Foster care is an ideal treatment approach for young people who are unable to remain in their own home, and is an alternative to residential care where the effects of congregating antisocial peers can diminish treatment gains. Multidimensional Treatment Foster Care (MDTFC) was designed specifically for young people with severe behavioural and emotional problems (Chamberlain, Fisher & Moore, 2002).

MDTFC is based on the traditional foster care model with two important additions. First, it engages foster parents as active members of the treatment team; and, second, it makes a number of additional resources available to the foster parents, young person and their family. Results from four studies of the effectiveness of the Oregon Social Learning Centre Foster Care programme found that young people who were in foster care spent significantly fewer days in lock-up during follow-up, significantly fewer were imprisoned following treatment, and more were returned to family settings than in the usual services control group (Chamberlain, Fisher & Moore, 2002).