Program Profile: The Pathways Home Foster Care Reunification Intervention

Program Goals/Target Population

The Pathways Home Foster Care Reunification Intervention (Pathways) is a selective prevention program targeting families whose children were returning home after their first stay in foster care. The Pathways program aimed to prevent reunification failures when children were returned home to their biological parents by supporting parents and making the transition a smooth process for both immediate and continued parenting success. Pathways targeted parents who were considered high risk for conduct and substance abuse problems. Additionally, children who are removed from their biological parents and placed in foster care face a variety of risks, including substance abuse, educational failure, risky sexual behavior, and delinquency. In an effort to prevent reunification failures, the Pathways program sought to create a safe and nurturing environment for children by providing parents the support they need to meet parenting demands, such as managing the household, managing stress, and staying healthy. 

Program Theory

Parent substance use, parent criminality, and poor parenting are factors that lead to children entering or reentering foster care. Thus, parent management theories were used as the foundation of the Pathways program (DeGarmo et al. 2013). The program taught parents management strategies and principles that were based on the social interactional and social learning approaches, both of which emphasized positive reinforcement and encouragement of desired prosocial behaviors. Further, the Pathways program looked to other parenting and foster care programs for guidance when developing the program. For example, the Multidimensional Treatment Foster Care (MTFC) program influenced the development of Pathways. MTFC stresses the importance of the parent of caregiver’s role in providing children consistent supervision, emotional involvement, and support; these factors were also stressed in Pathways (DeGarmo et al. 2013). 

Program Components 

The Pathways curriculum, which was delivered in two phases, included strategies to enhance parenting skills, encourage cooperation, teach new behaviors, set limits with a child, and keep track of the child’s behavior and activities, as well as strategies to help the children succeed in the classroom. The curriculum was delivered in individual sessions and was led by a trained family consultant. Phase 1 began before reunification and lasted 16 weeks. The following topics were delivered in the Phase 1 curriculum: getting starting, daily schedules, encouragement and cooperation, tracking cooperation/requests and directions, teaching new behaviors, behavior contracts, setting limits, balance between encouragement and discipline, promoting school success, promoting positive peer and sibling relationships, anticipation and preteaching, avoiding power struggles, problem solving, stress and coping (focused on substance use issues), social support, and parenting plans. The sessions consisted of reviewing the previous week’s lesson, role-plays, and homework assignments. Following the end of Phase 1 the parents were given an 8-week break before the start of Phase 2. Phase 2 lasted 8 weeks and included sessions that fine-tuned the skills taught in Phase 1, assessed the parent’s risk of future harm to family, and developed a plan to safeguard against any perceived risks. 

The following outcomes were considered in the scored study or studies, but CrimeSolutions Study Reviewers determined the evidence was insufficient for a rating to be assigned:

1. Child behavior problems
2. Foster care reentry (after 1 year)