For a complete understanding of the experiences of children and families, one must consider the multiple contexts in which these individuals are embedded. Human development is multiply determined by child, parent, and community contextual factors. Outside the family framework, responsibility for children's welfare is typically shared among institutions such as child welfare agencies, juvenile courts, schools, medical providers, police, and employers. Center research is initially focused on the following service settings: child welfare, substance abuse, juvenile justice and education.

The Allied Services research team is currently pursuing three related areas of work. The first focuses on families involved with child welfare and substance abuse. This work is represented by the Illinois AODA Title IV-E waiver demonstration. The second area focuses on adolescents involved with child welfare and juvenile justice. We refer to these youth as "crossover" and this work is currently in progress in Los Angeles County and will likely expand to Washington State and Pennsylvania in 2008. The third area focuses on children and adolescents involved with child welfare and mental health systems. These "overlap" studies are currently in progress using data from Illinois.

Allied Services Projects:
Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse Waiver Demonstration Project (AODA)
In 1999, the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services applied for a Title IV-E waiver to improve reunification and other family permanency and safety outcomes for foster children from substance abusing families. To achieve this purpose, an intervention was developed providing Recovery Coaches to assist birth parents with obtaining needed AODA treatment services and in negotiating departmental and judicial requirements associated with drug recovery and concurrent permanency planning. In September of 1999, USDHHS approved the state’s application and the demonstration was implemented in April of 2000 with Dr. Joseph Ryan of the Children and Family Research Center as principal investigator and independent evaluator.
        AODA Interim Evaluation Report
        AODA Evaluation: Final Report
       Click on the following link to view project web pages and more information:
        Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse Waiver Demonstration Project (AODA)

Juvenile Justice
The Allied Services research group at the CFRC is focusing on the experiences and outcomes associated with dependent youth in the juvenile justice system. The group is striving to (1) identify the specific and malleable risk and protective factors (conditions of risk that can be reduced and conditions of strength that can be increased) associated with delinquency and (2) to understand the experiences and outcomes associated with dependent youth in juvenile justice. The Allied Services Research agenda seeks to inform the development of effective policies and practices for the dependent-delinquent population. The Center is investigating how the transition from child welfare to juvenile justice impacts critical developmental outcomes (e.g. peer and adult relationships, academic engagement). The Center is also looking at how the experiences and outcomes of dependent-delinquent youth differ from those of delinquent-only youth. Work on child welfare and juvenile justice is already underway in Los Angeles, CA and Richland County, OH. The Center hopes to continue inquiry in this area and establish partnerships with additional court systems.

Psychiatric Crisis Research

The Center is following wards of the state who are in mental health crisis and examining the factors associated with their outcomes in substitute care. Specifically the study is looking at placement type, placement stability, and permanence among youth in care who are in psychiatric crisis. In addition issues around recurrent psychiatric crisis among youth in substitute care will be addressed. The research plan includes looking at how many children repeat psychiatric crisis and what factors differentiate one-time and recurrent crisis episodes. Examination of child welfare outcomes after psychiatric crisis among youth in substitute care is an additional focus of the research.

Education
The academic experiences of children in foster care also have implications across service settings (e.g. juvenile justice). There is a broad literature describing the relationship between educational experiences and subsequent offending. For example, an increased risk of juvenile delinquency is associated with low levels of academic achievement, lack of participation in school activities, low aspirations for continued education, unpleasant relationship with teachers, rejection of administrator authority, disregard for school policies and rules and dropping out. These findings are consistent and robust. Yet, to date, there are no studies that specifically look at the association between education and offending for children leaving the foster care system. Our research focuses on (1) the academic experiences (not limited to grades) of children involved with the child welfare system and (2) how such experiences impact other important child welfare outcomes.