| Children and youth in long-term foster care are subjected to multiple losses in their lives, repeated placement failures, and lack a sense of belonging to any family, school, or community. These losses, and resulting grief, have predisposed these children to depression and other mental illnesses, difficulty establishing relationships, and trusting others. The current research lacks support for treatment that is specific to this population, addresses the grief experienced by a foster child, or substantially aids in improving placement stability to reduce any further loss. This study examined three treatment models, the 3-5-7 model©, CBT, and treatment as usual, to determine which model demonstrated a reduction in depressive symptoms, as well as improved self-concept, relationships, and placement stability. The results of this study demonstrated that participants in the 3-5-7 model © group had a statistically significant reduction in trust and a slight improvement in depression. Those children who had depression scale scores in the clinical range at pre-treatment, remained in the clinical range at post-treatment for all three groups.The results of the current study failed to demonstrate that CBT or TAU resulted in a significant decrease in depression. There were no significant differences between the groups regarding improvement in self-concept or relationships. The 3-5-7 model© group did not have any placement changes during the study while CBT and TAU did, however the results were not significant. The CBT group demonstrated more than double the amount of drop-outs compared to the other two groups. There were several limitations to this study including a small sample size, and lack of detailed information regarding psychotropic medication. Further research is needed to determine whether the 3-5-7 model© with the addition of a SUDS scale, or coping skills component can demonstrate increased efficacy or with foster children titrated off of medication. |
