Evaluation of the Children at Risk Program in Austin, Texas, Bridgeport, Connecticut, Memphis, Tennessee, Savannah, Georgia, and Seattle, Washington, 1993-1997

The Children at Risk (CAR) Program was a comprehensive,
neighborhood-based strategy for preventing drug use, delinquency, and
other problem behaviors among high-risk youth living in severely
distressed neighborhoods. The goal of this research project was to
evaluate the long-term impact of the CAR program using experimental
and quasi-experimental group comparisons. Experimental comparisons of
the treatment and control groups selected within target neighborhoods
examined the impact of CAR services on individual youths and their
families. These services included intensive case management, family
services, mentoring, and incentives. Quasi-experimental comparisons
were needed in each city because control group youths in the CAR sites
were exposed to the effects of neighborhood interventions, such as
enhanced community policing and enforcement activities and some
expanded court services, and may have taken part in some of the
recreational activities after school. CAR programs in five cities --
Austin, TX, Bridgeport, CT, Memphis, TN, Seattle, WA, and Savannah, GA
-- took part in this evaluation. In the CAR target areas, juveniles
were identified by case managers who contacted schools and the courts
to identify youths known to be at risk. Random assignment to the
treatment or control group was made at the level of the family so that
siblings would be assigned to the same group. A quasi-experimental
group of juveniles who met the CAR eligibility risk requirements, but
lived in other severely distressed neighborhoods, was selected during
the second year of the evaluation in cities that continued intake of
new CAR participants into the second year. In these comparison
neighborhoods, youths eligible for the quasi-experimental sample were
identified either by CAR staff, cooperating agencies, or the staff of
the middle schools they attended. Baseline interviews with youths and
caretakers were conducted between January 1993 and May 1994, during
the month following recruitment. The end-of-program interviews were
conducted approximately two years later, between December 1994 and May
1996. The follow-up interviews with youths were conducted one year
after the program period ended, between December 1995 and May
1997. Once each year, records were collected from the police, courts,
and schools. Part 1 provides demographic data on each youth, including
age at intake, gender, ethnicity, relationship of caretaker to youth,
and youth's risk factors for poor school performance, poor school
behavior, family problems, or personal problems. Additional variables
provide information on household size, including number and type of
children in the household, and number and type of adults in the
household. Part 2 provides data from all three youth interviews
(baseline, end-of-program, and follow-up). Questions were asked about
the youth's attitudes toward school and amount of homework,
participation in various activities (school activities, team sports,
clubs or groups, other organized activities, religious services, odd
jobs or household chores), curfews and bedtimes, who assisted the
youth with various tasks, attitudes about the future, seriousness of
various problems the youth might have had over the past year and who
he or she turned to for help, number of times the youth's household
had moved, how long the youth had lived with the caretaker, various
criminal activities in the neighborhood and the youth's concerns about
victimization, opinions on various statements about the police,
occasions of skipping school and why, if the youth thought he or she
would be promoted to the next grade, would graduate from high school,
or would go to college, knowledge of children engaging in various
problem activities and if the youth was pressured to join them, and
experiences with and attitudes toward consumption of cigarettes,
alcohol, and various drugs. Three sections of the questionnaire were
completed by the youths. Section A asked questions about the youth's
attitudes toward various statements about self, life, the home
environment, rules, and norms. Section B asked questions about the
number of times that various crimes had been committed against the
youth, his or her sexual activity, number of times the youth ran away
from home, number of times he or she had committed various criminal
acts, and what weapons he or she had carried. Items in Section C
covered the youth's alcohol and drug use, and participation in drug
sales. Part 3 provides data from both caretaker interviews (baseline
and end-of-program). Questions elicited the caretaker's assessments of
the presence of various positive and negative neighborhood
characteristics, safety of the child in the neighborhood, attitudes
toward and interactions with the police, if the caretaker had been
arrested, had been on probation, or in jail, whether various crimes
had been committed against the caretaker or others in the household in
the past year, activities that the youth currently participated in,
curfews set by the caretaker, if the caretaker had visited the school
for various reasons, school performance or problems by the youth and
the youth's siblings, amount of the caretaker's involvement with
activities, clubs, and groups, the caretaker's financial, medical, and
personal problems and assistance received in the past year, if he or
she was not able to obtain help, why not, and information on the
caretaker's education, employment, income level, income sources, and
where he or she sought medical treatment for themselves or for the
youth. Two sections of the data collection instruments were completed
by the caretaker. Section A dealt with the youth's personal problems
or problems with others, and the youth's friends. Additional questions
focused on the family's interactions, rules, and norms. Section B
items asked about the caretaker's alcohol and drug use, and any
alcohol and drug use or criminal justice involvement by others in the
household older than the youth. Part 4 consists of data from schools,
police, and courts. School data include the youth's grades,
grade-point average (GPA), absentee rate, reasons for absences, and
whether the youth was promoted each school year. Data from police
records include police contacts, detentions, violent offenses,
drug-related offenses, and arrests prior to recruitment in the CAR
program and in Years 1-4 after recruitment, court contacts and charges
prior to recruitment and in Years 1-4 after recruitment, and how the
charges were disposed.