This document was printed from the website of the California Evidence-Based Clearinghouse for Child Welfare (CEBC), which you can access at http://www.cebc4cw.org/
This document was printed from the website of the California Evidence-Based Clearinghouse for Child Welfare (CEBC), which you can access at http://www.cebc4cw.org/
Note: Subsidized Guardianship was not responsive to the CEBC's request for information about their program. The following information was obtained from publicly available sources (websites, articles, etc.).
Scientific Rating:
3
Promising Research Evidence
See scale of 1-5
Relevance to Child Welfare Rating:
1
High
See scale of 1-3
Child Welfare Outcomes: Permanency
Brief Description:
Subsidized Guardianship has been rated by the CEBC in the area of Child Welfare Initiatives. Subsidized Guardianship is intended to provide an alternative to foster care for children who cannot be reunited with their parents and for whom permanent adoption is not an option. Under the system, children are cared for by legal guardians, often family members, who receive financial assistance similar to that received by foster parents. Parents may also retain certain rights, such as visitation, that they would not necessarily have in the case of adoption. The program relieves the child welfare system of the level of administrative and caseworker oversight required by foster care, and transfer to a legal guardian helps to assure greater permanency of the placement, since only the court can remove the child.
Manual and Training section:
The publicly available information indicates that there is some training available for Subsidized Guardianship, please contact the University of Illinois Children and Family Research Center at 800-638-3877 or cfrc@illinois.edu.
Relevant Published, Peer-Reviewed Research:
Subsidized Guardianship was given the scientific rating of "3 - Promising Research Evidence" based on the published, peer-reviewed research available. The practice must have at least one study utilizing some form of control (e.g., untreated group, placebo group, matched wait list) establishing the practice's benefit over the placebo, or found it to be comparable to or better than an appropriate comparison practice. For more information, please see the Scientific Rating Scale.
Testa, M. F. (2002). Subsidized Guardianship: Testing an idea whose time has finally come. Social Work Research, 26(3), 145-158.
Type of Study: Randomized controlled trial
Number of participants: Experimental: 3,181; Control: 3,339; Observational: 20,061
Population:
Location/Institution: Illinois
Summary: (To include comparison groups, outcomes, measures, notable limitations) Children in care were randomly assigned to be placed in either kinship care where subsidized guardianship would be implemented or to foster homes. Rates of permanence and stability were assessed. Results showed that subsidized guardianship was associated with an increase in permanence of placement, but not in stability. The authors suggest that it is possible that stability may be determined by factors other than legal relationship.
Length of post-intervention follow-up: Up to approximately one year
References:
Bissell, M., & Miller, J. (eds.) (2004). Using Subsidized Guardianship to improve outcomes for children: Key questions to consider. Children's Defense Fund and Cornerstone Consulting Group. Retrieved from the World Wide Web on March 16, 2010, from: cdf.childrensdefense.org/site/DocServer/UsingSubsidizedGuardianship.pdf?docID=1521.
Contact Information
Affiliation/Agency: University of Illinois Children and Family Research Center
Phone: 800-638-3877
E-mail:cfrc@illinois.edu
Date review compiled: June 2008