Returning Home vs. Foster care

[KLCasillas@xxxxxxx]

Dear Members,

	I am currently working at an agency that assesses and treats parents 
indicated for child abuse and neglect. We are in the process of writing a 
grant to question how well our particular assessment process and 
recommendations predict long-term outcome in these children. Yet, in 
practice, one challenge we are met with in the court system is getting past 
the notion professionals hold that children do better if they are returned, 
somewhat inspite of other domains of functioning.
	Is there any evidence to answer if there is something about being 
returned that is beneficial in itself? Does anyone know of studies comparing 
children returned versus those not returned? Ideally, studies also assessing 
various domains of functioning in the biological and foster families would 
help to answer our question, but anything you know of would be a start.
	Thanks in advance.

Katherine L. Casillas
Psychology Department
SUNY at Stony Brook
Stony Brook, NY 11794-2500