Kids in Welfare Care Are at Particular Risk of Offending
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Transcript of Kids in Welfare Care Are at Particular Risk of Offending
Foster Care & Youth Offending
Criminal Justice ForumWellington, February, 2009
Dave RobertsonClinical Director, Youth Horizons
Kids in Welfare Care Are at Particular Risk of Offending
• In NZ about 5,000 children and young people in C&P and YJ placements, over 95% are C&P, 1/3 under age of 6
• Maxwell et al (2004): C&P histories predicted later offending (0.24; p<.001)
• Australian welfare boys 13x and girls 35x more likely to enter juvenile justice system. Offending often known prior to entry into JJ system (54% by age 11-15) (Community Services Commission, 1996)
• U.S study: welfare boys 5x and girls 10x relative risk of later
incarceration (Jonson-Reid & Barth, 2000)
Risk Factors for Offending
Maltreatment
Marital Change
Parental Mental Health
UnemploymentCriminality
Supervision
Discipline
Parent-child Relationship
Disadvantaged Neighbourhoods
Learning Problems
School Attainment
Behaviour & Mental Health Problems
Substance Abuse
Foster Care Outcomes: The Big Picture
Homelessness
Mental HealthUnemployment/Poverty
Teenage pregnancy
Offending
• We know that foster care population are a high needs group who are at risk of poor life outcomes, including offending, despite regular foster care intervention
• Regular foster care is not an effective intervention for those a risk of youth offending
Foster Care-Specific Risk Factors Predictive of Later Offending
Behaviour Problems
Multiple Spells in/out CareMultiple Placements
Baseline PDR
Fitte
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0 5 10 15 20
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23
Youth Problem Behavior Drives Disruptions
After 6 behaviors, every additional behavior on the PDR increases the probability of disruption by 17 %
Project KEEP
Placement Stability Predictors
• Agency involvement
• Quality of care giving
• Treatment Foster Care
Probability of failed placement by condition
Project KEEP
MTFC-P
20.00
17.00
16.00
15.00
13.00
12.00
11.00
10.00
9.00
8.00
7.00
6.00
5.00
4.00
3.00
2.00
1.00
.00
TC # of pre KEEP study placements
0.70000
0.60000
0.50000
0.40000
0.30000
0.20000
0.10000
0.00000
Mea
nPre
dict
edpro
babi
lity
TXControlGROUP
MTFC-P
MTFC-P
20.00
17.00
16.00
15.00
13.00
12.00
11.00
10.00
9.00
8.00
7.00
6.00
5.00
4.00
3.00
2.00
1.00
.00
TC # of pre KEEP study placements
0.70000
0.60000
0.50000
0.40000
0.30000
0.20000
0.10000
0.00000
Mea
nPre
dict
edpro
babi
lity
TXControlGROUP
20.00
17.00
16.00
15.00
13.00
12.00
11.00
10.00
9.00
8.00
7.00
6.00
5.00
4.00
3.00
2.00
1.00
.00
TC # of pre KEEP study placements
0.70000
0.60000
0.50000
0.40000
0.30000
0.20000
0.10000
0.00000
Mea
nPre
dict
edpro
babi
lity
TXControlGROUP
MTFC-P
Successful Treatment FC Interventions
• MTFC
• MTFC-P
• Project Keep
-12%
-4%
-5%
-31%-25%
-37%
0%
-14%13%
-17%10%
Early Childhood Education for Disadvantaged Youth
Mentoring
Diversion with Services (vs. Regular Court)
Multi-Systemic Therapy
Functional Family Therapy
Multidimensional Treatment Foster Care
Intensive Probation (as alternative to incarceration)
Coordinated Services Scared Straight Type Programs
Other Family-Based Therapy Approaches
Juvenile Boot Camps
Lower Recidivism Higher Recidivism
The number in each bar is the "effect size" for each program, which approximates as percentage change in recidivism rates.
The length of each bar are 95% confidence intervals.
Type of Program
Figure 1: Effect on Criminal Recidivism for Different Types of Juvenile Offender Programs
Source: Meta-analysis conducted by theWashington State Institute for Public Policy, 2001http://www.wsipp.wa.gov/pub.asp?docid=01-05-1201
Implications
1. Comprehensive response addressing range of needs: mental health, behavioural, social, family, developmental, educational.
2. Foster care-specific red flags (externalising behaviour problems, multiple placements) should trigger intensive case monitoring and response:
3. Services need to actively minimise factors that contribute to placement disruption and promote factors that increase placement stability
4. Develop a range of foster care responses including treatment foster care for children and YP at risk of offending
Thank You
Treatment Foster Care Regular Foster Care
Treatment of child via managed therapeutic care relationship
Driven by behavioural problems/clinical Needs of young person; C&P issues may also be present
Intensively supported placement and placement delivery
High coordination with other sectors (e.g. education, mental health services)
Specialized, highly structured, time-limited and goal-oriented
Evidence based outcomes
Primarily care of child
Care often not highly integrated with other interventions
Primarily driven by care and protection issues in environment of child
Care environment is more autonomously delivered, less supervised, less structured, less supported
Generalized care and often open-ended