Editorial Reviews
From the Publisher
Patricia Chamberlain and John Reid, researchers at the Oregon Social Learning Center in Eugene, OR., figured out how to reduce crime among 40 hard-to-dissuade teen-age offenders.
With the cooperation of Lane County Juvenile Court, they took criminal teens - with an average of 14 previous arrests - out of their parents' homes and placed them in a specialized form of foster care called "multidimensional treatment foster care." In shorthand, they call it the Monitor program.
A single teen was placed with a foster family, usually for six or seven months. His overall behavior was strictly monitored, and his good behavior blanketed with praise. (Forty-five kids in a control group were placed in traditional group homes.) The foster care teens weren't allowed to hang out with the troubled friends.
The foster parents got 24-hour backup from case managers adept in solving behavior problems. They also met weekly with other foster parents to compare notes and invent strategies for problem behaviors.
The boys' biological parents, meanwhile, were studying how to better supervise, encourage and discipline their kids. The kids them were returned to their parent in slow, progressive steps beginning with one-or-two hour visits. The 24-hour case manager support then switched to parents.
The program go backup from probation officers. If the kid got out of hand, her could be sent immediately to detention.
In the tough field of juvenile corrections, the results were good. After one year, 41 percent of the boys in the treatment group were free of arrests, compared with only 7 percent in the control group.
The Center for the Study and prevention of Violence at the University of Colorado reviewed 450 programs nationwide, and found Chamberlain and Reid's foster care among the 10 best cities start similar programs, and the first may be in Baltimore.
About the Author
Patricia Chamberlain, Ph.D., founded the Oregon Social Learning Center Treatment Foster Care program model in 1983. She has continued to direct TFC programs and conduct research on the model for the past 15 years. She is a board member and chair of the research committee of the Foster Family-Based Treatment Association, an international group of agencies conducting TFC programs. Dr. Chamberlain regularly serves on grant application review committees for the National institute of Mental Health. She is the author and co-author of numerous journal articles and book chapters on treatment process, outcome research, methodology, parental use of discipline, and on foster care and related topics. Dr. Chamberlain is currently Clinical Director of the Oregon Social Learning Center in Eugene, Oregon.
Family Connections: A Treatment Foster Care Model for Adolescents With Delinquency (A Social Interactional Approach, Vol 5),Patricia, Ph.D. Chamberlain,Northwest Media Inc.,1892194007,Child Care/Parenting,Family & Relationships,Family / Parenting / Childbirth,General,Parenting - General
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