A multi-year study of camp-based reunification and the well-being of siblings separated by out-of-home care

ABSTRACTCamp-based reunification is a developmentally informed approach to strengthen the relationships of siblings in out-of-home care. Little is known about the collective impact of these programs, or if there is a benefit to multiple camp experiences. To address this, data were collected from 2,260 youth who were campers at one of 16 sibling reunification programs in the U.S. or Australia between 2013-2019. Increases in resilience, decreases in sibling support, and decreases in sibling conflict were observed among first-time campers. For repeat campers, changes to resilience were greatest during youths’ first year of camp. Recommendations for research and practice are provided.KEYWORDS: Child welfareinterventionpositive youth developmentsiblingsfoster care AcknowledgmentsThe authors would like to acknowledge Camp To Belong for their support of this research.Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Author contributionsJeffrey Waid & Armeda Wojciak are responsible for the study conception and design. Material preparation and data analysis were performed by Jeffrey Waid and Faith VanMeter. The first draft of the manuscript was written by all three authors. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.Data availability statementAll data generated from this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.Ethics approval and consent to participateInstitutional Review Board approval was provided by the University of Minnesota, study #1610E97742. Written informed consent was obtained from the youth participants’ legal guardians. Verbal assent was obtained from study participants.Additional informationFundingThe research reported in this publication was supported by grants from the University of Minnesota.Notes on contributorsJeffrey WaidJeffrey Waid is an Associate Professor of Social Work at the University of Minnesota – Twin Cities. He is an intervention and services researcher whose scholarship focuses on the prevention and treatment of child abuse and neglect. Across projects, his work aims to improve the health and well-being of children and families and to elucidate the mechanisms underlying how interventions work, for whom, and under what conditions.Faith VanMeterFaith VanMeter is a Society for Research in Child Development (SRCD) state policy post-doctoral fellow. She recently received her doctorate in developmental psychology at the University of Minnesota Institute of Child Development. Broadly, Dr VanMeter’s primary research interest is families involved in the child welfare system. She ultimately hopes to inform practices and policies that contribute to the prevention of child abuse and neglect and the promotion of family wellbeing.Armeda Stevenson WojciakArmeda Stevenson Wojciak is Associate Professor and Director of the Couple and Family Therapy Program, Department of Family Social Sciences, University of Minnesota – Twin Cities. Dr Wojciak maintains a robust research program aimed at improving outcomes for at-risk youth and families with adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), through interventions that are designed and evaluated across family, foster care, school, and youth camp formats.