Long term research goals involve tailoring treatment to the individual needs of children in foster care. To this end, the specific aims of this proposed research program are to define subgroup distinctions among children who enter the foster care system, develop services appropriate to the specific needs of different subgroups, and assess the effectiveness of the services. Recent advances in neuroscience and developmental psychology will be brought to bear on the assessment of child functioning, with assessments of biobehavioral functioning and of specific behavioral transactions critical to defining subgroups and assessing intervention effects. The proposed program of research attempts to refine our understanding of foster children s specific functioning deficits. Children enter foster care at different ages, and with different caregiving histories; subsequently they have surrogate caregivers who differ in sensitivity. Current research indicates that even for infants, age at placement and sensitivity of the surrogate caregivers matter. Subgroups of children, differentiated roughly by age and caregiver sensitivity, are expected to be identified that have different needs and require different types and dosages of treatment. Services are expected to be most effective if they target the specific functional deficit of a foster parent/child dyad. Therefore, services will be developed and refined that are tailored to the particular needs of these dyads. A pilot project will assess the effectiveness of tailoring services to specifically identified needs of foster infants and their surrogate parents.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)
Type
Research Scientist Development Award - Research (K02)
Project #
1K02MH001782-01
Application #
6027027
Study Section
Special Emphasis Panel (ZMH1-SRV-C (04))
Program Officer
Ringeisen, Heather
Project Start
1999-12-01
Project End
2004-11-30
Budget Start
1999-12-01
Budget End
2000-11-30
Support Year
1
Fiscal Year
2000
Total Cost
$116,594
Indirect Cost
Name
University of Delaware
Department
Psychology
Type
Schools of Arts and Sciences
DUNS #
059007500
City
Newark
State
DE
Country
United States
Zip Code
19716
Grasso, Damion J; Moser, Jason S; Dozier, Mary et al. (2009) ERP correlates of attention allocation in mothers processing faces of their children. Biol Psychol 81:95-102
Lindhiem, Oliver; Dozier, Mary (2007) Caregiver commitment to foster children: the role of child behavior. Child Abuse Negl 31:361-74
Dozier, Mary; Lindhiem, Oliver (2006) This is my child: differences among foster parents in commitment to their young children. Child Maltreat 11:338-45
Gordon, M Kathleen; Peloso, Elizabeth; Auker, Ashley et al. (2005) Effect of flavored beverage crystals on salivary cortisol enzyme-immunoreactive assay measurements. Dev Psychobiol 47:189-95