Examining associations between child welfare workforce well-being and utilization of casework skills with children and families.

Background: While child welfare scholarship has paid much attention to workforce well-being such as burnout, secondary traumatic stress (STS), and compassion satisfaction, few studies have investigated how these outcomes influence utilization of casework skills.

Objectives: This study aimed to understand the relationship between child welfare workforce well-being and use of casework skills. Specifically, we examined associations between burnout, STS, and compassion satisfaction and casework skills including parent/youth engagement, safety and risk assessment/case planning, and relative/kin connections.

Child Welfare Outcomes After Attachment and Biobehavioral Catch-Up Intervention Participation: A Quasi-Experimental Study.

Limited research is available examining distal child welfare outcomes after participation in evidence-based parenting interventions. To address this gap, this study employed a multi-tiered analytic approach to examine child welfare outcomes after participation in Attachment and Biobehavioral Catch-up (ABC). Using propensity score analytic techniques to establish a matched comparison group, logistic regressions examined subsequent maltreatment reports and substantiation, and survival analyses observed time to and likelihood of reunification for children who received one of three ABC curriculums compared to comparison group children (child welfare services as usual).

"I Ran to Make a Point": Predicting and Preventing Youth Runaway from Foster Care.

Youth who run away from foster care experience danger to health and safety and increased risk of adverse child welfare outcomes. By applying a concurrent mixed-methods approach, this study aimed to develop a deeper understanding of runaway risk that used a person-centered lens and amplified youth voices. Collectively, this approach can inform service innovations to support youth placed in out-of-home care.

Screening for trauma and behavioral health needs in child welfare: Practice implications for promoting placement stability.

Background: Although the child welfare field has initiated efforts to use standardized screening for trauma and behavioral health needs, research has rarely examined whether these screenings have influenced permanency outcomes.

Objective: Using data from three states' federal demonstration projects, we examined whether receipt of trauma and behavioral health screening and results of screening were associated with placement stability (i.e.

Investigating the Relationship between Trauma Symptoms and Placement Instability.

Background: Placement stability while in foster care has important implications for children's permanency and well-being. Though a majority of youth have adequate placement stability while in foster care, a substantial minority experience multiple moves during their time in care. Research on correlates of placement instability has demonstrated a relationship between externalizing behaviors and placement instability.

Parenting intervention effects on reunification: A randomized trial of PMTO in foster care.

Evidence-supported parenting interventions (ESPIs) have expanded into child welfare because a growing research base has demonstrated positive results among children with serious emotional and behavioral problems. Despite a clear federal policy emphasis on reunification, few randomized trials have tested ESPIs with biological families of children in foster care; even fewer studies have investigated the distal outcomes of ESPIs. The aim of the current study was to examine the effects of Parent Management Training, Oregon (PMTO) model on reunification.

Effect of a Parenting Intervention on Foster Care Reentry After Reunification Among Substance-Affected Families: A Quasi-Experimental Study.

Although parental substance abuse has been identified as a risk factor for poor foster care outcomes, current research on effective interventions is limited. A few studies have shown that parenting interventions improved parenting skills and family functioning and decreased time to reunification among children in foster care due to parental substance abuse. However, more research is needed to evaluate whether these interventions positively impact reentry rates.

A study in contrasts: Supports and barriers to successful implementation of two evidence-based parenting interventions in child welfare.

Although evidence-based interventions (EBIs) are spreading to child welfare, research on real-world dynamics of implementation within this setting is scarce. Using a six-factor implementation framework to examine implementation of two evidence-based parenting interventions, we sought to build greater understanding of key facilitators and barriers by comparing successful versus failed EBI implementation in a child welfare setting. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with a purposive sample of 15 frontline practitioners and state-level managers.

Co-Occurrence of Parental Substance Abuse and Child Serious Emotional Disturbance: Understanding Multiple Pathways to Improve Child and Family Outcomes.

This study is a mixed-methods examination of the prevalence and impact of parental substance abuse among families involved in foster care who have a child with a serious emotional disturbance. Data utilized for this study were both administrative and assessment data collected by case managers and parents as part of a federally funded demonstration project in a Midwestern state. At baseline, parent self-report and case manager ratings of family functioning found that parents affected by substance abuse fared worse in domains related to socioeconomics, parental trauma, parental mental health, and social supports when compared to families without parental substance abuse.

Examining the role of methamphetamine in permanency: A competing risks analysis of reunification, guardianship, and adoption.

Parental methamphetamine use has drawn significant attention in recent years. Despite prior research that shows that parental substance abuse is a risk factor for lengthy foster care stay, little is known about the effect of specific types of substance use on permanency. This study sought to compare the impact of parental methamphetamine use to alcohol use, other drug use, and polysubstance use on the timing of 3 types of permanency: reunification, guardianship, and adoption.

Predictors of admission to acute inpatient psychiatric care among children enrolled in Medicaid.

This study examined acute inpatient psychiatric admissions among child Medicaid recipients with a mental health diagnosis in one Midwestern state. The authors used multivariable logistic regression to determine the demographic, clinical, and service factors associated with admissions among 51,233 Medicaid enrolled children 3-17 years old who were identified as having a mental health diagnosis. Compared to available data from other states, the overall acute admission rate was low (2.

Selecting an EBP to reduce long-term foster care: lessons from a university-child welfare agency partnership.

A growing implementation literature outlines broad evidence-based practice implementation principles and pitfalls. Less robust is knowledge about the real-world process by which a state or agency chooses an evidence-based practice to implement and evaluate. Using a major U.

Usability testing, initial implementation, and formative evaluation of an evidence-based intervention: lessons from a demonstration project to reduce long-term foster care.

The field of child welfare faces an undersupply of evidence-based interventions to address long-term foster care. The Permanency Innovations Initiative is a five-year federal demonstration project intended to generate evidence to reduce long stays in foster care for those youth who encounter the most substantial barriers to permanency. This article describes a systematic and staged approach to implementation and evaluation of a PII project that included usability testing as one of its key activities.

Defining a target population at high risk of long-term foster care: barriers to permanency for families of children with serious emotional disturbances.

Long-term foster care (LTFC) is an enduring problem that lacks evidence of effective strategies for practice or policy. This article describes initial activities of a statewide project of the national Permanency Innovations Initiative. The authors sought to: (1) verify the relevance of children's mental health as a predictor of LTFC, (2) describe critical barriers encountered by parents of children with serious emotional disturbances, and (3) identify systems barriers that hinder permanency for this target population.