The use of a Child and Family Team is a service offered to all children, adolescents and young adults under the age of 21 enrolled in the Tribal and Regional Behavioral Health Authority systems. The teams are comprised of people important to the child and their development and focus on family group decision making to meet the child’s individual needs. These teams know the child’s strengths and abilities, and can identify needs the child may have that can be addressed through wraparound or individualized services.
Our Public Health Statistics group teamed up with the Division of Behavioral Health Services to see if Child and Family Teams improve the success of the kids in our Behavioral Health system. We looked at two outcomes: avoiding delinquency and success in school. By evaluating things like: compliance with probation, decreased substance abuse, improved grades, completing homework and participating in extra-curricular activities, we were able to show that kids participating in a Child and Family Team had better outcomes than those who did not participate.
This study was recently published in the Journal of Child & Adolescent Behavior and adds valuable information to the limited evidence available. Congratulations to Khaleel Hussaini and his team!
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