The Supporting Siblings in Foster Care (SIBS-FC) project is the first large-scale randomized clinical trial (RCT) focused on siblings in foster care. This 5-year study was funded by the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) and took place in the Portland metropolitan area between 2010 and 2015 (PI: Lew Bank, Ph.D.). Dr. Kothari was part of the investigator panel and involved with this study from its inception. The primary goal of the study was to test the efficacy of a sibling intervention program for pre-adolescent and adolescent youth in foster care. However, longitudinal data were collected from multiple informants using multiple methods; data were focused on four major domains: sibling relationship quality, mental health, quality of life, and education. Therefore, the 2CW research group continues to analyze this rich and unique data source to better understand the experiences and trajectories of children and youth in foster care.
The SIBS-FC study was focused on preadolescent and adolescent sibling dyads (i.e., older and younger siblings). Youth were between the ages of 7-15 years old at enrollment. Once enrolled in the SIBS-FC project, each sibling dyad was randomly assigned to either the intervention group or the control group. Each dyad in the intervention group was invited to complete a sibling intervention program designed to enhance their sibling relationship, problem-solving skill and improve their self-determination. Sibling sessions and community activities were designed to teach youth to work with their sibling to develop problem-solving skills, help youth brainstorm ways to include adult allies in their lives, and provide opportunities for youth to practice their newly acquired skills and spend quality time with their sibling.
Data were collected every six months from older and younger siblings, foster caregivers, caseworkers, teachers and outside observers over the course of the eighteen months families were enrolled in the study. Moreover, foster parents also participated in phone interviews every two months (for a total of 10 calls) during the study period. These calls were focused on identifying major family changes experienced in the foster parent household as well as tracking the medical, dental, mental health, and other services that youth obtained in the community. In addition, administrative data were collected on these youth from the Department of Human Services (DHS) and the Department of Education (DOE).
The 2CW research group continues to explore this rich, multi-method, multi-agent RCT dataset as well as other related datasets to add to our understanding of children and youth in foster care. Current efforts are focused on continuing to explore the SIBS-FC intervention (efficacy, fidelity, etc.), educational outcomes among youth in foster care, relationships and factors that promote resilience, and service utilization among youth in foster care.
