to children in foster care as well as to foster parents, biological parents and relatives, and child welfare professionals whose roles shape children’s experiences and outcomes. Using Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI) scoping review methodology and reporting in accordance with PRISMA-ScR, the review will identify and descriptively summarize intervention characteristics, including target populations, delivery formats, settings, and outcome domains, without evaluating intervention effectiveness. The expected outcome of this review is a comprehensive map of foster care interventions that highlights patterns in intervention focus, identifies gaps in stakeholder coverage, and informs future research, program development, and policy initiatives aimed at improving outcomes for children in foster care.