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Topic: Higher Level of Placement

Scientific Ratings in this topic:
1 - Well-Supported by Research Evidence
2 - Supported by Research Evidence
3 - Promising Research Evidence
4 - Evidence Fails to Demonstrate Effect
5 - Concerning Practice
NR - Not able to be Rated
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Definition for Higher Level of Placement:

Child Welfare uses foster placement as a service to ensure the protection of children and youth who must be removed from the home of their parents or guardians because of the occurrence of abuse and neglect. Law and practice dictate that children be placed in the "least restrictive setting." The least restrictive placement for a child is in the home of their parent or guardian. The range of foster placements outside of the parents' or guardians' homes, from least to most, are the following: relative or non-related extended family member, foster family home, foster family agency home, group home, residential treatment center, and community treatment facility. Within the last two categories, there are approximately 15 rating classification levels, each of which represents more therapeutic and more restrictive care. When Child Welfare staff refers to "higher level of placement," they are usually discussing about residential treatment and community treatment facility placements, in the rating classification levels of 12 and above.

Why was Higher Level of Placement chosen as a topic by the Advisory Committee? (Click for Answer)

Higher Level of Placement was chosen by the Advisory Committee because for over twenty years, child welfare has been concerned about the effects of higher level placements. It has been observed and documented that children and youth who are placed in higher levels of care can become "institutionalized" and therefore unable to return to normal family home environments. While therapeutic treatment is provided in higher levels of care, it does not always prepare children and youth to become accustomed to the intimacy of family life. Therefore, it is often a self-perpetuating intervention that results in children and youth become habituated to living in institutional environments and unable to return to either their own families or to be placed successfully in other family environments. Child welfare invests tremendous financial resources in these placements and then cannot find alternative placements once the mental health treatment has been successfully completed-children and youth become unable to leave the institutional environment despite having addressed the mental health issues that brought them there. Children and youth who have become institutionalized by this intervention often then move from one institutional placement to another until they leave the foster care system, thereby resulting in the Child welfare agency's performing very poorly in the measure of placement stability. It is believed that alternative placement milieus such as Therapeutic Foster Care and Wraparound programs, which bring therapeutic interventions to a family environment, can be as successful as higher level placements in addressing the mental health needs of children and youth while avoiding the problem of institutionalization and the concomitant placement instability.

Stuart Oppenheim
Executive Director
Child & Family Policy Institute of California
Sacramento Office
Sacramento, CA

Programs in this topic area

Here are your search results for programs in the area of Higher Level of Placement:

The programs listed below have been reviewed by the CEBC and, if appropriate, been rated using the Scientific Rating Scale.

Programs with a Scientific Rating of 1 - Well-Supported by Research Evidence:

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  • Multidimensional Treatment Foster Care - Adolescents (MTFC-A) – detailed view
    Topics: Disruptive Behavior Treatment (Child & Adolescent), Higher Level of Placement, Placement Stabilization, Behavioral Management for Adolescents in Child Welfare
    Boys and girls, 12-18 years old with severe delinquency and/or severe emotional and behavioral disorders. These youth were in ...

Programs with a Scientific Rating of 2 - Supported by Research Evidence:

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Programs with a Scientific Rating of 3 - Promising Research Evidence:

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  • Phoenix House Academy – detailed view
    Topics: Higher Level of Placement, Substance Abuse Treatment (Adolescent)
    Adolescents (13-18) and their families.
  • Sanctuary Model – detailed view
    Topics: Higher Level of Placement, Trauma Treatment (Child & Adolescent)
    This program is not a client-specific intervention, but a full-system approach that targets the entire organization. The focus is to ...
  • Stop-Gap – detailed view
    Topics: Higher Level of Placement
    Children and/or adolescents with disruptive behavior disorders (CD, ODD, ADHD) living in residential treatment centers.
  • Teaching-Family Model (TFM) – detailed view
    Topics: Higher Level of Placement, Parent Training, Behavioral Management for Adolescents in Child Welfare
    Youth who are at-risk , juvenile delinquents, in foster care, mentally retarded/developmentally disabled, or severely emotionally disturbed. Families at risk ...

Programs with a Scientific Rating of NR - Not able to be Rated:

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  • Re-ED – detailed view
    [Re-Education of children with Emotional Disturbance]
    Topics: Higher Level of Placement
    Boys and girls from birth to age 22. Adaptations are made to assure developmental appropriateness across exceptionality(s). The general descriptor ...