Vandivere Sharon, Malm Karin E, Allen Tiffany J, Williams Sarah Catherine, McKlindon Amy
1 Child Trends, Bethesda, MD, USA.
2 ChildFocus, Washington, DC, USA.
Eval Rev. 2017 Dec;41(6):542-567. doi: 10.1177/0193841X17689971. Epub 2017 Jan 31.
Youth who have experienced foster care are at risk of negative outcomes in adulthood. The family finding model aims to promote more positive outcomes by finding and engaging relatives of children in foster care in order to provide options for legal and emotional permanency.
The present study tested whether family finding, as implemented in North Carolina from 2008 through 2011, improved child welfare outcomes for youth at risk of emancipating foster care without permanency.
A randomized controlled trial evaluation was carried out in nine counties in North Carolina. All children eligible for intervention services between 2008 and 2011 underwent random assignment. Effects were tested with an intent-to-treat design. Outcome data were obtained for all subjects from child welfare administrative data. Additional outcome data for a subset of older youth came from in-person interviews.
Subjects included 568 children who were in foster care, were 10-17 years old (at time of referral), had no identified permanent placement resource, and had no plan for reunification.
The confirmatory outcome was moves to more family-like placements, whether through a step-down in foster care placement or discharge from foster care to legal permanency.
No impact on the confirmatory outcome was observed. Findings regarding exploratory impacts are also described; these must be interpreted with caution, given the large number of outcomes compared.
The evaluation failed to find evidence that family finding improves the outcomes of older youth at risk of emancipation from foster care.
有过寄养经历的青少年成年后面临负面后果的风险。家庭寻找模式旨在通过寻找并让寄养儿童的亲属参与进来，以提供法律和情感永久性的选择，从而促进更积极的结果。
本研究检验了2008年至2011年在北卡罗来纳州实施的家庭寻找模式是否能改善面临脱离寄养照顾且无永久性安置风险的青少年的儿童福利结果。
在北卡罗来纳州的九个县进行了一项随机对照试验评估。2008年至2011年期间所有符合干预服务条件的儿童都进行了随机分配。采用意向性分析设计来检验效果。所有受试者的结果数据均来自儿童福利行政数据。一部分大龄青少年的额外结果数据来自面对面访谈。
受试者包括568名寄养儿童，他们年龄在10至17岁（转诊时），没有确定的永久性安置资源，也没有 reunification计划。
确认性结果是是否通过降低寄养安置级别或从寄养照顾转为法律永久性安置，从而转向更像家庭的安置。
未观察到对确认性结果有影响。还描述了关于探索性影响的发现；鉴于比较的结果数量众多，这些结果必须谨慎解释。
评估未能找到证据表明家庭寻找模式能改善面临脱离寄养照顾风险的大龄青少年的结果。
