Using a specialized foster care community treatment model for children and adolescents leaving the state mental hospital
✍ Scribed by Patricia Chamberlain; John B. Reid
- Publisher
- John Wiley and Sons
- Year
- 1991
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 722 KB
- Volume
- 19
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 0090-4392
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
✦ Synopsis
This study assessed the effects of providing treatment in a Specialized Foster Care (SFC) program for children and adolescents who had been previously hospitalized. Cases were randomly assigned fpr placement in SFC or other extrahospital settings, including residential treatment centers and family/ relative homes. The SFC program used carefully selected foster parents who were trained and supervised in the implementation of the child's treatment plan. One child or adolescent was placed in each home. SFC placements were augmented by individual therapy for the child or adolescent and by case management services, including coordination with schools and employers, weekly clinical stafings, and crisis intervention. Results showed that the SFC model is a viable treatment option for severely emotionally disturbed children and adolescents, that cases in the SFC group were placed outside of the hospital more frequently and quickly than cases in the control group, and that once placed outside of the hospital, SFC cases were slightly more successful at maintaining in their communities than were control cases.
During the past decade, an increasing number of Specialized Foster Care (SFC) programs have been implemented throughout the United States for children and adolescents with a variety of presenting problems, including emotional disturbance (Hawkins, Meadowcroft, Trout, & Luster, 1985), medical complications (Yost, Hochstadt, & Charles, 1988), and delinquency (Chamberlain, 1990). The SFC model appeals to both clinicians and policy makers because it provides the opportunity for intensive, individualized treatment in a nonrestrictive (i.e., family) setting.
The primary distinction between SFC and regular foster care is in the role played by the foster parent. In SFC the foster parent is the central or key agent in the implementation of the child's treatment plan. Accordingly, specialized foster parents are carefully selected and initially trained. This is followed by ongoing supervision and support similar to that given to therapist trainees. The notion that parents who apply systematic interventions can have positive effects on children's problems is supported by the literature on parent training treatments (Bank, Marlowe, Reid, Patterson, & Weinrott, in press;Patterson, 1982). Support for this project was provided by the Administration for Children, Youth, and Families, Child Welfare Services, HDS, DHHS, Grant No. 90 CW0803.
The authors acknowledge Dr. Kathryn Kavanagh, who was the primary case manager for the Specialized Foster Care cases, and Kathleen Reid, who recruited foster parents and was the research assistant and the liaison with the hospital for the project.