Families with children in residential foster-care settings are characterized by chronic family conflict, verbal abuse, and neglect. Previous research has supported increased risks in mental health psychopathology and heightened physiological reactivity among these children and youths. Recent research in family therapy has further hinted that debriefing of the children’s physiological arousals induced by family disputes can motivate the families to resolve their conflicts. The present study investigated whether the proposed intervention, which includes using the biofeedback equipment and debriefing of children’s physiological arousals, can increase the sense of hope in the families. Twenty Hong Kong parent-child dyads, with children in the residential child-care setting, participated in the study. Children’s physiological arousals were measured through skin conductance, heart rate and peripheral temperature. The present findings revealed that parents and children who went through the intervention procedure reported greater increase in hope than those did not receive the intervention. Amongst the variables that correlated with the changes in hope, higher level of behavioral engagement among the children was associated with increased insight and plans disclosed by the parents. Negative parent-child interactional pattern was also found to associate with higher changes in the hope among the parents. The results identified that negative interactional patterns in form of responsiveness and participation from the children could be powerful in giving insights to the parents, which in turn could foster increased hope. These findings have significant clinical implications to family intervention strategies with these at-risk families. / published_or_final_version / Clinical Psychology / Doctoral / Doctor of Psychology

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Using the Offer Self-Image Questionnaire this study attempted to determine what differences exist between 58 male adolescents in foster care and their peers in the normal population and to establish if there are specific characteristics of the adolescent's background or foster care experience that are related to specific domains of self-image. Characteristics from foster care history included number of placements and length of time at the current placement. The individual background characteristics included were race, educational achievement and age. Foster care youth had lower family self-image and emotional health and higher social self-image when compared to the normative popUlation. When compared separately to the normative population, white youth had higher than normal moral self-image and sexual attitudes and lower scores on family relations and emotional health. Black youth had higher social self-image scores. Lower scores on several domains of self-image were associated with being younger, being white, having lower academic achievement, having more placements, and staying at the current placement for a longer period of time. The implications of these findings for foster care placement decisions are discussed. / Ph. D.

This research study focused on resilient, former foster youth. Given the vulnerabilities of children in foster care, what factors lead to participant resilience? Data was obtained from ten participants who were receiving independent living services in San Bernardino County.

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As the number of children in foster care without a familial placement continues to grow, the child welfare system is turning towards a new placement approach called Residential Treatment Foster Care. This study performed a process evaluation of 30 Residential Treatment Foster Care facilities in Los Angeles County that explored the four characteristics of case plan design, team decision-making, therapeutic intervention, staff training, and overall treatment effectiveness with regards to the number of Absences Without Leave (AWOL) and completion of treatment plan.