Cheryl Smithgall

Intergenerational and interconnected: Mental health and weil-being in grandparent caregiver families

Research shows that a substantial number of grandparent caregivers are caring for children with developmental delays or emotional or behavioral problems, and that many caregivers have clinical levels of depression. This study explores grandparent-caregiver families’ mental health needs as well as use of and barriers to accessing mental health services. Interviews with families revealed unmet mental health needs and an interconnectedness between grandchildrens and their grandparent caregivers’ well-being. In the survey component, service providers described problems highly consistent with those reported by grandmothers, including school-related or attention-related concerns among children and depression, stress, and frustration among grandparents. Findings suggest implications for practitioners and policymakers regarding service access, expectations about services, and the fit between clients’ needs and the services available.

Preventing HIV/AIDS among trinidad and Tobago teens using a family-based program: Preliminary outcomes

Summary This paper describes a family-based HIV/AIDS prevention project currently underway in Trinidad and Tobago—an English speaking twin-island nation in the Caribbean. The project involves a partnership between U.S.-based researchers and a social service agency on the Islands. It describes the development and adaptation of the intervention and reports preliminary outcomes from a pilot intervention (n= 32). Findings indicate high participant retention; statistically significant pre to posttest changes in HIV/AIDS knowledge and awareness; parent/youth discussions at home; condom self-efficacy; and parental monitoring. Findings are discussed within the context of collaborative HIV/AIDS prevention research.

Unmet Mental Health Service Needs in Kinship Care: The Importance of Assessing and Supporting Caregivers

Although children in kinship care reportedly have better outcomes than their nonkinship foster care peers, some have unmet mental health needs or delayed service utilization. This study confirms the presence of unmet mental health needs among children in kinship care and indicates that concerns about caregivers moderate the relationship between identified service needs and service utilization. It is important that child welfare assessments consider caregiver capacity to meet each childs needs and, especially within kinship care where not all caregivers are licensed, respond to the resource, housing, education, and service needs of caregivers.

Identified problems and service utilization patterns among kinship families accessing mental health services

Abstract This study examined the mental health problems and service utilization patterns of kinship families who accessed services in an urban outpatient child psychiatry clinic. A random sample of children who completed the intake process during a calendar year yielded 47 children, or 19% of the sample, whose primary caregiver was a relative, other than a biological parent; approximately half of those families were involved with the child welfare system. Data from an administrative database and from medical records describe the diagnoses, identified problems, and services used by the kinship families. Academic or school-related problems emerged as an identified problem in approximately half of the kinship cases, but school intervention was not a primary target for clinicians. The kinship sample was also compared with a random stratified sample of children who were living with primary caregivers other than kin. Kinship families were more likely to be African-American, but few differences were found between kin and non-kin cases on diagnoses and frequency, duration, or type of services received. The findings suggest that collaboration with schools might increase the engagement and retention of kinship families in mental health services.

Developing and testing a framework for evaluating the quality of comprehensive family assessment in child welfare

Over the last decade, Comprehensive Family Assessment (CFA) has become a best practice in child welfare. Comprehensive Family Assessments go beyond risk assessment to develop a full picture of the childs and familys situation. When appropriately synthesized, assessment information can lead to a clear articulation of the patterns of child or family functioning which are related to child abuse and maltreatment or which can be strengthened to facilitate change. This study defines and provides concrete examples of dimensions of quality in child welfare assessment reports that are consistent with the CFA guidelines and best practices embraced by child welfare agencies, courts, and other key stakeholders. Leveraging a random assignment design, the study compares the quality of reports written by a caseworker alone versus those written by a caseworker paired with a licensed Integrated Assessment (IA) screener. Findings are discussed in the context of the dual professional model and factors contributing to the timely completion of high quality assessment reports.

Supporting strengths-based child welfare practice through a dual professional family assessment program

ABSTRACT Despite the strong need for family-centered, strengths-based practice approaches in child welfare, full-scale implementation remains limited. This qualitative study depicts a specialized Integrated Assessment (IA) program that—though designed primarily to enhance the quality of clinical family assessments—was found to support frontline child welfare caseworkers in their implementation of family-centered, strengths-based practices. Caseworkers differentiated the support of the IA screener from that of their supervisor and reported that the additional support was particularly valuable on complex cases. Key factors for replication and implications for training and professional development are discussed.