Complex, Co-occurring Needs Patterns and Evidence-Based Service Planning for Families Involved in Foster Care: A Map...

Area of Science:

• Child Welfare Research
• Family Services Evaluation
• Social Work Practice

Background:

• Foster care involvement often presents complex, co-occurring service needs for families.
• Effective service planning requires understanding the patterns of these needs.
• The Family Assessment of Needs and Strengths (FANS) is a tool used to identify these needs.

Purpose of the Study:

• To describe the complexity and co-occurrence of service needs in families involved in foster care.
• To identify prevalent patterns of needs to inform future evidence-based service planning research.
• To guide caseworkers by mapping common needs patterns.

Main Methods:

• Utilized state administrative child maltreatment records for cases entering foster care in 2019.
• Included 1631 cases where caseworkers indicated at least one FANS need.
• Employed association rule mining to identify patterns within unique needs profiles.

Main Results:

• Identified 780 unique needs profiles among 1631 foster care cases.
• Condensed these profiles into 78 prevalent patterns of co-occurring needs.
• Highlighted the significant variability and complexity of needs profiles.

Conclusions:

• The complexity of needs profiles presents challenges for evidence-based service planning.
• Mapping prevalent needs patterns can guide future research and assist caseworkers.
• Further research into needs within specific patterns may improve service plan effectiveness and balance.