National training and development curriculum training program impact on placement, permanency, and stability.

Area of Science:

• Child Welfare Research
• Foster Care Studies
• Evidence-Based Interventions

Background:

• Resource parent training is crucial for caregiver retention and improving placement stability for marginalized children.
• Effective training programs are needed to equip resource parents for diverse child populations.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the impact of the National Training and Development Curriculum (NTDC) on child welfare outcomes.
• Assessing placement, permanency, and stability for children with NTDC-trained resource parents.

Main Methods:

• Quasi-experimental study utilizing AFCARS data from 3,822 resource parents and 2,565 children across four US states.
• Propensity-score matching employed to control for confounding variables in permanency analyses.

Main Results:

• NTDC training led to a slight decrease in initial foster parent applications, indicating self-selection.
• Trained caregivers were more likely to foster teenagers and children identifying as Asian/Asian American, Black/African American, or Hispanic/Latinx.
• Children of NTDC-trained caregivers showed higher rates of legal adoption and guardianship compared to a control group.

Conclusions:

• The NTDC effectively prepares resource parents for diverse children, enhancing their ability to achieve permanency.
• Evidence supports NTDC's role in improving outcomes for children in foster care, particularly in adoption and guardianship.