Pioneering research from the Oregon Social Learning Center (OSLC) suggests that a focused, short-term intervention at the transition to middle school can dramatically improve the emotional and behavioral wellbeing of young adolescent girls in foster care. Not only that, but the developers propose that the intervention could easily be integrated into existing child welfare services at relatively low cost.

The OSLC are no strangers to successful intervention. Scientists based at the Center are the brains behind both Multidimensional Treatment Foster Care and Project Keep as well as the promising program Linking the Interests of Families and Teachers. Their latest research, focusing on the risks associated with the transition into adolescence for young girls living in foster care, is proving similarly fruitful.

Whilst the risks for emotional and behavioral problems increase during adolescence for all children, regardless of their family situation, the risks are much larger for those living in foster care. Not only do they have to contend with the normative challenges of this period of development, such as exposure to larger and more diverse peer groups and the physical effects of puberty, but they are also much more likely to have been exposed to additional risk factors, such as childhood maltreatment, abuse or neglect.

Rates of physical abuse and high levels of stress and family criminality are often higher amongst girls in foster care than boys. Dana Smith, Leslie Leve and Pattie Chamberlain, writing in a forthcoming edition of the journal Prevention Science, argue that this means that foster girls are particularly vulnerable at the transition to middle school. Despite their vulnerability, there have been relatively few attempts to develop an evidence base for what works to prevent or treat the problems of this particular group of children.

Smith and her colleagues, however, developed and evaluated a new intervention that has achieved a demonstrable impact on both emotion and behavior outcomes. One hundred girls in state-supported foster care were recruited in the final term of their last year of elementary school and randomly allocated to either an intervention or a control condition. Data were collected via standardized interviews and questionnaires by researchers who did not know which condition the participants had been allocated to. On the cusp of adolescence, the girls’ average age was 11 years. Their foster parents, who were mostly female and in their late forties, also participated in the research and interviews were conducted with the child’s caseworker.

For those randomly assigned to the intervention condition, the program began in the summer holidays immediately preceding middle school entry. The child component of the intervention was called Focus for Girls and the parent component Focus for Foster Parents. Each comprised six group-based sessions, held twice weekly for three weeks. Follow-up sessions were provided for both girls and their foster parents throughout the first year of middle school.

In Focus for Girls facilitators teach the girls about setting goals, establishing positive relationships with peers and adults, building confidence, and developing decision-making. Problem-solving skills and opportunities are also provided so that they can practice positive behaviors. A small ceremony is conducted at the end of the summer holidays in which girls proclaim their goals and commitments to each other and their foster parents.

Focus for Parents sessions are primarily concerned with enabling foster parents to maintain stability in the home, prepare the girls for middle school, develop behavioral reinforcement techniques and realistic expectations. Parents are given homework assignments designed to encourage them to practice their new skills at home. If a girl or parent missed a session the group facilitator visits the home and delivers the content in person.

Foster families allocated to the control condition received services as usual, typically comprising elements of counseling, psychiatric services and mentoring. However, girls in the control condition experienced more psychological difficulties than their counterparts in the Focus for Girls group whose emotional and behavioral symptoms decreased significantly over the transition.

The extent to which the intervention staved off the development of serious problems over the long-term is not known as these are interim findings and the evaluation continues. However, the results are promising, not least because many services designed for children in state care are intensive and costly. Not only is the focus program relatively short in duration, but it was implemented with regular state-supported foster parents (who were not specially selected) and delivered by paraprofessionals rather than the masters or doctoral level therapists typically involved in delivering services to children in care.

Reference:
Smith DK, Leve LD, Chamberlain P (2011) Preventing Internalizing and Externalizing Problems in Girls in Foster Care as They Enter Middle School: Impact of an Intervention, Prevention Science, forthcoming edition