Siblings in Foster Care
Condition: Foster Home Care
Study type: Interventional

Summary: 
      National estimates indicate that roughly 70% of children in foster care have one or more
      siblings also in care. Exact percentages vary by state, but several data sources suggest that
      about 50% of early adolescent foster youth are placed apart from one or more of their
      siblings. Relationships between these siblings may be critical in providing them a sense of
      connection and emotional continuity as they are removed from much that is familiar (e.g.
      their home, parents, and friends). Historically, efforts to strengthen ties of foster
      children with their families have focused on adults (e.g., biological parents, grandparents).
      Limited research exists on the relationships of siblings in foster care. The central aim of
      the proposed study is to evaluate the impact of the Sibling plus Parent Management Training
      (SPMT) intervention as compared to Parent Management Training-only (PMT) on key constructs of
      sibling relationship quality, mental health, academic success, and quality of life for youth
      in foster care. Conducted in partnership with the Oregon DHS Foster Care program, 240 sibling
      dyads and their foster parents will be enrolled in six cohorts. Siblings may live together or
      in separate placements. Dyads will consist of (1) a target youth in care that is 11-15 years
      of age, and (2) a younger sibling in care who is 7-15 years of age and within 4 years of age
      of the target youth. Sibling dyads will be matched as living together or living apart; the
      matched dyads will be randomly assigned to either the SPMT or PMT-only group, with all
      study-enrolled foster parents receiving PMT intervention components. The SPMT intervention
      includes a sibling component as well as foster parent PMT. The sibling intervention component
      includes eight cognitive behavioral sessions of skills learning/practice, and four community
      activities planned by siblings with their interventionist coaches. For foster parents, there
      is a 4-session PMT curriculum emphasizing skills learning and practice with their
      study-enrolled foster child. Additional sessions are available to foster parents on request.
      Foster parents will also be able to access and troubleshoot PMT materials and strategies via
      weekly staff check-in calls, and the project website. Major wave assessments will be
      conducted at baseline, intervention termination (6 months), follow-along1 (6-month
      post-intervention) and follow-along2 (12-month post-intervention). Brief, bi-monthly phone
      interviews for youth and foster parents will collect service utilization data and global
      ratings of outcome constructs for use in growth-modeling analyses. Hierarchical Linear Models
      (HLM) and multiple regression analyses will be used to test (1) the prediction that SPMT
      siblings will improve more than PMT siblings on key outcomes, and (2) whether intervention
      efficacy varies by sibling placement (together vs. apart) and participant characteristics
      such as race, gender, and disability
    


Intervention name(s): Siblings in foster care curriculum, Parent Management Training
Intervention type(s): Behavioral
Intervention description(s): Each year, approximately 800,000 youth are cared for in foster homes across the nation. About 70% of these youth are known to suffer from mental health and educational disabilities and frequently transition to adulthood with lifelong deficits. The majority of youth in foster care have siblings in care. It is anticipated that the proposed intervention will significantly improve key outcomes for youth in the study and will provide much needed information on best practices to help youth in foster care.
Allocation: Randomized
Intervention model: Parallel Assignment
Masking: None (Open Label)
Primary purpose: Health Services Research
Keywords: Sibling relationship quality; Foster Care; Parent Management Training; Mental health outcomes