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Family‐centred practice (FCP) has been suggested as a best practice for treating youth with emotional and behavioural difficulties in residential care. In this preregistered systematic review, we examined how FCP is operationalized and measured in residential youth care and which family outcomes are associated with FCP. Our systematic search in six databases identified 5784 articles. We analysed included articles by coding the operationalizations of FCP in the interventions and study measures. Further, we descriptively summarized relations between FCP and family outcomes. Thirteen articles met our inclusion criteria. In these articles, FCP was operationalized by five types of youth worker actions in interventions and was measured as five types of family involvement. Ten articles examined pre–post differences in family‐centred interventions. Only four articles analysed relations between FCP and a family outcome. Studies found some support for a positive association between FCP and whole‐family functioning, but overall, the association between FCP and family outcomes remains unclear. Our findings demonstrate that more research is needed that specifically examines different aspects of FCP and how they relate to family outcomes in residential youth care. Such studies can benefit from the conceptual model proposed for FCP in residential youth care interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Helping children and parents remain together, despite significant parent or child problems, is a key objective of child welfare services. One option is to place whole families together into out-of-home settings. We searched peer-reviewed and gray literature and solicited input from international networks to identify the range of family placement programs available. We identified three key types of "shared family care." Shared Family Foster Care (SFFC) involves sharing of care and intensive modeling of effective parenting by a host family that engages in mentoring of the parent and parenting of the child. Shared Residential Care (SRC) programs involve sharing of care and intensive modeling of effective parenting by professional staff as they engage parents and children in what had often been child-only residential programs. Family Residential Treatment Programs (FRT) also place parents and children in residence together. FRT programs are often aligned with inpatient treatment units. Active programs that illustrate each type are described. Through this typology and detailed information of currently active shared family care programs, policymakers and program designers can consider which kinds of programs have the most potential for implementation and sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]