Date created: | Last Updated:

Category: Project

Description: Preventing homelessness among young people who have been involved in the child welfare system remains an urgent issue for child welfare policymakers and practitioners. Housing stability is essential for achieving self-sufficiency and promotes health and well-being, particularly during the transition to adulthood. A combination of disadvantages places youth with a history of foster care, especially those aging out of care, at a higher risk of homelessness compared with their peers. To expand the evidence base on interventions to prevent homelessness among youth and young adults who have been involved in the child welfare system, the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services launched the Youth At-Risk of Homelessness (YARH) multiphase grant program. YARH grantees received funding to develop interventions for youth and young adults with child welfare involvement who are most likely to experience homelessness. The grant program specifies three target populations: (1) adolescents who enter foster care from age 14 to 17; (2) young adults aging out of foster care; and (3) homeless youth and young adults, up to age 21, with foster care histories. The Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation contracted with Mathematica in the first two phases of YARH to provide evaluation technical assistance to grantees, support them in articulating and refining the design of their service models, assess the evaluability of each service model, and disseminate the knowledge developed. Phase I (YARH-1) and Phase II (YARH-2) included process studies. The YARH-2 process study was registered with OSF (https://osf.io/kfhba/). Final reports and related publications are available on the OPRE website (see below). ACF is now in the third phase of YARH (or YARH-3) and is conducting a rigorous summative evaluation of a policy-relevant comprehensive service model developed and refined during the first two phases of YARH. Colorado’s Pathways to Success is an intensive, coach-like case management model for youth and young adults in foster care. A large, cluster quasi-experimental impact study design will be used to test the effectiveness of Pathways in 37 counties in Colorado. The implementation study will focus on six Pathways and six comparison counties sampled from the 37 participating counties to document implementation of Pathways and the business-as-usual service provision by a Chafee worker for comparison. A study registry for the impact study is on OSF at https://osf.io/yu8ca. The implementation study is registered on OSF at https://osf.io/pk876. The approved Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Paperwork Reduction Act package for YARH-3 is located at https://www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAOMBHistory?ombControlNumber=0970-0574. More information about all three phases of YARH, including all products released, can be found on OPRE’s website (https://www.acf.hhs.gov/opre/project/building-capacity-evaluate-interventions-youth/young-adults-child-welfare-involvement).