Multidimensional treatment foster care for girls in the juvenile justice system: 2-year follow-up of a randomized clinical trial.

Abstract

This is a 2-year follow-up of girls with serious and chronic delinquency who were enrolled in a randomized clinical trial conducted from 1997 to 2002 comparing Multidimensional Treatment Foster Care (MTFC) and Group Care (GC) (N = 81). Girls were referred by juvenile court judges and had an average of over 11 criminal referrals when they entered the study. A latent variable ANCOVA model controlling for initial status demonstrated maintenance of effects for MTFC in preventing delinquency at the 2-year assessment as measured by days in locked settings, number of criminal referrals, and self-reported delinquency. A latent variable growth model focusing on variance in individual trajectories across the course of the study also demonstrated the efficacy of MTFC. Older girls exhibited less delinquency over time relative to younger girls in both conditions. Implications for gender-sensitive programming for youth referred from juvenile justice are discussed.

Effects of a Foster Parent Training Intervention on Placement Changes of Children in Foster Care

“…Thus, the children in the intervention group had a greater likelihood of transitioning into the types of placements deemed desirable by child welfare agencies, namely, returning to the child to his or her biological parents, placing him or her in the home of a relative, or finding a suitable family for adoption. Findings from a recent investigation by Chamberlain et al (2007) may shed some light on one possible explanation for this pattern of findings. In this study, the effectiveness of the KEEP intervention in reducing child behavior problems was examined.…”

“…The basic MTFC model involves placing one youth in a well-trained and supervised foster home. The findings from a number of studies reveal the effectiveness of the MTFC model among youth with severe emotional and behavior problems (Chamberlain, Leve, & DeGarmo 2007;Chamberlain & Reid, 1991, 1994Eddy & Chamberlain, 2000;Leve & Chamberlain, 2004). Following from this research, Chamberlain, Moreland, and Reid (1992) examined whether it was feasible and useful to use components of the MTFC model to address the needs of "regular" foster and kinship families, with the goal of reducing child behavior problems and negative changes in placement and increasing foster parent retention.…”

Factors Affecting Foster Care Breakdown in Spain

“…However, intensive intervention along the lines of therapeutic placement should be encouraged for children with more complex profiles. This has a long tradition in the USA, and the appraisals show a high level of efficacy (Chamberlain, 1990;Chamberlain, Leve, & DeGarmo, 2007;Hudson, Nutter, & Galaway, 1994), and it is now being implemented in various European countries. Likewise, systems to detect fragile situations must be created, and this requires exhaustive follow-ups, because many families do not report placement problems until they are overwhelmed by them and, by then, intervention is insufficient.…”

Engaging and Recruiting Counties in an Experiment on Implementing Evidence-based Practice in California

“…Since then, randomized trials testing the efficacy of MTFC have been conducted with boys and girls referred for chronic delinquency, children and adolescents leaving the state mental hospital, and youth in foster care at risk for placement disruptions. Outcomes have demonstrated MTFC's success in decreasing serious behavioral problems in youth, including rates of re-arrest and institutionalization (Chamberlain et al 2007;Chamberlain and Reid 1991). The success of these studies led to MTFC's designation as a cost-effective alternative to institutional and residential care (Aos et al 1999).…”