| Early studies in the treatment for children diagnosed with SED concluded that there were gaps in service delivery (Lewit, 1995). In 1984, wraparound programs were initiated to bridge the gaps between services among providers and included the family as an integral part of treatment. Previous research on wraparound programs focused on service providers and costs. The purpose of this study was to compare children living at home with children living in foster care while receiving services through the Erie County Wraparound Program to determine if the stress of being removed from a home would influence outcomes. This study presented analysis of a longitudinal, archival data of 2,134 children between the ages of 3 and 21 who received wraparound services in the Erie County Wraparound Initiative between June 1998 and October 2003. Of this data set, 86 children were matched on age, sex, and diagnosis. Length of time and positive outcomes (e.g. legal incidents, type of discharge, out of home placements, and hospitalizations) were examined when comparing the two groups. There was no statistical significance for length of time in the program. There were no differences for hospitalizations, discharge, or legal incidents. Foster care children were more likely to have experienced an out of home placement than children living at home. This study also examined if younger children (ages 2-11) would have a more positive outcome than older children (ages 12-18). There were no differences in the matched group. When examining the larger data set, younger children were more likely to have a positive outcome than the older children. These findings suggest that children living in foster care have similar outcomes as those children living at home. This may be attributed to resiliency in children which was not measured. Children living at home may have different stressors that affected outcome (e.g., ongoing abuse or neglect or chaos in the home). Also, these results may be explained by the quality of the community foster care system. |
