Children and Youth Services Review: 'Intensive fostering: an independent evaluation of MTFC in an English setting'.

Biehal, Nina ; Ellison, Sarah ; Sinclair, Ian 等

This article presents the results of an independent evaluation of the Multidimensional Treatment Foster Care (MTFC) programme for young offenders. MTFC is a community-based intervention which differs from routine foster care in that it offers treatment as well as substitute care. It was piloted in three areas in England where it was known as Intensive Fostering (IF). A quasi-experimental, mixed methods study was carried out at the three pilot sites to compare the outcomes for 47 serious and persistent offenders. The young people sentenced to IF were compared to a matched group, the majority of whom were sentenced to custody. Official data on reconviction for the IF group were measured one year after the date of entry to the IF placement (Stage 1) and one year after the date of exit from the IF placement (Stage 2). For the comparison group, data were collected one year after exit from custody (Stage 1). The findings showed that at Stage 1 the IF group were less likely to be reconvicted, had committed fewer and less serious recorded offences, and took longer to commit their first recorded offence. At this point, the IF group were more likely to be living with their families and less likely to be in custody. However, by Stage 2 no significant differences in patterns of reconviction remained. The article concludes that IF successfully contained a high-risk group in the community, but the effects of the intervention washed out once they left their foster placements.

33:10, October 2011, pp 2043-49