Adoption-specific Treatment Prevention Pilot Trial

NCT01744951 | Terminated

• 2 other identifiers: ADAPT-02UCLA IRB/IRB# 12-001024
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 60
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 5

Brief Summary

This study seeks to pilot a manualized adoption-specific intervention aimed at providing a preventive intervention for families adopting children ages 5-14 years where family reunification has been terminated and the family is moving toward adoption or who have adopted children from foster care in the last three years. This work will fill a major gap in services to children and families and is developed to improve mental health and family functioning of children adopted from foster care, as well as decrease adoption disruptions. President Clinton's 1997 adoption initiative, The Adoption and Safe Families ACT (ASFA), along with subsequent Congressional initiatives, have provided incentives to States and subsidies for adopting older children with a resultant increase in rates of adoption from foster care from 26,000 in 1995 to 53,000 (stabilized annual rate) beginning in 2002. The mean age at adoption from foster care is now 6 years old. These older children have histories of physical and sexual abuse, neglect, and multiple placements, all factors that predict behavior problems over time. To address this gap in our knowledge of providing care for this vulnerable group, we have developed a manualized adoption-specific intervention for families adopting children from foster care. Because adoptive children generally enter homes with stable, well-functioning parents, interventions may be particularly effective in helping the children adjust and their parents learn to understand and manage children with difficult past histories. The aim of this current pilot trial is to test this intervention designed to improve the outcomes for children adopted from foster care through a randomized trial. Our hypothesis is that this manualized adoption-specific intervention will be more effective than care as usual in improving child mental health and family functioning outcomes; specifically, families and children who have been randomized to the manualized adoption-specific intervention will show better outcomes on the post-treatment measures and the 3 month follow-up than on the pre-treatment measures than the care as usual families and children.

Conditions

Prevent Disorders in Children Adopted From Foster Care

Keywords

Adoption; Foster care; Substance abuse; Older children; Mental health

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (1)

• Parent Weekly Report

  The Parent Weekly Report consists of two measures: Brief Problem Checklist (Chorpita et al., 2010 and Parent Daily Report (Chamberlain \& Reid, 1987).

  Participants will be followed for the duration of the therapeutic intervention, an expected average of 24 weeks.

Secondary Outcomes (1)

• Number of child participants whose internalizing and externalizing behaviors improve

  0 weeks, 24 weeks, 36 weeks

Study Arms (2)

ADAPT

EXPERIMENTAL

ADAPT is a manualized intervention with eight treatment modules designed as an early intervention for children, ages 5-14, who are being adopted from foster care and their adoptive parent/s.

Behavioral: ADAPT

Care as usual

NO INTERVENTION

Children, ages 5-14, and their adoptive parent/s will receive care as usual in the treatment setting.

Interventions

ADAPT BEHAVIORAL

ADAPT consists of the following modules/sessions: Module 1: Trust, positive coping strategies, and behavior management; Module 2: Developmental understanding of adoption experience; Module 3: Substance abuse prevention; Module 4: Loss and grief issues about birth family and foster care; Module 5: Attachment/joining with adoptive family; Module 6: Search for identity/self -esteem; Module 7: Adoption and the outside world; Module 8: Trauma Treatment (if appropriate)

ADAPT

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 5 Years - 14 Years
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Age Groups: Child (0-17)

You may qualify if:

• Children being adopted from foster care, ages 5-14
• Children (within above age range) who have been adopted in the last three years
• Family reunification services have been terminated

You may not qualify if:

• Children with the following Diagnostic and Statistical Manual psychiatric disorders will be excluded from study participation: Pervasive Developmental Disorders (e.g. Asperger's, autism, mental retardation, or psychotic disorder as known to the parents
• Children will be excluded if the child has a major neurological disorder or a major medical illness that would interfere with participation in the study
• Children who pose a significant risk for dangerousness to self or others that makes participating inadvisable
• Children and/or parents who are non-English speaking and unable to complete treatment without a translator will not be included

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Center for Adoption Support and Education: collaborator
• University of California, Los Angeles: lead

Study Sites (5)

Children's Bureau of Southern California

Los Angeles, California, 90007, United States

Location

UCLA TIES for Familes

Los Angeles, California, 90095, United States

Location

UCLA TIES for Families South Bay

Torrance, California, 90502, United States

Location

Center for Adoption Support and Education

Burtonsville, Maryland, 20866, United States

Location

Children's Home Society North Carolina

Greensboro, North Carolina, 27405, United States

Location

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Substance-Related Disorders; Psychological Well-Being

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Chemically-Induced Disorders; Mental Disorders; Personal Satisfaction; Behavior

Study Officials

• Jeanne Miranda, Ph.D.

  University of California, Los Angeles

  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: NONE
• Purpose: PREVENTION
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: SPONSOR

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: November 28, 2012
• First Posted: December 7, 2012
• Study Start: October 1, 2012
• Primary Completion: September 1, 2017
• Study Completion: December 1, 2018
• Last Updated: April 20, 2026

Record last verified: 2018-08

Locations

US (5)