For youth placed in out-of-home residential care, there has been a trend towards shorter lengths of stay and earlier reentry into the community. In order to support reentry, we propose blending out-of-home residential care with aftercare services. In this study 89 youth that were in or at risk of entering the juvenile justice system received a unique blend of a behavioral-focused residential care program with a family based in-home aftercare service. Results indicate that youth displayed decreased behavior problems and families practiced improved parenting skills at discharge. Further, at discharge from services youth were reported to engage in more positive interactions with peers. Follow-up data also suggested that at 12 months post-discharge, these youth had a high rate of remaining arrest-free, were living in a homelike setting, and had either graduated or were attending school.

Cognitive-behavioral and behavioral interventions have shown the most promise for reducing recidivism, and aftercare has been suggested as a promising approach to enhance these effects. This paper describes a pilot study of a cognitive-behavioral residential and aftercare intervention, using both process and outcome data. Thirty-three adolescents referred by juvenile courts for residential placement who had a goal of family reunification participated. Results indicate that youth had significantly decreased behavior problems and families had significantly improved parenting skills. Follow-up data also suggested that at six months post-discharge, youth who departed at home or in a homelike setting had a high rate of remaining arrest free, were still in a homelike setting, were attending school, and had remained drug and alcohol free. Finally, the data suggested that program implementation quality and outcomes improved over the course of the study. Implications for future research and practice are discussed.