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Background: Supports following reunification play an important role in successful transitions from out-of-home care to home and school settings for children and their families. There are several stakeholders who play critical roles supporting families during this transition. One key role is tied to legal professionals, who often work closely with the child or family while in care and then continue to monitor family progress during the transition from foster care to the home setting. Although work has been conducted to understand what supports other stakeholders feel children and families need during this transition, little is known about the perspectives of legal professionals. Objective: This exploratory study gathered perspectives from legal professionals regarding the challenges these youths and families face and necessary supports to promote successful reunification. Three research questions guided this work: (1) How prepared do legal professionals feel youth and families are for the reunification period? (2) What do legal professionals perceive as existing barriers for youth and families during reunification? and (3) What services do legal professional perceive as necessary to promote successful reunification and the effectiveness of existing supports? Methods: Participants (N=13) completed a brief survey including demographic items and questions on reunification supports following departure from foster care. Participants also engaged in a focus group using the nominal group technique to address two primary questions that addressed challenges faced by families during reunification and necessary supports or services to promote positive youth and family outcomes. Results: Participants felt that families were not well prepared for reunification and that current supports were somewhat effective to support this transition period. They also indicated supports in the mental health domain to be most important. A total of 36 independent barriers were generated for the first question and 27 supports were identified for question two. Conclusion: Establishing effective and accessible supports for families during reunification is necessary for positive family outcomes. This study highlighted barriers in preventing successful reunification, namely limited access to resources and supports in preventing successful reunification and the importance of mental health support for the entire family in promoting successful outcomes.

Empowerment has been established as an important factor in resilience in adolescence. It has also been deemed critical for youth with emotional and behavioral disorders to achieve successful outcomes across academic, social, and behavioral domains, especially during a major transition. There is currently one measure used to evaluate empowerment in youth with mental health difficulties, yet it is unclear if this is a reliable measure for youth in therapeutic residential care. The purpose of this study was to examine the reliability and validity of this measure of empowerment in a sample of youth departing therapeutic residential care (N = 138) and to examine whether or not specific factors contribute to varied levels of empowerment. Findings indicate that the empowerment measure is reliable and valid for use with youth departing therapeutic residential care. Overall, youth report high levels of empowerment at discharge from care. None of the predictors in the three multivariate general linear models were statistically significant. Limitations and implications are discussed.

Background: There is a growing emphasis of evidence-based program requirements being integrated into social welfare policies for youth care services in the U.S. This trend highlights the need for increased practitioner understanding and involvement in the research process to develop and implement evidence-based programs for youth with emotional and behavioral disorders who receive residential services. Objective: The purpose of this review was to provide residential care practitioners and researchers with an understanding of a transdisciplinary translational research approach for social service agencies and the research activities that can be included. Method: A review of the literature from a collaborative project between a social service agency and university that resulted in the development and testing of an aftercare intervention for youth departing residential programs was used to explain the framework. Result: The DO BETTER framework outlines a process that (1) focuses on input from practitioners and consumers to help determine problems that impact youth and families, (2) involves research and practitioner partnerships to conduct a variety of research activities to create solutions and (3) provides results that are useful for practitioners. The research activities of the project illustrate the iterative processes of practice to research and back to practice that included youth, caregivers, practitioners, researchers, and experts from other disciplines. Conclusion: The framework is provided to help researchers plan for collaborative research with social service agencies, and to help non-researchers in agencies become more familiar with research activities to increase their involvement in program design, testing, implementation and sustainability.

Youth served in residential care often demonstrate significant educational and behavioral gains during treatment; however, struggles evidenced during the reunification and reintegration process underscore the importance of continued aftercare services and supports. While these needs have been widely noted in the literature, little is known about youth perceptions regarding the importance of aftercare or preferences regarding specific supports. The purpose of this study was to assess the views of youth discharging from a residential program on perceptions of transition planning and aftercare, preparedness for the reintegration, and perceptions regarding specific services and supports. One-hundred and thirty-two youth served in a large residential care facility were asked to complete a Youth Aftercare Survey prior to departure to determine youth perceptions. Overall, results revealed high levels of youth optimism about their preparedness for the upcoming transition and identified supports in education, relationships, physical health, independent living, and family as most important to the reintegration process. Although promising findings were revealed regarding youth perceptions of the importance of continued supports across broad domains, youth were less concerned about mental health supports; a factor critical to long-term success. Implications, limitations, and future research are discussed.

Youth involved in residential care programs present with significant difficulties across behavioral and mental health domains. Although this is a group that is also at considerable risk for academic failure, very little research has been done to understand the academic functioning of this population. The current study sought to expand what is known about this population and examine factors that are predictive of their levels of academic functioning. Results from 208 youth indicated that at the time of entry into residential care youth were performing in low average ranges across academic areas. While several variables were identified as predictors for level of academic functioning (e.g., IQ, age at admission, race/ethnicity, special education identification, and gender), variables particularly relevant for youth in residential care programs (e.g., behavior, number of previous schools attended) did not serve as predictors. Implications for practice and future research are discussed. (Contains 2 tables.)

Background: Behavioral, social, emotional, and educational risks among children and youth with school identified disabilities served in residential care have been well documented. However, the health care needs and medical service utilization of this high-risk population are less well known. Given the risks associated with children with disabilities, one might expect that medical care usage is elevated and will continue to be a need when children return home or age out of the system. The purpose of this study was to evaluate if medical service utilization differed between youth with and without school-identified disabilities in care, and whether certain correlates (e.g., demographic characteristics and mental health functioning) would be associated with medical service use among youth with disabilities. Method: Hierarchical multiple regression models were used to explore the role of disability status in the utilization of medical services as well as to predict the effects of mental health functioning on utilization while controlling for other known factors. Results: Results indicated that medical service usage for youth with school identified disabilities was statistically higher than usage for peers without disabilities after accounting for other factors associated with utilization, and internalizing and externalizing behavior severity were significantly related to medical service utilization for youth with disabilities. Conclusions: As expected, the findings suggest that youth with disabilities use more medical services than peers without disabilities regardless of the presence of a physical health condition, but might be due to differences in the severity of the physical health conditions.

Although much is known about the behavioral and educational characteristics of youth at entry to residential care, little is known about youth language performance. Given the impact of language deficits on outcomes, this study assessed the specific language skills of 70 adolescents at entry to a residential treatment setting. Results revealed elevated levels of risk across Core Language and comprehensive language indexes. Areas of greatest concern were with receptive language skills with just over 75% of the sample indicating some level of impairment. Implications for treatment and practice, study limitations, and recommendations for future research are discussed. (Contains 1 table and 1 note.)

This study evaluated the characteristics related to a successful reintegration among youth from a residential facility. Specifically, this study describes the transition skills of youth at departure in five areas: (a) education and employment goals, (b) self-determination skills, (c) social support, (d) life skills, and (e) hopefulness. Further, self-report and teacher ratings of youths' self-determination and life skills were examined to determine possible differences in perception between youth and their school and Family Teachers (house-parents). One hundred four youth departing the Boys Town Treatment Family Home residential program participated in the study. The majority of youth reported average to above average skills in the five domains. However, significant differences were found between youth and schoolteacher reports of self-determination skills. The results indicate the need to provide transition services related to success post-discharge, including individualized transition plans and family involvement during treatment.

Although females represent almost half of all youth involved in residential care in the US, very little is known about this population. In order to examine differences in characteristics of male (n = 308) and female (n = 180) youth departing from residential care, data were collected on 488 youth from a large residential treatment facility in the Midwest. Gender differences were assessed on 16 variables measured at the time of departure across family, education, behavior, and departure domains. Overall, male and female youth departing from residential care were very similar for measures collected at the time of departure. Only three variables (GPA at departure, number of school referrals during the previous 8 weeks, and planned departure) were found to be significantly different between males and females. Implications for future research and the provision of aftercare services are discussed.

Empowerment has been established as an important factor in resilience in adolescence. It has also been deemed critical for youth with emotional and behavioral disorders to achieve successful outcomes across academic, social, and behavioral domains, especially during a major transition. There is currently one measure used to evaluate empowerment in youth with mental health difficulties, yet it is unclear if this is a reliable measure for youth in therapeutic residential care. The purpose of this study was to examine the reliability and validity of this measure of empowerment in a sample of youth departing therapeutic residential care (N = 138) and to examine whether or not specific factors contribute to varied levels of empowerment. Findings indicate that the empowerment measure is reliable and valid for use with youth departing therapeutic residential care. Overall, youth report high levels of empowerment at discharge from care. None of the predictors in the three multivariate general linear models were statistically significant. Limitations and implications are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aftercare has been suggested to improve the outcomes of youth who depart group homes. This project used a survey method to collect data from 38 agency leaders from across the United States on the aftercare supports they believed were available for youth departing group homes and returning to their homes/schools prior to high school graduation. The results revealed that 34% of agencies provided an aftercare service with a model, and 29% of agencies received external funding for aftercare. The findings are summarized and limitations and implications for future research are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Research has indicated that youth eligible for special education services in residential centers are at an increased risk across many areas including overall health, medication use, academic, behavioral, and familial functioning. Yet it remains unknown how well they are able to read, understand, and use health-related information. The purpose of this study was to investigate the health literacy status of youth receiving special education (N= 61) services at a large residential care facility in the Midwest. Results indicate youth with disabilities are at increased risk of low health literacy in areas of reading recognition and comprehension. Specifically, well over 50% of the sample scored in the possible to likely limited health literacy level. Study limitations, future research, and implications are provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Undiagnosed language impairment (LI) for youth in residential care is a concern as similar populations have shown elevated levels of language delays. Therefore, the purposes of this study were to identify the percentage of youth in residential carewho are at risk for LI and to compare the demographic, academic achievement, and functional academic skills of youth with or without possible LI. Method: Participants were 80 youth in residential care. Risk for LI was determined using the Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals-4 Screening Test (E. Semel, E. H. Wiig, & W. A. Secord, 2004). Independent-samples t tests and chi-square analyses were conducted to assess the differences between groups. Measures used included the Woodcock-Johnson Test of Achievement (R. W. Woodcock, K. S. McGrew, & N. Mather, 2001) and the Kaufman Functional Academic Skills Test (A. S. Kaufman & N. L. Kaufman, 1994). Results: More than half of the sample (54%) were identified as being at risk for LI. Statistically significant differences between youth with and without LI were found on academic variables. Specifically, youth who were at risk for LI presented academic achievement and functional academic scores in the low to low-average ranges. Conclusion: Findings suggest that there is a need to screen youth entering residential programs for possible LI. Implications for treatment and program planning are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]