Evidence-Based Registry Status

​One of the primary goals of the Boys Town Strategic Plan is to invest in research to make sure our Youth Care programs and services work and establish them as evidence-based programs.

Public registries publish standards for evidence-based programs. These registries have panels of experts who review the published research for programs and provide information about the level of evidence for each program reviewed.

These registries have different review criteria and methods and they are focused on somewhat different service areas such as child welfare, juvenile justice, and education. However, they all share the approach that intervention programs vary on a continuum of evidence for their effectiveness, from no evidence to evidence-informed to evidence-based.

Specific registries for evidence-based programs have been developed by agencies such as the California Evidence-Based Clearinghouse for Child Welfare, the National Institute of Justice CrimeSolutions, What Works Clearinghouse, youth.gov, and the Prevention Services Clearinghouse to name a few.

Family First Prevention Services Act (FF​​PSA) and the Prevention Services Clearinghouse​

For instance, the FFPSA was signed into law as part of the Bipartisan Budget Act in 2018. This act reforms the federal child welfare financing streams, Title IV-E and Title IV-B of the Social Security Act, to provide services to families who are at risk of entering the child welfare system. The bill aims to prevent children from entering foster care by allowing federal reimbursement for mental health services, substance use treatment, in-home p​arenting skill training, and kinship navigator programs.

The Prevention Services Clearinghouse was created as part of the FFPSA to review research on these programs and services and rate them as well-supported, supported, promising, or does not currently meet criteria, based upon the quality of the research design and strength of positive outcomes.

Program Implementation

In addition to making sure programs work, it is also important to provide implementation support to ensure  programs and services continue to produce positive outcomes for children and families. Boys Town does this routinely with four core systems:

1. ​Administration – Ensures programs have necessary resources to function; obtains grants and service contracts; monitors compliance with licensing and accreditation standards
   
2. Training – Preservice and ongoing in-service trainings utilizing manualized materials
3. Evaluation – Staff observations to certify fidelity to the treatment model and program evaluation to monitor client outcomes
4. Consultation – Trained supervisor has frequent meetings with direct care staff and conducts onsite visits to provide support for staff development
   

Status of Boys Town Youth Care Programs and Services on Evidence-Based Registries