RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN DISCHARGE OUTCOMES FOR TREATMENT FOSTER-CARE CLIENTS AND PROGRAM CHARACTERISTICS

Data collected from a survey of treatment foster-care programs permitt ed an exploratory study of relationships among type of discharge (plan ned or unplanned), restrictiveness of postdischarge living arrangement s, and the program characteristics (per client annual cost, basis of p ayments and amount paid to family care providers, perservice and inser vice training requirements for family care providers, maximum caseload permitted for social workers, program treatment theory, program size, maximum number of placements permitted per family care provider, and the average number of clients per home). Data were available for 1,521 youth discharged from 210 treatment foster-care programs in the Unite d States and Canada. Of the total discharges, 60% were planned, and 63 % of the youth were discharged to settings less restrictive than treat ment foster care. No meaningful associations were found between progra m characteristics and type of discharge or restrictiveness of discharg e setting. Additional research is necessary to establish the relations hip, if any, between program characteristics and program success befor e moving to impose standards that may increase the cost of delivering treatment foster care but not increase program success.