Ohio's Kinship Supports Intervention/ProtectOHIO

Ohio’s Kinship Supports Intervention/ProtectOHIO is designed to promote and support kinship placements. The goal of the intervention is to meet children’s physical, emotional, financial, and basic needs by connecting kinship caregivers with federal, state, and local resources. The kinship caregiver support plan is a key component of the intervention. This plan focuses on case management activities and may address topics such as financial assistance, referral services, and training for kinship caregivers. This plan is intended to be individualized, incorporating information from tools such as the home assessment and needs assessment, and to be reviewed and updated regularly. Monthly home visit services with a kinship coordinator are also offered. These face-to-face interactions are an opportunity to establish trust between the kinship caregiver and coordinator. They are designed to promote more effective communication, education, assessment, planning, and support for the family.

Ohio’s Kinship Supports Intervention was part of Ohio’s IV-E Waiver Demonstration Project, termed ProtectOHIO. Families that participate in Ohio’s Kinship Supports Intervention may receive additional services through ProtectOHIO such as Family Team Meetings, visitation, enhanced mental health/substance abuse services, or managed care.

Ohio's Kinship Supports Intervention/ProtectOHIO is rated as a promising practice because at least one study achieved a rating of moderate or high on study design and execution and demonstrated a favorable effect on a target outcome.

Date Research Evidence Last Reviewed: Oct 2021

Sources

The program or service description, target population, and program or service delivery and implementation information was informed by the following sources: the program or service manual, the program or service developer’s website, the California Evidence Based Clearinghouse for Child Welfare, and the studies reviewed.

Date Program/Service Description Last Updated: Oct 2021

This information does not necessarily represent the views of the program or service developers. For more information on how this program or service was reviewed, visit the Review Process page or download the Handbook.

Target Population

Ohio’s Kinship Supports Intervention/ProtectOHIO targets kinship caregivers (relatives and fictive kin) of children involved in the child welfare system, regardless of custody status or supervision orders. Kinship caregivers may be relatives through blood, marriage, or adoption. Kinship caregivers may also be fictive kin, which includes non-relative adults with whom the family or child identifies as having a long-standing relationship.

Program or Service Delivery and Implementation

Dosage

Kinship coordinators conduct home assessments within 30 days of the child’s placement with the kinship caregiver and needs assessments every 90 days. Home assessments typically last 30 minutes and needs assessments last 15 minutes. Coordinators conduct monthly home visits with kinship caregivers (or more frequently based on need).

Location/Delivery Setting

Recommended Locations/Delivery Settings

Ohio’s Kinship Supports Intervention/ProtectOHIO is typically offered in participants’ homes and child welfare agencies.

Location/Delivery Settings Observed in the Research

Home

Education, Certifications and Training

Kinship coordinators are expected to have a knowledge of child welfare practices and experience working with children/families in the child welfare system. No additional education is required.

All kinship coordinators must complete self-directed training through the Ohio Child Welfare Training Program. This program involves seven modules: 1) Overview of ProtectOHIO, 2) Kinship Intervention Overview, 3) Enhancing the Kinship Support Intervention, 4) Kinship Caregiver Home Assessment, 5) Needs Assessment, 6) Home Visits and Support Services, and 7) Statewide Automated Child Welfare Information System.

Program or Service Documentation

Book/Manual/Available documentation used for review

ProtectOHIO. (2011). Practice manual for ProtectOHIO Kinship Supports Intervention.

Available languages

Materials for Ohio’s Kinship Supports Intervention/ProtectOHIO are available in English.

For More Information

Website: jfs.ohio.gov/ocf/index.stm

Note: The details on Dosage; Location; Education, Certifications, and Training; Other Supporting Materials; and For More Information sections above are provided to website users for informational purposes only. This information is not exhaustive and may be subject to change.

Extent of Evidence

Results of Search and Review	Number of Studies Identified and Reviewed for Ohio's Kinship Supports Intervention/ProtectOHIO
Identified in Search	2
Eligible for Review	2
Rated High	0
Rated Moderate	1
Rated Low	1
Reviewed Only for Risk of Harm	0

Summary of Findings

Outcome	Effect Size and Implied Percentile Effect	N of Studies (Findings)	N of Participants	Summary of Findings
Child permanency: Out-of-home placement	0.11 4	1 (3)	1610	Favorable: 0 No Effect: 3 Unfavorable: 0
Child permanency: Placement stability	0.13 5	1 (3)	1610	Favorable: 3 No Effect: 0 Unfavorable: 0

Note: For the effect sizes and implied percentile effects reported in the table, a positive number favors the intervention group and a negative number favors the comparison group.

Individual Study Findings

Outcome	Effect Size and Implied Percentile Effect	N of Studies (Findings)	N of Participants	Summary of Findings	Months after treatment when outcome measured
Child permanency: Out-of-home placement	0.11 4	1 (3)	1610	Favorable: 0 No Effect: 3 Unfavorable: 0	-
Wheeler, 2020
Re-Entry Into Out-of-Home Care	0.11 4	-	1610	-	6
Re-Entry Into Out-of-Home Care	0.13 5	-	1610	-	12
Re-Entry Into Out-of-Home Care	0.10 4	-	1610	-	24
Child permanency: Placement stability	0.13 5	1 (3)	1610	Favorable: 3 No Effect: 0 Unfavorable: 0	-
Wheeler, 2020
Length of Time in Out-of-Home Care	0.20 * 7	-	1610	-	0
Placement Stability: Number of Moves During Placement Episode	0.10 * 3	-	1610	-	0
Placement Stability: Any Change in Placement	0.10 * 3	-	1610	-	0

*p <.05

Note: For the effect sizes and implied percentile effects reported in the table, a positive number favors the intervention group and a negative number favors the comparison group. Effect sizes and implied percentile effects were calculated by the Prevention Services Clearinghouse as described in the Handbook of Standards and Procedures, Section 5.10.4 and may not align with effect sizes reported in individual publications.

Only publications with eligible contrasts that met design and execution standards are included in the individual study findings table.

Full citations for the studies shown in the table are available in the "Studies Reviewed" section.

Studies Reviewed

Sometimes study results are reported in more than one document, or a single document reports results from multiple studies. Studies are identified below by their Prevention Services Clearinghouse study identification numbers.

Studies Rated Moderate

Study 12553

Wheeler, C. B., Newton-Curtis, L., Forehand, G., Oliver, S., Mendoza, G., Hervey, K., Woodruff, K. D., & Petraglia, E. E. (2020). ProtectOHIO final evaluation report: Ohio's Title IV-E waiver demonstration report. Ohio Department of Job and Family Services, Office of Children and Families.

Studies Rated Low

Study 10563

Wheeler, C. B., & Vollet, J. W. (2017). Supporting kinship caregivers: Examining the impact of a Title IV-E waiver kinship supports intervention. Child Welfare, 95(4), 91-110.

Wheeler, C. B., Newton-Curtis, L., Schisler, A., Vollet, J., Mettenberg, J., Woodruff, K. D., Das, B., Baskin, R. M., Petraglia, E. E., Orlebeke, B., Wulczyn, F., Huhr, S., & Zhou, X. (2015). ProtectOHIO final evaluation report: Ohio’s Title IV-E waiver demonstration project. The Ohio Department of Job and Family Services.

This study received a low rating because baseline equivalence of the intervention and comparison groups was necessary and not demonstrated.