Parent training for foster parents is mandated by federal law and supported by state statues in nearly all states; however, little is known about the efficacy of that training, and recent reviews underscore that the most widely used curricula in the child welfare system (CWS) have virtually no empirical support (Farmer et al., 2007;Grimm, 2003). On the other hand, numerous theoretically-based, developmentally-sensitive parent training interventions have been found to be effective in experimental clinical and prevention intervention trials (e.g., Kazdin & Wassell, 2000;McMahon & Forehand, 2003;Patterson & Forgatch, 1987;Webster-Stratton et al., 2001). One of these, Multidimensional Treatment Foster Care (MTFC; Chamberlain 2003), has been used with foster parents of youth referred from juvenile justice. The effectiveness of an intervention based on MTFC was tested in a universal randomized trial with 700 foster and kinship parents in the San Diego County CWS. The goal of the intervention was to reduce child problem behaviors through strengthening foster parents' skills. The trial was designed to examine effects on both child behavior and parenting practices, allowing for specific assessment of the extent to which improvements in child behavior were mediated by the parenting practices targeted in the intervention. Child behavior problems were reduced significantly more in the intervention condition than in the control condition, and specific parenting practices were found to mediate these reductions, especially for high-risk children (i.e., those with more than 6 behavior problems per day at baseline). Keywords parent management training; foster parents; effectiveness trialChild welfare services are estimated to cost $20 billion per year (Allphin et al., 2001), yet very little experimental research has been used to guide the interventions used within that system. In a systematic review of research on children in foster care, Wulczyn et al. (2005) found that most existing studies were descriptive in nature. They and other researchers (e.g., Courtney, 2000) have called for experimental research to improve practices in the child welfare system (CWS), particularly for children in out-of-home care. In this study, we tested Correspondence should be directed to Patricia Chamberlain, Oregon Social Learning Center, 10 Shelton McMurphey Boulevard, Eugene, (541) 485-2711; fax, (541) NIH-PA Author Manuscript NIH-PA Author Manuscript NIH-PA Author Manuscript the effectiveness of an intervention designed to strengthen foster parents' parenting skills through the implementation of a theoretically-based intervention that had been shown in previous randomized studies to have positive short-and long-term effects on child outcomes Chamberlain & Reid, 1991;Leve et al., 2005). The intervention was expected to lead to improvements in foster parent child management skills, which were expected to result in fewer child behavior problems. Previous work has shown that behavior problems (particularly externalizing behaviors) are o...

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Objective Behavioral difficulties increase the risk that children will experience negative placement disruptions while in foster care. Chamberlain et al. (2006) found that the Parent Daily Report (PDR), a brief measure of parent-reported child behaviors, was a strong predictor of negative placement changes over one year among children receiving “usual case work” services. This paper sought to replicate and extend original findings regarding the PDR among 359 foster parents participating in a group parent-training intervention. Methods Foster parents of children experiencing a recent foster placement, and taking part in the KEEP parenting program, were included in analyses. Foster parents completed 16 weekly PDR calls about the behavior of a foster child in their care during the KEEP intervention and about their stress related to the child’s behaviors. Multiple strategies, including latent class analysis of weekly PDR counts and continuous moving averages of PDR counts over shorter time frames, were used to test improvements in prediction of negative placement changes. Results Consistent with prior findings, children with elevated PDR ratings and children living with non-relative foster parents had significantly higher levels of negative placement disruptions. Prediction improved with decision rules relying upon increased amounts of weekly PDR information, although good prediction was achieved with 3–5 weeks of PDR information. Parent-reported stress associated with behavior did not improve prediction. Conclusions This study confirmed the potential utility of the PDR as a predictor of negative placement changes and illustrates how longitudinal PDR information may aid in improving such prediction. Potential applications of the PDR for improving the timing, type, and quantity of services offered to help foster parents prevent placement disruptions are discussed.

Objective-The authors conduct a within intervention group analysis to test whether caregiver engagement (e.g., participation, homework completion, openness to ideas, apparent satisfaction) in a group-based intervention moderates risk factors for foster child outcomes in a state-supported randomized trial of caregiver parent training.Methods-The intervention is delivered in 16 weekly sessions by trained leaders. Outcomes are pre-post change in problem behaviors and negative placements.Results-Analysis of 337 caregivers nested within 59 parent groups show caregiver engagement moderates number of prior placements on increases in child problem behaviors, and moderates risk of negative placement disruption for Hispanics.Conclusions-Variance in parent group process affects program effectiveness. Implications for practice and increasing effective engagement are discussed.Keywords intervention engagement; group-based intervention; foster care; multi-level modelingIn the growing field of implementation science, we need to understand what factors account for differential effectiveness across implementation settings. At present there is a gap in social service research regarding what we know about implementing effective services and what we know about treatment efficacy and evidence-based practice (Glisson, 2007). Evaluators have long argued for the need to understand how child, family, and intervention context contribute to differential responsiveness to treatments for children receiving services (Allen & Philliber, 2001;Hoagwood, Burns, Kiser, Ringeisen, & Schoenwald, 2001;Kazdin & Wassell, 1999). The goal of the present article is to examine differential effectiveness of a group-based intervention for foster parents aimed at reducing foster child behavior problems by examining the level of engagement foster parents achieved in the parent intervention groups. © 2009 Sage PublicationsCorrespondence regarding this paper may be directed to D. S. DeGarmo, Oregon Social Learning Center, 10 Shelton McMurphey Boulevard, Eugene, OR 97401-4928; e-mail: davidd@oslc.org. NIH Public Access Author ManuscriptRes Soc Work Pract. Author manuscript; available in PMC 2010 January 12. NIH-PA Author ManuscriptNIH-PA Author Manuscript NIH-PA Author ManuscriptInterventions that are delivered in groups add another layer of complexity to understanding the differential responsiveness of individual participants. It is often an assumption in large scale implementation studies that programs are universally implemented across settings, sites, and time. Yet it is likely that variance in the delivery of a program across agencies, geographic locations, or individually run groups contribute to differential effectiveness. Recent attention has been paid to understanding whether group factors such as participation, engagement, acceptance of the treatment, and satisfaction account for variance in treatment outcomes during implementation (Hogue, Liddle, Singer, & Leckrone, 2006).Factors that influence the group context such as engagement and reactio...