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This paper presents an overview of Assertive Community Treatment (ACT) as an evidence-based practice in mental health care. We then consider current evidence for FACT (ACT for forensic populations) and FICM (intensive case management for forensic populations) and the ways these models have been extended and adapted to serve mentally ill persons in a variety of criminal justice settings. The available evidence about the effectiveness of these models towards preventing recidivism among criminally-justice involved persons with mental illness is weak. We conclude with several suggestions for how the clinical model of FACT needs to be expanded to incorporate interventions aimed at reducing criminal behavior and recidivism.

Foster parents’ perceptions of familial and parental factors that promote or inhibit successful fostering were examined using semi-structured interviews. Characteristics that facilitate successful fostering include faith or support from church, a deep concern for children, tolerance, a strong cooperative marriage in married foster families, and a daily life that is characterized as organized and routinized but flexible in terms of responding to children’s needs and external demands. Characteristics that inhibit successful fostering include non-child-centered fostering motivations, competing demands for parents’ time and energy, parents’ difficulties in dealing with strong attachments to children who might have to leave the family, and personal and interpersonal inflexibility. The findings from this study highlight the need for foster parents to be skilled at creating family patterns that are characterized by clear, consistent routines and expectations as well as flexibility and tolerance. This dialectic pattern of family functioning should be a primary focus during training for foster parent applicants.

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Results of a previous survey of 46 young adults with cancer led to the development of a professionally led support group to address their unique concerns. The intervention combined group therapy techniques with Psychoeducational strategies in six weekly sessions on the topics of anxiety about health and physical well-being, worry about fertility and raising children, problems in relationships, financial concerns, and body image. Pretest and posttests demonstrated significant improvement in the 14 participants' scores on a measure of psychological well-being but no changes in coping mechanisms or overall quality of life. Practice recommendations include expanding the group to eight sessions and providing less structure. Arguments in favor of time-limited group interventions for cancer patients are presented.

Objective To investigate whether Washington State’s 2006 policy of expediting Medicaid enrollment for offenders with severe mental illness released from state prisons increased Medicaid access and use of community mental health services while decreasing criminal recidivism. Methods A quasi-experimental design with linked administrative data was used to select all prisoners with a severe mental illness (schizophrenia or bipolar disorder) released during the policy’s first two years (January 1, 2006 through December 31, 2007), separating those referred for expedited Medicaid (n= 895) from a propensity-weighted control group of those not referred (n= 2191). Measures included binary indicators of Medicaid enrollment; other public insurance enrollment; post-release use of inpatient and outpatient health services; and any post-release criminal justice contacts. All data were collapsed to person-level observations during the 12 months following index release and outcomes were estimated via propensity-weighted logit models. Results Referral for expedited Medicaid upon release from prison greatly increased Medicaid enrollment (p< .01) and use of community mental health and medical services (p< .01) for persons with severe mental illness. No evidence was found that expediting Medicaid reduced criminal recidivism. Conclusions Expediting Medicaid was associated with increased Medicaid enrollment and mental health service use but study findings strongly suggest that, rather than relying on indirect spill-over effects from Medicaid to reduce criminal recidivism, advocates and policymakers would better address the needs of offenders with severe mental illness through direct interventions targeted at underlying causes of recidivism.

Although Medicaid benefits and behavioral health services were associated with fewer rearrests and more time in the community, the observed differences were relatively small. Further research is needed to determine how greater reductions in jail recidivism can be achieved for this target population.

A better understanding of kinship foster families' perceptions of the familial factors and parenting beliefs that promote or inhibit successful fostering can inform child welfare practice and policy. To this end, and to extend previous research [Buehler, C., Cox, M. E., and Cuddeback, G. (2003). Foster parents' perceptions of factors that promote or inhibit successful fostering. Qualitative Social Work: Research and Practice, 2(1), 61-84.], semi-structured interviews were conducted with kinship foster parents to explore their perceptions with regard to the familial factors and parenting beliefs that promote or inhibit successful fostering. Nine kinship foster parents from 8 families were interviewed. The results of this study were compared to the results of the Buehler et al. [Buehler, C., Cox, M. E., and Cuddeback, G. (2003). Foster parents' perceptions of factors that promote or inhibit successful fostering. Qualitative Social Work: Research and Practice, 2(1), 61-84.] study on nonkinship foster parents. Similar themes emerged from both groups, but kinship foster parents described more complex issues with their families-of-origin. Characteristics that promote successful fostering of kin include support of family, commitment to children, faith, good parenting abilities, church involvement, flexibility, and adequate resources. Characteristics that inhibit successful fostering of kin include strained relations with birth family, poor discipline strategies, inability to deal with "the system," lack of resources, and inability to deal with children's emotional, behavioral, physical problems. The findings suggest a need to focus on special training and support services for kinship foster parents, as well as assessments specific to kinship fostering.