The California Evidence-Based Clearinghouse for Child Welfare
The California Evidence-Based Clearinghouse for Child Welfare

This document was printed from the website of the California Evidence-Based Clearinghouse for Child Welfare (CEBC), which you can access at http://www.cachildwelfareclearinghousetest.org/

Placement Stabilization

1. Well Supported - Effective Practice
2. Supported - Efficacious Practice
3. Promising Practice
4. Effectiveness Unknown
5. Fails to Demonstrate Effect
6. Concerning Practice
See Scientific Rating Scale

Here are your search results for programs in the Topical Area - Placement Stabilization:

Results are shown only for the programs that have been rated in each category. You can see the full rating scale on the right.

You can also read why the Advisory Comittee chose Placement Stabilization as a topic area at the bottom of this page.


Programs with a Scientific Rating of 1 - Well Supported - Effective Practice

  1. Multidimensional Treatment Foster Care (MTFC)

Programs with a Scientific Rating of 3 - Promising Practice

  1. Multidimensional Treatment Foster Care for Preschoolers (MTFC-P)
  2. Neighbor to Neighbor
  3. Project Keep
  4. Wraparound

Programs with a Scientific Rating of 4 - Effectiveness Unknown

  1. Casey Foster Family Assessments (CFFA)
  2. CORE (Case management, Outreach, Referral, and Education)
  3. Integrated Assessment (IA)
  4. Partnering for Safety and Permanence - Model Approach to Partnerships in Parenting (PS-MAPP)
  5. PRIDE (Parent Resources for Information, Development, and Education)

See why Placement Stabilization was selected by the Advisory Committee.

What is Placement Stabilization as it relates to Child Welfare and why was it selected as a Topical Area?

Placement stabilization services generally seek to reduce the number and frequency of disruptive behaviors, particularly those behaviors most noxious to the caregiver. These services are typically offered to caregivers and help the caregiver develop proactive and reactive responses that reinforce positive behaviors. Services are designed to enhance the caregiver’s sense of competency in parenting the child, with the goals of stabilizing the placement, encouraging positive caregiver-child interactions, and providing a safe, nurturing environment for the child.

Placement Stabilization was selected by the Advisory Committee as an important area of focus, because there is an increasing body of knowledge on the impact of trauma on the brain development of children, especially on young children. Foster children are likely to have experienced trauma in-utero, and after birth through exposure to abuse, neglect, and violence. Removal of a child from an unsafe home reduces the risk of further abuse and neglect, but at a cost. Every placement change requires a child to adapt to a new environment at home, in school, and in the most personal relationships: new caregiver, new room, new roommate, new teacher, new foods, new rules, new doctor, new friends, etc. Children cope in various ways, including exacerbating troublesome and unhealthy behaviors. Academic development is interrupted, social relationships are severed, and new barriers to reunification can develop. These disruptive behaviors are linked to placement instability, and contribute to reduced chance of reunification.

Mary C. Harris

Child Welfare Services Director

San Diego County