Date of Award

Spring 5-18-1999

Document Type

Open Access Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Social Work (MSW)

Department

Social Work

First Advisor

Maria Dinis

Second Advisor

David Sainto

Third Advisor

Sharon Patten

Abstract

Therapeutic foster care (TFC) is quickly becoming a favored placement option by case managers for children and adolescents. As the number of agencies that provide therapeutic foster care programs increase, case managers question what constitutes successful and failed placements of adolescents in the TFC system. This exploratory, quantitative study focuses on data analysis of a therapeutic foster care program. Data analysis will consist of evaluating matched intake and discharge information of approximately 32 adolescents (32 intake/discharge records) from January l, 1998 through December 31, 1998 as well as evaluating discharge records of those youth admitted prior to 1998 and discharged in 1998 (24 discharge records). This study is aimed to find out what the factors are that constitute a successful or failed placement for youth in therapeutic foster care. This study evaluated the agency records and found several relationships related to factors that affected living arrangements after discharge. The findings suggest that those youth who have had few previous placements prior to admission to the therapeutic foster care program were more often discharged to their families and completed program goals. In addition, the findings suggest that those youth with longer placements in foster care tend to decrease in level of frequency of behavioral issues at discharge as compared to intake information. The findings operate as a valuable resource for professionals in the field of social work. Implications for social work practice and future research are also discussed.

Identifier

SC 11.MSW.1999.Adamich.LMS

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