This article reports the results of an evaluation of the effects of a systematic skills training program on the communicational and parenting skills of inner city, lower socioeconomic minority group foster mothers. A training group was compared with a no-contact control group before and after ten weeks of an eclectic skills training program which emphasized personal development as a prerequisite for skill development. The groups were compared with respect to attending, empathic understanding, facilitative genuineness, respect, acceptance, structuring, use of rules, limit-setting, and conflict-resolution. Dependent measures included rating scales applied to a videotaped interaction between foster mother and foster child, and questionnaires. No significant differences were found on any of the dependent measures. These results are discussed in terms of the need for extended training programs for this population.
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