Family Telehealth Project for Foster Care Youth

Leveraging Technology to Improve Family Relationships for Adolescents in Out-of-Home Placement

The purpose of this research is to adapt and evaluate the efficacy of an existing family based intervention to be delivered via telehealth to child welfare-involved (CWI) youth and their caregiver of origin.

The goal of this study is to adapt and evaluate the efficacy of an existing empirically supported, family-based affect management intervention to be delivered via telehealth. There are two versions of this intervention: 1) a dyadic version to be delivered to CWI youth and their caregiver of origin, and 2) a caregiver-only version to be delivered to any caregiver (including kinship caregivers) of a CWI youth. The study involves iteratively adapting the intervention with feedback from youth and caregiver participants and stakeholder partners, as well as evaluating the feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary effectiveness of the intervention.

Inclusion Criteria:

Eligible youth:

• Will be between the ages of 12 and 18 years
• Will have ongoing child welfare involvement
• Will be proficient in English
• Will have no cognitive impairment which would preclude provision of informed assent

Eligible caregivers for dyadic version:

• Will be the caregiver of origin for the enrolled youth
• Will be proficient in English or Spanish
• Will be cognitively capable of providing informed consent for themselves and their youth

Eligible caregivers for caregiver-only version:

• Will be the caregiver of a youth, between the ages of 12 and 18 years, with ongoing child welfare involvement
• Will be proficient in English or Spanish
• Will have no cognitive impairment which would preclude provision of informed consent

Exclusion Criteria:

• Caregivers whose rights were terminated due to substantiated abuse or neglect.