Using Parents' Strengths to Facilitate Behavioral Change and Family Reunification in Juvenile Dependency Cases

该奖项是作为NSF的社会，行为和经济科学博士后研究奖学金（SPRF）计划的一部分提供的，并得到SBE的法律和社会科学计划的支持。SPRF计划的目标是为学术界，工业或私营部门和政府的科学事业准备有前途的早期职业博士级科学家。SPRF的奖励包括在知名科学家的赞助下进行两年的培训，并鼓励博士后研究员进行独立研究。NSF致力于促进来自科学界各部门的科学家，包括来自代表性不足的群体的科学家参与其研究计划和活动;博士后期间被认为是实现这一目标的专业发展的重要水平。每个博士后研究员必须解决推进各自学科领域的重要科学问题。在范德比尔特大学的朱迪·格伯博士的赞助下，这个博士后奖学金支持一位早期职业科学家调查父母力量在预测青少年依赖家庭团聚中的作用（即，儿童保护案件。美国儿童福利和少年抚养制度的负担很重。每年有400万份虐待儿童的报告;政府每年花费数十亿美元改善该系统;社区提供者花费无数时间为家庭提供密集服务。然而，即使这些努力成功地使儿童和父母团聚，家庭仍然遇到问题，大约30%的儿童在三年内重新进入寄养家庭。这些统计数据突出表明，迫切需要进行研究，以确定什么能预测成功、安全和持久的家庭团聚。研究的目的是确定优势（例如，承诺、洞察力、社会支持），以最近参与青少年依赖系统的父母为样本。该研究还将研究这些优势在父母案例过程中的变化程度，为什么它们会变化，以及它们如何与父母，依从性，行为和持久性结果（即，重新统一和重新入学率）。将与最近有子女在少年抚养系统中得到庇护的父母进行面谈，以确定这些优势。6个月的后续评估将检查优势的变化，并将包括一个定性的组成部分，以检查为什么家庭经历了优势的变化，特别是，一个组成部分不包括在目前的优势为基础的模型。在案件开始后12个月内进行的案件档案审查将确定父母对服务的遵守情况、专业人员对父母的看法、行为变化和团聚率。6个月后进行的行政数据审查将确定重新入学率。调查结果有可能照亮我们的理解与家庭团聚的机制。此外，研究结果将有助于为制定计划生育和参与的政策背景提供信息，最终改善儿童和父母的生活，并保持家庭在一起。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并被认为值得通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估来支持。

This award was provided as part of NSF's Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences Postdoctoral Research Fellowships (SPRF) program and supported by SBE's Law and Social Sciences program. The goal of the SPRF program is to prepare promising, early career doctoral-level scientists for scientific careers in academia, industry or private sector, and government. SPRF awards involve two years of training under the sponsorship of established scientists and encourage Postdoctoral Fellows to perform independent research. NSF seeks to promote the participation of scientists from all segments of the scientific community, including those from underrepresented groups, in its research programs and activities; the postdoctoral period is considered to be an important level of professional development in attaining this goal. Each Postdoctoral Fellow must address important scientific questions that advance their respective disciplinary fields. Under the sponsorship of Dr. Judy Gerber at Vanderbilt University, this postdoctoral fellowship award supports an early career scientist investigating the role of parent strengths in predicting family reunification in juvenile dependency (i.e., child protection) cases. The burden on the U.S. child welfare and juvenile dependency system is heavy. There are 4 million reports of child maltreatment annually; the government spends billions of dollars on improving the system every year; and community providers spend countless hours delivering intensive services to families. Yet, even after these efforts are successful in reunifying children and parents, families continue to experience problems, with approximately 30% of children re-entering foster care within three years. These statistics highlight the critical need for research to determine what predicts successful, safe, and long-lasting family reunification.The purpose of the study is to identify strengths (e.g., commitment, insight, social support) in a sample of parents who have recently become involved in the juvenile dependency system. The study also will examine the extent to which these strengths change over the course of parents' cases, why they change, and how they relate to parents,compliance, behaviors, and permanency outcomes (i.e., reunification and re-entry rates). Parents who have recently had children sheltered in the juvenile dependency system will be interviewed to identify these strengths. A 6-month follow-up assessment will examine changes in strengths, and will include a qualitative component to examine why families experienced changes in the strengths,notably, a component not included in current strengths-based models. Case file reviews conducted within 12 months of case opening, will determine parents' compliance with services, professionals perceptions of parents, behavior change, and reunification rates. Administrative data reviews, conducted 6 months later, will determine re-entry rates. Findings have the potential to illuminate our understanding of the mechanisms associated with family reunification. Additionally, findings will help to inform the policy contexts that shape family planning and engagement to ultimately improve the lives of children and parents, and keep families together.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.