Group Home Placements Research Articles

Variables Related to Recidivism among Juvenile Offenders

This study investigated predictors of recidivism among juvenile delinquents. Mental health and probation files were reviewed for 138 male juveniks. To assess the extent of recidivism throughout their juvenile years, only data from participants who remained in juvenik jurisdiction until the age of 18 were included in the analyses. Demographic, behavioral, familial, school-related, and crime-related variables were examined Additionaly, the relationships between length of first incarceration and number of subsequent offenses for violent and property first-time offenders were investigated. Multiple regression analyses indicated that age at first conviction, alcohol abuse, status conviction, length of first incarceration, group home placement, and birth order best predicted recidivism. Further, results revealed that length of first incarceration and subsequent convictions were positively correlated for property first-time offenders. Limitations and suggestions for future research are discussed

Developing community alternatives to group home placement for SED special education students in the Ventura County System of Care

Interagency planning and resource development were used to improve available services for severely emotionally disturbed special education students who were in or at-risk of being placed in residential care. Augmented local school-based and regional day treatment services were financed by a Ventura County Social Services Agency trust fund and delivered cooperatively by the County Mental Health Agency and local education agencies. Revenues generated by the new service positions were planned to restore the trust fund. Outcomes following service implementation included: (a) an average reduction of 3.5 youths in the expected number of youths in group home placement per month; (b) a total reduction of $290,011 in the expected annual cost of placement; and (c) generation of $281,238 in Medi-Cal revenue by the school-based and day treatment components of the system of care. The implications of these outcomes are discussed in terms of existing trends in numbers of identified seriously emotionally disturbed students and their service needs and the processes that were involved in planning and implementing the service augmentation.

Life-skills knowledge: A survey of foster adolescents in three placement settings

A survey of life-skills knowledge among foster adolescents was conducted in three placement settings; foster family homes, group homes/institutions, and apartments. Within the apartment sub-group, two types of apartments were compared; cluster-site and scattered-site. The study group consisted of 534 older adolescents in state care. A 50-item multiple-choice inventory was used to gauge life-skills knowledge. Adolescents in scattered-site apartment placements scored highest, followed by youths in foster family placements. Youths in group home/institutional placements scored lowest. The results suggest a need to improve life-skills preparation in group home/ institutional settings, to target minority males for life-skills enhancement in all placement settings, and whenever possible to utilize apartment placements to supplement foster home, group home, and institutional placements.

Integrating systems of care in california for youth with severe emotional disturbance II: Initial group home expenditure and utilization findings from the California AB377 Evaluation Project

The California AB377 Evaluation Project was established to study the replication of an innovative system of care in three California counties for youth suffering from severe emotional disturbance. Development of the innovative system of care was pioneered in Ventura County, California, and the replications were legislatively enabled through Assembly Bill 377 (AB377). This paper reports evaluative findings about a central goal of the innovative care system: the reduction of use of highly restrictive out-of-home placements though creation and maintenance of coordinated and effective community-based services. Group home facilities are the focus of the evaluation work because these facilities consume the largest proportion of all public expenditures for youth in residential placements in California. More than 10 years of aggregate county and state level monthly expenditure and utilization data are presented. The results indicate that the demonstration counties have generated lower per capita inflation adjusted rates of expenditures and per capita group home placements than California as a whole. The evaluation results provide evidence that an integrated system of care can reduce group home placements. However, the nature, quality and effectiveness of any and/or all alternative services provided remains a topic for further investigation.

Transracial and Inracial Adoption of Special Needs Children

About 300 families who adopted a special needs minority or mixed race child responded to a mailed questionnaire. Twenty-two percent of these adoptions were transracial. Transracial adoptees were more often handicapped and had more often experienced sexual abuse, group home or psychiatric placement, and adoption disruption prior to placement. Inracially adopting families evidenced less problematic parent-child relationships but little difference was apparent when multiple regression controlled for the above-mentioned factors. Exploratory analyses reveal interactions of transracial placement with several other factors.

Childhood antecedents of homelessness in psychiatric patients

This study examined the relationship between childhood experience and homelessness in psychiatric patients. Three large and diverse samples of homeless patients (N = 512) were compared with a sample of patients who had never been homeless (N = 271), with respect to childhood experience of foster care, group home placement, and running away. One of the homeless samples and the never homeless sample were drawn from patients admitted to a state mental hospital. In this state hospital population, risk ratios for lifetime prevalence of homelessness could be derived. In the three homeless samples, over 15% had a history of foster care, over 10% had a history of group home placement, and over 20% had a history of running away. These figures compared with 2%, 1%, and 5%, respectively, in the never homeless sample. In the state hospital, the lifetime prevalence of homelessness in patients with any one of these childhood experiences was about threefold that of other patients. A history of homelessness was reported by the great majority of state hospital patients who had had one of these childhood experiences. These childhood experiences were strongly associated with adult homelessness in these psychiatric patients. It might be possible to prevent homelessness in some cases by interventions aimed at patients with such childhood histories.

A Study of Group Home Placements as a Possible Correction of Delinquent Behaviour

A Study of Group Home Placements as a Possible Correction of Delinquent Behaviour