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This paper presents a review of the family services that were offered by a sample of 121 English Sure Start Children's Centres in 2011 and 2012. Children's Centres are community based facilities that aim to improve outcomes for at-risk families and children through the delivery of a range of services largely aimed at families with young children. Services commonly offered include: health advice, childcare and early education, employment advice, informal drop-in facilities, and specialist support on parenting. This paper provides a snapshot of Children's Centre service provision in 2011 and 2012 and documents the extent of change. A picture of broad stability was observed in the numbers of services that centres reported offering (from a list of 47 services grouped into 11 categories). However, some Children's Centres also appeared to be changing the focus of the services that they provided. Some centres seemed to be shifting towards providing greater outreach (rather than parent-support) and services which were targeted (rather than universal).

In 2004, Second Step (Committee for Children, 2002), a violence prevention program, was implemented in the Cleveland Heights-University Heights school district for 1,416 K through second grade students. Both process and outcome measures were used to evaluate program impact and examine issues related to the implementation and evaluation of evidence-based practices. Process measures indicated a high level of implementation fidelity, while pre/post outcome testing on a 20% random sample of students demonstrated significant reductions in reactive aggression scores, t = 2.221, df = 238, p less than 0.05, and evidence of declines in proactive aggression. Authors discuss challenges and opportunities related to implementing and evaluating evidence-based programming in Safe Schools/Health Students sites, particularly regarding strategies for the assessment of differential intervention effects to evaluate program outcomes. (Contains 4 tables.)

A sample of 126 consecutively admitted residential treatment children (mean age = 9.86, SD=1.84; 70.6% male; 42.1% African American; 50% Caucasian) were studied over a five-year period to identify predictors of length-of-stay. Cox regression was the primary statistical method used to analyze psychiatric and behavioral rating data for children assessed by teachers and treatment staff using the Devereux Scales of Mental Disorders (DSMD). Parental alcohol abuse, and children's age, medication status, race, initial DSMD total and critical pathology scores, were predictive of length-of-stay. Residential length-of-stay was strongly linked to initial levels of psychiatric symptomatology. Models that can help forecast length of stay are vital tools in helping to improve both clinical and utilization management strategies.

Using cross-sectional analyses in conjunction with dynamic modeling (hierarchical linear modeling), the authors profiled 119 treatment foster care youth and constructed behavioral change trajectories for a subset of 97 children. Children generally showed improvements in internalizing and critical pathology problem domains but remained the same on measures of externalizing behaviors and total problem score. The number of previous out-of-home placements was positively associated with increased levels of psychiatric symptomatology and served as the most robust predictor for modeling treatment response trajectories across problem domains. Placement instability places the well-being of children at heightened risk, therefore, accurate assessment of child need and risk in relation to caregiver capacities is critical.

A comprehensive community status assessment of an Ohio urban county's crisis response (CR) system explored the experiences of its behavioral health services' clients and providers to surface themes characterizing the system's responsiveness and identifying opportunities for improvements. Forty‐eight focus groups and two online surveys were conducted. Data were analyzed using qualitative content analysis and descriptive statistics. The greatest areas of needed improvement ascertained by this effort are in increased CR system resources, more efficient use of resources, and capacity enhancements in nine areas: the mobile crisis team, CR protocols, psychiatric inpatient and crisis stabilization beds, stabilization admission for eligible persons, stabilization services for in‐crisis but admission‐ineligible persons, continuity of care, research into child versus adult CR systems, Provider Emergency Support Program, and first responder crisis intervention training. The assessment provides a foundation for the county to identify further opportunities for system scale‐up. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Forecasting treatment outcomes is essential to improving service delivery. Hierarchical linear modeling was used to construct behavioral change trajectories and help predict treatment responsiveness for 97 partial hospitalization children. Overall, children evidenced statistically significant improvement in psychiatric symptomatology. Younger age, female gender, number of previous out-of-home placements, and lower IQ scores were associated with increased psychopathology and poorer treatment response. Properly configured day treatment can provide an effective organizing platform for implementing complex treatment regimes.