Parent, Staff, and Stakeholder Experiences of Group Care Reform: First Findings

Abstract

Group care has been criticized for excessive lengths of stay and inability to help children improve their emotional and behavior functioning. The Residentially-Based Services (RBS) Reform Project, with demonstration sites in four large counties in California, is intended to transform the current system of group care through (a) early engagement of families; (b) focus on therapeutic enhancement of child well-being in tandem with immediate permanency planning and aggressive family-finding; (c) concurrent planning in case the intended adult cannot be the child's permanent caregiver; (d) family services to help parents improve their parenting; and (e) post-permanency supports. Focus groups and interviews with 74 key stakeholders provided information on implementation process challenges, successes, promising strategies, and early outcomes.

KEYWORDS:

• group care
• group homes
• consumer feedback
• residential treatment
• congregate care

Notes

We thank Fred Molitor for his help with refining the questions and human subjects application, Rori Bonnell for helping to design the logistics for the data collection process, and the Walter R. McDonald & Associates staff who helped edit the technical report. The Residentially-Based Services (RBS) Coalition gratefully acknowledges the RBS stakeholders participating in the planning process, especially the members of the RBS Evaluation Subcommittee. The consultation on qualitative data analysis from Erin Maher and the other team members of the Travis County, Texas, Child Protective Services Reintegration project is appreciated. Finally, the focus groups were made possible by the skill and hard work of the child welfare and group home staff in each county. For more information about the RBS reform initiative, please see www.RBSReform.org or contact Karen Gunderson ([email protected]) or Carroll Schroeder ([email protected]). For more information about the RBS evaluation, please contact RBS evaluation co-leaders, Dr. Dave McDowell ([email protected]) or Dr. Peter J. Pecora ([email protected]).