Abstract
For youth placed in out-of-home residential care, there has been a trend towards shorter lengths of stay and earlier reentry into the community. In order to support reentry, we propose blending out-of-home residential care with aftercare services. In this study 89 youth that were in or at risk of entering the juvenile justice system received a unique blend of a behavioral-focused residential care program with a family based in-home aftercare service. Results indicate that youth displayed decreased behavior problems and families practiced improved parenting skills at discharge. Further, at discharge from services youth were reported to engage in more positive interactions with peers. Follow-up data also suggested that at 12 months post-discharge, these youth had a high rate of remaining arrest-free, were living in a homelike setting, and had either graduated or were attending school.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Abram, K. M., Paskar, L. D., Washburn, J. J., & Teplin, L. A. (2008). Percieved barriers to mental health services among youths in detention. Journal of American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 47(5), 301–308. doi:10.1097/CHI.0b013e318160b3bb.
Achenbach, T. M., & Rescorla, L. A. (2001). Manual for ASEBA school-age forms and profiles. Burlington, VT: University of Vermont, Research Center for Children, Youth, & Families.
Allen, K. D., Pires, S. A., & Brown, J. (2010). System of care approaches in residential treatment facilities serving children with serious behavioral health needs. Center for Health Care Strategies: Issue Brief. http://www.chcs.org/usr_doc/System_of_Care_Approaches_in_RTFs.pdf.
Altschuler, D. M., & Armstrong, T. L. (1998). Intensive juvenile aftercare as a public safety approach. Corrections Today, 60, 118–123.
American Association of Children’s Residential Centers. (n.d.). Redefining the role of residential treatment. http://www.dbhds.virginia.gov/documents/CFS/cfs1-9RefDocs-ContactsAmAssocChildResCntrs.pdf.
Barnard, J., & Rubin, D. B. (1999). Small-sample degrees of freedom with multiple imputation. Biometrika, 86, 948–955.
Boys Town. (2012). Family home program: Training manual. Boys Town, NE: Father Flanagan’s Boys’ Home.
Cash, S. J., & Berry, M. (2003). Measuring services delivery in a placement prevention program: An application to an ecological model. Administration in Social Work, 27, 65–85.
Center for Health Strategies, Inc. (2013). Faces of medicaid: examining children’s behavioral health service utilization and expenditures. http://www.chcs.org/usr_doc/Faces_of_Medicaid_Examining_Children’s_Behavioral_Health_Service_Utilization_and_Expenditures.pdf.
Child Welfare Information Gateway. (2012). Supporting reunification and preventing reentry into out-of-home care. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Children’s Bureau.
Chmelka, M. B., Trout, W. A., & Wright, T. (2011). Children with and without disabilities in residential care: Risk at program entry, departure, and six-month follow-up. Emotional and Behavioural Disorders, 16, 383–399.
Davis, J., & Daly, D. L. (2003). Girls and boys town long-term residential program: Training manual (4th ed.). Boys Town, NE: Father Flanagan’s Boys’ Home.
Deschenes, E. P., & Greenwood, P. W. (1998). Alternative placements for juvenile offenders: Results from the evaluation of the Nokomis Challenge Program. Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, 35(3), 267–294. doi:10.1177/0022427898035003002.
Dishion, T. J., & Skaggs, N. (2000). An ecological analysis of monthly “bursts” in early adolescent substance use. Applied Developmental Science, 4, 89–97. doi:10.1207/S1532480XADS0402_4.
Elgar, F. J., Waschbusch, D. A., Dadds, M. R., & Sivaldason, N. (2007). Development and validation of a short form of the Alabama Parenting Questionnaire. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 16, 243–259.
Frensch, K. M., & Cameron, G. (2002). Treatment of choice or last resort? A review of residential mental health placements for children and youth. Child & Youth Care Forum, 31, 307–339. doi:10.1023/A:1016826627406.
Garbarino, J., & Gilliam, G. (1980). Understanding abusive families. Lexington, MA: Lexington Books.
Gaudin, J. M, Jr, Polansky, N. A., Kilpatrick, A. C., & Shilton, P. (1993). Loneliness, depression, stress, and social supports in neglectful families. The American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 63, 597–605.
Gies, S. V. (2003, September). Aftercare services. Juvenile Justice Bulletin. http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/.
Girls and Boys Town. (2007). Family reunification program: Training manual. Boys Town, NE: Father Flanagan’s Boys’ Home.
Hoge, R. D. (2013). Evaluation of juveniles’ risks and needs. In R. Roesch & R. A. Zapf (Eds.), Forensic assessments in criminal and civil law: A handbook for lawyers (pp. 237–248). New York: Oxford University Press Inc.
Horton, N. J., & Lipsitz, S. R. (2001). Multiple imputation in practice: Comparison of software packages for regression models with missing variables. The American Statistician, 55, 244–254.
Huefner, J. C., & Ringle, J. L. (2012). Examination of negative peer contagion in a residential care setting. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 21, 807–815. doi:10.1007/s10826-011-9540-6.
Ingram, S. D., Cash, S. J., Oats, R. G., Simpson, A., & Thompson, R. W. (2013). Development of an evidence-informed in-home family services model for families and children at risk of abuse and neglect. Child and Social Work,. doi:10.1111/cfs.12061.
James, C., Stams, G. J. J. M., Asscher, J. J., De Roo, A. K., & van der Laan, P. H. (2013). Aftercare programs for reducing recidivism among juvenile and young adult offenders: A meta-analytic review. Clinical Psychology Review, 33(2), 263–274.
James, S., Zhang, J., & Landsverk, J. (2012). Residential care for youth in the child welfare system: Stop-gap option or not? Residential Treatment for Children and Youth, 29, 48–65. doi:10.1080/0886571X.2012.643678.
Landsman, M. J., Groza, V., Tyler, M., & Malone, K. (2001). Outcomes of family-centered residential treatment. Child Welfare League of America, 2, 351–379.
Lee, B. R., & Thompson, R. W. (2009). Examining externalizing behavior trajectories of youth in group homes: Is there evidence for peer contagion? Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 37, 31–44. doi:10.1007/s10802-008-9254-4.
Leve, L. D., & Chamberlain, P. (2005). Association with delinquent peers: Intervention effects for youth in the juvenile justice system. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 33, 339–347. doi:10.1007/s10802-005-3571-7.
Lyons, J. S., & McCulloch, J. R. (2006). Monitoring and managing outcomes in residential treatment: Practice-based evidence in search of evidence-based practice. Journal of American Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 45, 247–251. doi:10.1097/01.chi.0000190468.78200.4e.
McCurdy, B. L., & McIntyre, E. K. (2004). ‘And what about residential…?’ Re-conceptualizing residential treatment as a stop-gap service for youth with emotional and behavioral disorders. Behavioral Interventions, 3, 137–158. doi:10.1002/bin.151.
Patterson, G. R., DeBaryshe, B. D., & Ramsey, E. (1989). A developmental perspective on antisocial behavior. American Psychologist, 44(2), 329–335. doi:10.1037/0003-066X.44.2.329.
Roosa, M. W., Deng, S., Ryu, E., Lockhart-Burrell, G., Tein, J. Y., Jones, V., et al. (2005). Family and child characteristics linking neighborhood context and child externalizing behavior. Journal of Marriage and Family, 67, 515–529. doi:10.1111/j.0022-2445.2005.00132.x.
Rubin, D. B. (1987). Multiple imputations for nonresponse in surveys. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley.
Saunders, J. A., Morrow-Howell, N., Spitznagel, E., Dore, P., Proctor, E. K., & Pescarino, R. (2006). Imputing missing data: A comparison of methods for social work researchers. Social Work Research, 30, 19–31.
Scheffer, J. (2002). Dealing with missing data. Research Letters in the Information and Mathematical Sciences, 3, 153–160.
Stuck, E. N., Small, R. W., & Ainsworth, F. (2000). Questioning the continuum of care: Toward a reconceptualization of child welfare services. Residential Treatment for Children & Youth, 17(3), 79–92. doi:10.1300/J007v17n03_12.
Thompson, R. W., Ringle, J. L., Huefner, J. C., Peterson, J., & Way, M. (2010). Aftercare for a cognitive-behavioral program for juvenile offenders: A pilot investigation. The Journal of Behavior Analysis of Offender and Victim Treatment and Prevention, 2, 198–213.
Trout, A. L., Lambert, M. C., Epstein, M. H., Tyler, P., Thompson, R. W., Stewart, M., et al. (2013). Comparison of On The Way Home aftercare supports to traditional care following discharge from a residential setting: A pilot randomized controlled trial. Child Welfare, 92(3), 27–45.
Trout, A. L., Tyler, P. M., Stewart, M. C., & Epstein, M. H. (2012). On the Way Home: Program description and preliminary findings. Children and Youth Services Review, 34, 1115–1120. doi:10.1016/j.childyouth.2012.01.046.
Tyler, P. M., Trout, A. L., Epstein, M. H. & Thompson, R. W. (2013). Provider Perspective on aftercare services for youth in residential care (submitted).
Van Ginkel, J. R. (2010). SPSS syntax for applying rules for combining univariate estimates in multiple imputation. http://www.socialsciences.leiden.edu/educationandchildstudies/childandfamilystudies/organisation/staffcfs/van-ginkel.html.
Whittaker, J. K., Greene, K., Schubert, D., Blum, R., Cheng, K., & Savas, S. A. (2006). Integrating evidence-based practice in the child mental health agency: A template for clinical and organizational change. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 76(2), 194–201.
Acknowledgments
Funding for this research was provided from a Grant from the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. Grant No. 16.541.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Ringle, J.L., Thompson, R.W. & Way, M. Reunifying Families After an Out-of-Home Residential Stay: Evaluation of a Blended Intervention. J Child Fam Stud 24, 2079–2087 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-014-0009-2
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-014-0009-2