Nevada Initiative to Reduce Long-Term Foster Care

Permanency Innovations Initiative- Nevada Initiative to Reduce Long-Term Foster Care

The evaluation of the Nevada Initiative to Reduce Long-Term Foster Care (LTFC) includes three populations. It will examine how the interventions SAFE- FC and FSE impact or relate to permanency outcomes for children most at risk for long term foster care and currently in care.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: In Foster Care; At Risk for Foster
• Intervention / Treatment: Other: SAFE FC

Detailed Description

The project targets three populations of children. For populations 1 and 2, the study will evaluate an intervention known as SAFE-FC. The intervention aims to prevent long term foster care by providing tailored services and intensive engagement with all new families with children identified as unsafe (Population 1) and for cases that are currently in care and at risk of LTFC where reunification is the case goal (Population 2). Family Search and Engagement (FSE) is the intervention for Population 3; it involves intense search practices to identify possible permanency resources. For Populations 1 and 2 the study is a randomized, intent-to-treat design to measure safety and permanency outcomes. For Population 3 the evaluation will be a descriptive study to analyze relationships between the intervention approach and outcomes. Both studies aim to examine how the interventions (SAFE- FC and FSE) impact or relate to permanency outcomes for children most at risk for long term foster care.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 507
• Phase: Not Applicable

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: No older than 18 years (Child, Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Children assessed to be unsafe via the Nevada Initial Assessment
• children in foster care with specific risk characteristics.

Exclusion Criteria:

-

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Treatment
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Treatment	Other: SAFE FC; SAFE - FC, a combination of SAFE (developed by ACTION for Child Protection) and Family Connections (developed by Ruth H. Young Center for Families and Children, University of Maryland School of Social Work) for Populations 1 and 2.; Other Names: SAFE - FC, a combination of SAFE and Family Connections
No Intervention: Comparison

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Time to stable permanence	Measured by administrative data from the Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System (AFCARS)	Measured from the date of random assignment to the discharge date or to the end of the study period for cases that did not discharge
Caregiver readiness for change	Measured with Readiness for Parenting Change Scale (REDI) Abbreviated (Chaffin et al, 2011)	Measured at intake, at 6 months, 12 months, 18 months, and again at case closure (participants will be followed throughout the duration of their involvement with Washoe County DSS which is on average 24 months)

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Caregiver stress	Parenting Stress Index - Short Form (PSI-SF) (Abidin, 1983)	Measured at intake, at 6 months, 12 months, 18 months, and again at case closure (participants will be followed throughout the duration of their involvement with Washoe County DSS which is on average 24 months)

Other Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Caregiver mental health	Brief Symptoms Inventory (BSI) (Derogatis, 1993)	Measured at intake, at 6 months, 12 months, 18 months, and again at case closure (participants will be followed throughout the duration of their involvement with Washoe County DSS which is on average 24 months)
Child behavior/mental health problems	Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) (Achenbach, 1991)	Measured at intake, at 6 months, 12 months, 18 months, and again at case closure (participants will be followed throughout the duration of their involvement with Washoe County DSS which is on average 24 months)
Positive parenting attitudes	Adult-Adolescent Parenting Inventory (AAPI-2) (Bavolek & Keene, 1999)	Measured at intake, at 6 months, 12 months, 18 months, and again at case closure (participants will be followed throughout the duration of their involvement with Washoe County DSS which is on average 24 months)
Social support	Social Provisions Scale (SPS) (Russell & Cutrona, 1984)	Measured at intake, at 6 months, 12 months, 18 months, and again at case closure (participants will be followed throughout the duration of their involvement with Washoe County DSS which is on average 24 months)
Helping alliance for both caregiver and worker	Helping Relationship Inventory (Poulin & Young, 1997)	Measured at 6 months and again at case closure (duration of their involvement with Washoe County DSS is on average 24 months)
Resiliency	Resiliency Attitudes Scale (RAS) (Briscoe, B. & Harris, B., 1994)	Measured at intake, at 6 months, 12 months, 18 months, and again at case closure (participants will be followed throughout the duration of their involvement with Washoe County DSS which is on average 24 months)
Home stability	Based on subscales of the CWBS (questions from Zuravin & DePanfilis, 1996)	Measured at intake, at 6 months, 12 months, 18 months, and again at case closure (participants will be followed throughout the duration of their involvement with Washoe County DSS which is on average 24 months)
Time to permanency	State administrative data system	Measured every six months in calendar year
Recurrence of child abuse and neglect	State administrative data system	Measured every six months in calendar year
Placement rate (population 1 only)	State administrative data system	Measured every six months in calendar year
Time for case closure	State administrative data system	Measured every six months in calendar year
Time to reunification	State administrative data system	Measured every six months in calendar year
Foster care re entry rate	State administrative data system	Measured every six months in calendar year

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Westat
• Collaborators: Children's Bureau - Administration for Children and Families

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start: September 1, 2010
• Primary Completion (Actual): December 1, 2015
• Study Completion (Actual): December 1, 2015

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: June 17, 2014
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: June 23, 2014
• First Posted (Estimate): June 24, 2014

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): March 26, 2019
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: March 22, 2019
• Last Verified: March 1, 2019

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: child abuse and neglect; Long term foster care
• Other Study ID Numbers: 8977-2