Comparing costs of multidimensional treatment foster care with those of other placements

Background Multidimensional Treatment Foster Care (MTFC) is a specialist model of foster care developed by Oregon Social Learning Center, USA. It is designed to provide a therapeutic environment that aims to address the needs of young people with emotional and behavioural difficulties. After positive evaluations in the USA, which suggest that such a structured approach may produce better outcomes, twenty-one local authorities in England and Wales have implemented MTFC as part of a pilot of the programme. The Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) commissioned this study after concerns about the costs of MTFC have raised questions about the long-term sustainability of the programme