Children in foster care have social and emotional problems at rates three to ten
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children in care can negatively impact social, emotional and academic
development, as well as placement stability. Evidenced-based interventions to
improve children’s behavior and reduce parenting stress are necessary.
This pilot study augmented an existing evidenced-based intervention (i.e. the
Incredible Years) developed for birth families for use with foster caregivers.
Results from 18 families indicate that foster caregiver-reported conduct
symptoms were significantly lower for children whose families participated in
the treatment group. A similar trend was found for the overall externalizing
behavior. No significant changes were identified in parenting attitudes and
stress. Participants reported high levels of satisfaction and acceptability with
the program and outcomes. These findings indicate that foster caregiver training
should be examined in larger, randomized control trials.
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