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Washington State Institute for Public Policy

Evaluation of Functional Family Therapy (FFT) Program

In 2022, the Community Juvenile Accountability Act (CJAA) Advisory Committee—tasked with implementing and overseeing evidence-based programs in Washington State—developed research recommendations for both the short and long term. Their recommendations include periodic evaluations of Washington’s juvenile justice evidence-based programs, including assessing their effect on recidivism. The first program to be evaluated in such a way will be Functional Family Therapy (FFT). The study will assess the effectiveness of FFT in reducing recidivism and examine the differences across characteristics such as race, sex, age, risk level, and court size. The study may also include a secondary analysis of the impacts on domain change(s) in the risk assessment and sub-group analyses to measure the effect of dosage, completion, and provider adherence.

WSIPP’s Board of Directors approved a contract with CJAA within the Department of Children, Youth, and Families for WSIPP to evaluate FFT. The report is due to the Washington Association of Juvenile Court Administrators (WAJCA) and the Department of Children, Youth, and Families Juvenile Rehabilitation (JR) by June 30, 2023.

Morgan Spangler, (360) 664-9807