RE: Foster Care vs. Group Homes

["Hollows, Anne E" <A.E.Hollows@xxxxxxxxx>]

Reading this thread from a UK context I am aware that there may be some definitional issues here: when you describe 'group homes' in the US, what is the scale and organisation? We might have a foster home where there are 6 or more unrelated children and care is provided by paid helpers as well as the foster carers themselves (possibly alongside the carers' own children), and a 'group home' with a similar number of children but with exclusively paid carers. Obviously the staff turnover is significant here but other issues are less obvious.
 
Anne
 
Dr Anne Hollows
Principal Lecturer
Child and Family Research Coordinator 
Sheffield Hallam University
33 Collegiate Crescent Sheffield
S10 2BP
tel +44(0) 114 2252369
email a.e.hollows@shu.ac.uk
http://www.shu.ac.uk/research/hsc/

________________________________

From: bounce-2175028-6832669@list.cornell.edu on behalf of Chaffin, Mark J. (HSC)
Sent: Sat 15/12/2007 00:13
To: Child Maltreatment Researchers 
Subject: RE: Foster Care vs. Group Homes


Check the work done on the Multidimensional Treatment Foster Care (MTFC) model, out of the Oregon Social Learning Center (Chamberlain and colleagues).  In general, I think many people who follow the research on aggregate residential placements vs. family type placements would probably view moving away from the group home model (at least in part) as reasonable based on the available science.  Of course, one has to factor the quality of either type of placement into the equation.
 
MC
 
Mark Chaffin, Ph.D.
Professor of Pediatrics
University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center
P.O. Box 26901; CSC 225
Oklahoma City, OK  73190
(405) 271-8858
 

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________________________________

	From: Eric Mart [mailto:emart@comcast.net] 
	Sent: Thursday, December 13, 2007 8:19 AM
	Subject: Foster Care vs. Group Homes
	
	
	Dear List Members,
	 
	Here in New Hampshire, our child protection agency has adopted a policy of moving children out of group homes  into foster care. This seems to be driven by ideological and financial concerns rather than any kind of empirical evidence related to better outcomes for children in care. Is anyone aware of any research on the results of group home vs. foster care placement?
	 
	Eric G. Mart, Ph.D., ABPP (Forensic)
	311 Highlander Way
	Manchester, New Hampshire 03103
	Ph. 603/626-0966
	Fax 603/622-7012
	emart@comcast.net
	www.psychology-law.com <http://www.psychology-law.com/>