Journal of Child and Family Studies

, Volume 19, Issue 4, pp 393–403 | Cite as

Enhancing and Adapting Treatment Foster Care: Lessons Learned in Trying to Change Practice

  • Maureen M. Murray
  • Dannia Southerland
  • Elizabeth M. Farmer
  • Kess Ballentine
ORIGINAL PAPER
First Online:
Received:
Accepted:

Abstract

Evidence-based practices to improve outcomes for children with severe behavioral and emotional problems have received a great deal of attention in children’s mental health. Therapeutic foster care (TFC), a residential intervention for youth with emotional or behavioral problems, is one of the few community-based programs that is considered to be evidence-based. However, as for most treatment approaches, the vast majority of existing programs do not deliver the evidence-based version. In an attempt to fill this gap and improve practice across a wide range of TFC agencies, we developed an enhanced model of TFC based on input from both practice and research. It includes elements associated with improved outcomes for youth in “usual care” TFC agencies as well as key elements from Chamberlain’s evidence-based model. The current manuscript describes this “hybrid” intervention—Together Facing the Challenge—and discusses key issues in implementation. We describe the sample and settings, highlight key implementation strategies, and provide “lessons learned” to help guide others who may wish to change practice in existing agencies.

Keywords

Therapeutic foster care Evidence based practice Changing practice Implementation of evidence based practices Train the trainer 
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Copyright information

© Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2009

Authors and Affiliations

  • Maureen M. Murray
    • 1
  • Dannia Southerland
    • 1
  • Elizabeth M. Farmer
    • 2
  • Kess Ballentine
    • 1
  1. 1.Department of PsychiatryDuke University Medical CenterDurhamUSA
  2. 2.Department of Health Policy and AdministrationPennsylvania State UniversityState CollegeUSA

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