Keeping youth in the community through an intensive case management and family partnerships model

ABSTRACT

The Family Partnerships Program (FPP) is an intensive case management model that serves families with child welfare and juvenile justice involved youth who are at imminent risk of out-of-home placement. FPP is based on the belief that relationships, both with families and across systems, is foundational when supporting change with youth. Propensity score matching was utilized to determine if FPP is related to improved child welfare re-involvement outcomes when compared with treatment as usual for this population. When compared to non-FPP youth in two comparison counties, FPP youth from Larimer County, Colorado experienced 51% lower odds of juvenile justice involvement at case closure compared to remaining home, 32% lower odds of runaway/emancipation compared to remaining home, and 74% lower odds of placement compared to remaining home. When comparing a group of youth from Larimer County who did not receive FPP to youth in the comparison counties, the results are similar. Although this effect does not appear to be isolated to FPP; one possibility is that intensive case management represents an “active ingredient” of what makes Larimer County’s community-based approach viable for serving the crossover youth population. Implications for program and policy development and directions for future research are discussed.

KEYWORDS:

• Crossover youth
• prevention services
• child welfare
• juvenile justice
• intensive case management
• family partnerships

Acknowledgments

Data are from the Colorado Comprehensive Child Welfare Information System application. The rights of the participants have been protected.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Larimer County Department of Human Services.

Notes on contributors

Marc Winokur

Marc Winokur, Director of the Social Work Research Center, joined the School of Social Work faculty at Colorado State University in fall 2004. Dr. Winokur has over 16 years of applied research and evaluation experience in child welfare that has influenced policies and practices at the international-, federal-, state-, and county-levels. In 2018, he received the Innovative Leadership Award from Illuminate Colorado for his distinguished service focused on the prevention of child maltreatment and strengthening families. Dr. Winokur has contributed to evidence-based practices in the field through randomized controlled trials on differential response and home visitation programs, and systematic reviews on kinship care for the Campbell and Cochrane Collaborations.

Rebecca Orsi

Rebecca Orsi is an Assistant Research Professor at the Kempe Center for the Prevention and Treatment of Child Abuse and Neglect, University of Colorado School of Medicine.  She conducts research and evaluation in child protective service systems, with a focus on reform. She is experienced with advanced statistical methods using both administrative and survey data. Her research interests include improved outcomes for children in CPS systems, community risk factors for maltreatment, adoption, and secondary traumatic stress in the child welfare workforce. Dr. Orsi holds an MS in Statistics and a PhD in Human Resource Studies from Colorado State University.

Pang Ching Bobby Chen

Pang Ching Bobby Chen is a Data Analyst for Larimer County Department of Human Services. He is interested in researching the sustainability of child welfare outcomes, outcomes in child welfare placement settings, reentry into foster care, and inequality in the child welfare system.

Lauren Alessi

Lauren Alessi, MA, is a Research Associate at the Social Work Research Center at Colorado State University. Her research interests include youth transitioning into adulthood, juvenile justice, and alternatives to incarceration.