14 DAY TRIAL // The Multidimensional Treatment Foster Care (MTFC) program is a foster parent-based intervention, which seeks to reduce juvenile crime rates in America's youth. Usually, the children and teens do not want to enlist in the program voluntarily, but are sent there by court order, mandating them to seek out-of-home treatment. In a new study, conducted by researchers at the Oregon State University (OSU) and the Eugene-based Oregon Social Learning Center, investigators proved that placing high-risk youth in this type of programs not only curbs violence, but unwanted pregnancies as well.
For the new study, the researchers tracked the progress of 166 teen girls, aged 13 through 17. They were randomly assigned to either the MTFC program, or to a group care facility. The latter choice is the only option the teens would have had other than the specialized program. The teens that were sent to MTFC homes received specialized care and counseling from highly trained and skilled professionals, who had also received additional advice on how to handle youth with a high degree of risk attached.
The results of the study were positive, but dramatic at the same time. Out of the girls that were assigned to the foster parents, 27 percent of them became pregnant during the experiment. But that number is dwarfed by that of community care center-treated teenage girls, of which 47 percent got pregnant during the same amount of time.
“These girls are extremely compromised. They are not doing well. They have had a hard time in different areas, including criminal behavior, drugs and risky sexual activity. Many of them had already been pregnant before the time of the intervention,” said Osu Department of Psychology assistant professor David Kerr.
According to official statistics, almost half of the teen girls in the foster care system have reported a pregnancy by the time they turned 19. But some of these young girls also had more than one unwanted child. The situation is very embarrassing for the United States, which is one of the countries with most teen pregnancies in the world, and among the leaders in this chapter among industrialized nations.
“One of the most interesting aspects of this research is that the MTFC program was created to reduce crime, not pregnancy. It specifically targeted changing the girl's environment: her home, her peers and her school experience. The focus was on giving her lots of supervision, support for responsible behavior, and consistent, non-harsh consequences for negative behavior. And this worked to reduce pregnancy rates,” Kerr said, quoted by PhysOrg.