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The relationship between physical distance to program, different types of family contact, and youth behavioral outcomes, discharge assessment, and 6-month follow-up was examined. Data came from clinical record information for 350 youth who had been admitted to a group home program between July 2009 and October 2011. Path analysis was used to examine the hypothesized pattern of interrelationships among the variables. Study results found that home visits of youth with their families were related to better outcomes, while program visits by family were unrelated to outcomes. Phone contacts during the week were also unrelated to youth outcomes, whereas weekend phone contacts were significantly related to less successful outcomes. Findings suggest that family contact is important for the health and wellbeing of youth in residential care, but that not all family/friend contacts are equally beneficial and that some can even undermine a youth’s progress. Specific recommendations are made for future research to inform practice on how to make the most of these opportunities. Ultimately, all family and friend contact should be a positive factor in the youth’s treatment and outcomes.

At the time of entry into residential treatment, many youth have prescriptions for one or more psychotropic medications. It is not well understood why some youth are prescribed only one psychotropic medication while others may be prescribed more. We sought to determine if differences existed between youth entering residential treatment with monopharmacy (n = 77) versus youth entering with polypharmacy (n = 103). Youth were compared across demographic, family, behavioral, mental health, and psychotropic medication variables. The only significant differences identified were related to the numbers of youth with prescriptions across the different psychotropic classes. As would be expected, youth experiencing polypharmacy were more likely to have prescriptions within each class. Implications, limitations, and recommendations for future research are discussed.

Youth departing from out-of-home care settings face numerous challenges as they adapt to new settings or return to placements that have been unsuccessful in the past. Although several thousand youth face this transition annually, little is known about their specific needs and risks at departure. To better identify needs and risks, we evaluated the discharge data of 640 youth served in a residential group care setting by addressing the following questions: (a) to what settings do youth depart following a stay in residential group care, (b) what are the demographic, family, educational, behavioral, and departure characteristics of youth at departure, and (c) do these characteristics differ for youth departing to different levels of restrictiveness? Results indicate significant differences on youth characteristics based on levels of restrictiveness at departure placement. As one might expect, youth departing to more restrictive placements presented a broad host of challenges across domains, while those departing to less restrictive settings demonstrated fewer needs and departed with greater educational and behavioral gains. Results provide support for the development and planning of targeted aftercare programs designed to promote the short and long term functioning of youth served in out-of-home care.