Age range

Website: www.friendsofthechildren.org

Mission/Goals: Friends of the Children is a prevention/early intervention program whose mission is to help the nation's highest risk children develop the relationships, goals, and skills necessary to break the cycles of poverty, abuse and violence in order to become contributing members of society.

Notes: Friends of the Children was founded in Portland in 1993. The program has been replicated in multiple cities, including Cincinnati, Ohio.

Source(s): www.guidestar.org;
www.friendsofthechildren.org

Type of Evaluation: Outcomes Monitoring.

Objective: To examine the outcomes of participants in the Friends of the Children- Portland program.

Impact/Outcome Findings: Analyses indicated that improved relationships between mentors and subjects were associated with advancement in social and emotional development, making good decisions, and school success. Improved mentor-subject relationships were not shown to be associated with improved health care or positive plans and skills for the future. The most common reason for withdrawal from the program was moving out of the Portland metro area, and few youth left for program-related reasons. Most adolescents reported not being sexually active (61%), a slight decrease from 2002-03 (70%). Almost all program youth were reported to be positively engaged in school (96% of adolescent self-reports, 76% of mentor reports of younger children). Program youth had a 10% drop out rate compared to 22% of youth in Multnomah County. Low numbers of program youth showed serious negative behaviors: 5% carried a weapon, 8% were involved with the juvenile justice system, and 7% were expelled from school. Mentors completed instruments for over 90% of children and youth. Self-report questionnaires were collected for 80 percent of youth. Teachers completed TOCA-Rs for 69 percent of children, and 70 percent of parent/guardian surveys were returned.