Evaluation of the Ohio Alternative Response Pilot Project, . Beginning in May 2007 Ohio began planning for a project to implement the Minnesota Alternative Response (AR) model in 10 pilot counties. Planning, selection of pilot counties and training will continue through March 2008. The pilot counties will begin serving families under the AR approach in April 2008 and the project will continue for 18 months. The evaluation will be modeled on the Minnesota evaluation (see reports in the Papers and Resports section of this website). The entire project, including planning, immplementation, training, ongoing support and evaluation, is a joint effort of the American Humane Association, the Institute of Applied Research, and local and state Minnesota consultants.
Evaluation of the Indiana Child Welfare Waiver Demonstration. This is an extension of Indiana's Title IV-E Waiver Project. The extension began in July 2005 and will run through 2010. The Indiana demonstration is a statewide flexible funding project that is testing the effectiveness of home and community-based services as an alternative to out-of-home foster and group care. Indiana's initial 60-month waiver demonstration ran from January 1998 through December 2002. IAR's final evaluation report on that project, which was submitted in September 2003, can be found in the Papers and Reports section of this website.
Evaluation of the Minnesota Permanency DemonstrationThe Minnesota Permanency Demonstration (MPD) is a Title IV-E Waiver demonstration. The purpose of the MPD is to create a single-benefit system for children moving from foster care to a permanent home with a single level of benefits that follow the child from foster care to an adoptive or permanent legal custody. Formerly, families that adopted or assumed legal custody faced reductions in financial support. IV-E funding will be used to support a single continuous source of benefits replacing those made under Adoptive Assistance and Relative Custody Assistance. The demonstration project will operate for five years from 2005 through 2010 in six Minnesota counties. The evaluation will include a process analysis, an outcome/impact study and a cost-effectiveness analysis.
Evaluation of the Minnesota Parent Support Outreach Demonstration. The Parent Support Outreach Project (PSOP) demonstration is being conducted in 38 Minnesota counties. PSOP workers approach families with reports of child abuse and neglect that were not accepted for further follow-up by the Child Protection System (CPS). Under CPS currently, famlies with unaccepted reports are not contacted. Under PSOP, families with preschool children are contacted and offered assistance on a voluntary basis. The evaluation will seek to determine whether service needs of families are addressed, whether the knowledge of families of service sources is improved, and whether future child safety as well as child and family welfare improve because of the intervention.
Evaluation of the St. Louis City Juvenile Drug Court Multi-Systemic Therapy Project. The St. Louis City Juvenile Drug Court received a SAMHSA grant for a three year (through 2008) demonstration of the value of multi-systemic therapy (MST) for youths participating in the juvenile drug court. MST is a comprehensive approach to therapy that seeks to involve family members of youths in the treatment process. The therapy takes place in the home of the drug court participant. The evaluation will involve comparisons of outcomes with a group of former participants as well as before-after measures of the behavior, attitudes and emotional responses of participants.
Evaluation of the St. Louis City Jail Diversion Project. Evaluation of a project to divert mentally ill pretrail offenders to a service track through which they will be provided with mental health services and, if needed, substance abuse treatment. The project is funded by a SAMHSA grant (through 2009).