ABSTRACT
Group care for children remains a service in fl ux. Concerns about effectiveness, child safety, and costs continue within the services research community (Burns & Hoagwood, 2002) as well as in discussions of best practices and policies for children and families (Whittaker, 2004; 2006). Recent evidence from Los Angeles suggests that child welfare involved youth who are served in group care are more likely to transition to juvenile services than those who are served in foster care-after adjusting, as well as possible, for differences that might have resulted in those placements (Ryan, Marshall, Herz, & Hernandez, in press). Other evidence indicates that the residential care intervention is, itself, not often a good fi t for the need of the children served (Libby, et al., 2005).
