The Placement Stability Program
The Placement Stability Program aims to address the complex psychological needs of children in long-term foster care. Placement breakdowns can compound the young person’s difficulties. Improving placement stability potentially holds vital importance for the long-term outcomes of fostered children.
The program is targeted at children who have experienced previous placement breakdowns with the main intention being the enhancement of current placement stability. A team of clinicians provide advice and support to members of the child’s care network in order to improve the psychological skills that allow them to make sense of their own actions and the actions of the child. The innovative aspect of this therapeutic approach is that instead of simply addressing the mental health difficulties of these children via direct therapeutic work, the child’s whole environment is engaged in understanding, thinking about, and helping the child.
An evaluation project runs alongside the Placement Stability Program, with the aim of determining how effective this innovative approach to therapy is in improving the stability of care placements, in reducing the behavioural problems of children in care, and improving child outcomes. An Independent Research Psychologist measures these changes by interviewing children their foster parents before and after their therapeutic engagement. There are also long-term follow ups which aim to determine whether changes are maintained over a longer-term period.
Children, carers and teachers are asked to complete a number of questionnaires before their first therapeutic session, six months later, and then one year after their first session. Young people are interviewed with the Child Attachment Interview and carers with the Parent Development Interview before the start of the intervention and one year later.