Multidimensional Treatment Foster Care for Adolescents in English care: randomised trial and observational cohort evaluation

Background Children in care often have poor outcomes. There is a lack of evaluative research into intervention options. Aims To examine the efficacy of Multidimensional Treatment Foster Care for Adolescents (MTFC-A) compared with usual care for young people at risk in foster care in England. Method A two-arm single (assessor) blinded randomised controlled trial (RCT) embedded within an observational quasi-experimental case control study involving 219 young people aged 11-16 years (trial registration: ISRCTN 68038570). The primary outcome was the Child Global Assessment Scale (CGAS). Secondary outcomes were ratings of educational attendance, achievement and rate of offending. Results The MTFC-A group showed a non-significant improvement in CGAS outcome in both the randomised cohort (n=34, adjusted mean difference 1.3, 95% CI -7.1 to 9.7, P=0.75) and in the trimmed observational cohort (n = 185, adjusted mean difference 0.95, 95% CI -2.38 to 4.29, P=0.57). No significant effects were seen in secondary outcomes. There was a possible differential effect of the intervention according to antisocial behaviour. Conclusions There was no evidence that the use of MTFC-A resulted in better outcomes than usual care. The intervention may be more beneficial for young people with antisocial behaviour but less beneficial than usual treatment for those without.