Citation

Hollinshead DM, Corwin TW, Maher EJ, Merkel-Holguin L, Allan H, Fluke JD. Child Abuse Negl. 2017; 69: 285-294.

Affiliation

The Kempe Center for the Prevention and Treatment of Child Abuse and Neglect, Department of Pediatrics, University of Colorado School of Medicine, 13123 E, 16th Ave, Aurora, CO, 80045, USA. Electronic address: john.fluke@ucdenver.edu.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2017, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.chiabu.2017.04.022

PMID

28549264

Abstract

Rigorous research on the efficacy of family group conferencing is rare. This randomized control trial study used an intent-to-treat approach to examine whether a referral to a family group conference (FGC) was associated with re-referrals, substantiated re-referrals, or out-of-home placements among child welfare-involved families receiving in-home services. We found no significant associations between treatment and control group assignment and the three outcomes for the sample as a whole. However, families with more children had higher odds of a re-referral and a substantiated re-referral, families with more than one parent had higher odds of re-referral, and families where a substance abuse services referral was noted had higher odds of out-of-home placement. In interaction models with race, we found that families with African American mothers who were referred for an FGC were more likely to be re-referred compared to other families, but no differences were identified with respect to their rates of substantiated re-referrals or out-of-home placements. Implications are discussed.

Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Language: en

Keywords

Child protection; Child welfare outcomes; Family group conferencing; Family preservation; Racial disproportionality; Randomized control trial