They have left the building: A review of aftercare services' outcomes for adolescents following residential youth care

Abstract

Research indicates that aftercare services can maintain the gains that are made during residential youth care and contribute to better long term outcomes. However, research also shows that the quality of aftercare services seems to be quite poor in practice. Therefore, this article offers a review about the current knowledge on the outcomes of aftercare services for adolescents with emotional and behavioral problems in residential youth care. In contrast to the expectations, the reviewed studies show little research evidence for the effectiveness of aftercare services following residential care. Several studies in the review indicate that aftercare can have positive outcomes, but the strength of this evidence is limited because of the weak evaluation methodology applied in the studies. In many studies the aftercare programs are not accurately described, so that it is unclear of which components a program consists and which care factors are associated with positive outcomes. Young people completing aftercare programs tend to show better outcomes than young people leaving aftercare prematurely. None of the outcome studies focused on both youth and their families in aftercare programs following residential care, despite the fact that family-focused aftercare especially might improve long term outcomes of residential care. The results point to the need for more good quality research to make clear which aftercare services are successful for whom after leaving residential care.