Prevent Disorders in Children Adopted From Foster CareADAPTNCT01744951
Adoption-specific Treatment Prevention Pilot Trial
A study testing ADAPT in people with Prevent Disorders in Children Adopted From Foster Care, run by University of California, Los Angeles at 5 sites in United States.
Trial summary
This study seeks to pilot a manualized adoption-specific intervention aimed at providing a preventive intervention for families adopting children ages 5-14 years where family reunification has been terminated and the family is moving toward adoption or who have adopted children from foster care in the last three… Read more about this study
- Who is it for?
- Ages 5 to 14 yearsHealthy volunteers can take part
- Conditions the study is for
- Prevent Disorders in Children Adopted From Foster Care
- What is being tested?
- ADAPT
- Type of treatment
- Lifestyle or therapy programme
- Could I receive a placebo?
- No, everyone receives an active treatment
- How many people
- 60 participants
- Where
- 5 sitesUnited States
- Study dates
- Oct 2012to Dec 2018
- Phase
- Interventional
- Are there results?
- None posted in the registry
Key requirements
Who can take part, as listed by the sponsor. Only the study team can confirm whether you are eligible, so take this list to your doctor.
- Ages 5 to 14 years
- All sexes
- Healthy volunteers accepted
- Child
Who may be able to join
- Children being adopted from foster care, ages 5-14
- Children (within above age range) who have been adopted in the last three years
- Family reunification services have been terminated
Who cannot join
- Children with the following Diagnostic and Statistical Manual psychiatric disorders will be excluded from study participation: Pervasive Developmental Disorders (e.g. Asperger's, autism, mental retardation, or psychotic disorder as known to the parents
- Children will be excluded if the child has a major neurological disorder or a major medical illness that would interfere with participation in the study
- Children who pose a significant risk for dangerousness to self or others that makes participating inadvisable
- Children and/or parents who are non-English speaking and unable to complete treatment without a translator will not be included
Trial locations and contacts
5 sites in 1 country.
5 sites in 1 country
United States5 sites
Center for Adoption Support and Education
Burtonsville, Maryland, 20866
Children's Home Society North Carolina
Greensboro, North Carolina, 27405
Children's Bureau of Southern California
Los Angeles, California, 90007
UCLA TIES for Familes
Los Angeles, California, 90095
UCLA TIES for Families South Bay
Torrance, California, 90502
About this study
Official title: Evaluate the Adoption-specific Prevention Treatment Program (ADAPT)
This study seeks to pilot a manualized adoption-specific intervention aimed at providing a preventive intervention for families adopting children ages 5-14 years where family reunification has been terminated and the family is moving toward adoption or who have adopted children from foster care in the last three years. This work will fill a major gap in services to children and families and is developed to improve mental health and family functioning of children adopted from foster care, as well as decrease adoption disruptions. President Clinton's 1997 adoption initiative, The Adoption and Safe Families ACT (ASFA), along with subsequent Congressional initiatives, have provided incentives to States and subsidies for adopting older children with a resultant increase in rates of adoption from foster care from 26,000 in 1995 to 53,000 (stabilized annual rate) beginning in 2002. The mean age at adoption from foster care is now 6 years old. These older children have histories of physical and sexual abuse, neglect, and multiple placements, all factors that predict behavior problems over time. To address this gap in our knowledge of providing care for this vulnerable group, we have developed a manualized adoption-specific intervention for families adopting children from foster care. Because adoptive children generally enter homes with stable, well-functioning parents, interventions may be particularly effective in helping the children adjust and their parents learn to understand and manage children with difficult past histories.
The aim of this current pilot trial is to test this intervention designed to improve the outcomes for children adopted from foster care through a randomized trial. Our hypothesis is that this manualized adoption-specific intervention will be more effective than care as usual in improving child mental health and family functioning outcomes; specifically, families and children who have been randomized to the manualized adoption-specific intervention will show better outcomes on the post-treatment measures and the 3 month follow-up than on the pre-treatment measures than the care as usual families and children.
- Being tested
- ADAPT
- Keywords
- Adoption, Foster care, Substance abuse, Older children, Mental health
- Medical subject headings
- Substance-Related Disorders, Psychological Well-Being
What participants receive
What participants receive. In a randomised study each person is assigned to one group by chance.
ADAPTBehavioural
ADAPT consists of the following modules/sessions:
Module 1: Trust, positive coping strategies, and behavior management; Module 2: Developmental understanding of adoption experience; Module 3: Substance abuse prevention; Module 4: Loss and grief issues about birth family and foster care; Module 5: Attachment/joining with adoptive family; Module 6: Search for identity/self -esteem; Module 7: Adoption and the outside world; Module 8: Trauma Treatment (if appropriate)
| Study group | Role | What they receive |
|---|---|---|
| ADAPT | Experimental | ADAPT is a manualized intervention with eight treatment modules designed as an early intervention for children, ages 5-14, who are being adopted from foster care and their adoptive parent/s. Receives: Behavioral: ADAPT |
| Care as usual | No intervention | Children, ages 5-14, and their adoptive parent/s will receive care as usual in the treatment setting. |
What is being measured
The primary outcome is the main question the study is designed to answer.
Parent Weekly Report
The Parent Weekly Report consists of two measures: Brief Problem Checklist (Chorpita et al., 2010 and Parent Daily Report (Chamberlain \& Reid, 1987).
Measured: Participants will be followed for the duration of the therapeutic intervention, an expected average of 24 weeks.
Secondary outcomes (1)
Number of child participants whose internalizing and externalizing behaviors improve
Child participants' internalizing and externalizing behaviors will be measured at the three distinct times by using both child and parent measures: 1. Emotional Distress and Functioning:Children's Depression Inventory, Screen for Childhood Anxiety Related Emotional Disorders (SCARED),Child PTSD Symptom Scale (CPSS),Achenbach Child Behavior Checklists and Teacher Report Forms (CBCL),Children's Global Assessment Scale (CGAS) 2.Targeted Resilience Factors: Emotion Regulation Checklist (ER Checklist),Kidcope 3.Understanding of Adoption: Adoption Dynamics Questionnaire (ADQ),Children's Beliefs about Adoption Scale (CBAAS) 4.Family Environment and Parental Distress,Family Environment Scale (FES),Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI) 5.Attachment and Parenting: Inventory of Parent and Peer Attachment (IPPA) 6.Trauma Exposure: Modified Life Events Scale (LES) 7.Process Variables: Therapeutic Alliance Scale for Children (TASC),Working Alliance Inventory (WAI),Consumer Satisfaction Questionnaire
Measured: 0 weeks, 24 weeks, 36 weeks
Timeline
From the start of the study to its completion; the mark is today. Estimated dates are the sponsor’s plan.
- First posted7 Dec 2012 (estimated)
- Study startOct 2012
- Primary completionSep 2017
- Study completionDec 2018
Resources
- Official record on ClinicalTrials.govThe registry entry this page is built from, with its full change history.
- Other trials for Prevent Disorders in Children Adopted From Foster CareStudies of the same condition, open and under way.
- More trials run by University of California, Los AngelesThe sponsor's other registered studies.
- What the trial phases meanHow a treatment moves from first tests in people to approval.
More details
For doctors and researchers: how the study is designed, who runs it, and its registry IDs.
Study design
- Study type
- Interventional
- Phase
- Phase N/A
- Primary purpose
- Prevention
- Allocation
- Randomised
- Intervention model
- Parallel groups
- Masking
- None (open label)
- Enrolment
- 60 participants (estimated)
Sponsor and investigators
- Lead sponsor
- University of California, Los Angeles
- Sponsor type
- University, hospital or other
- Collaborators
- Center for Adoption Support and Education
- Responsible party
- Sponsor
- Investigators
- Jeanne Miranda, Ph.D., Principal investigator, University of California, Los Angeles
IDs, dates and publications
- ClinicalTrials.gov ID
- NCT01744951
- Sponsor's protocol ID
- ADAPT-02
- Other IDs
- UCLA IRB/IRB# 12-001024
- Acronym
- ADAPT
- Status last verified
- Aug 2018
- First submitted
- 28 Nov 2012
- Last updated
- 20 Apr 2026
- Results posted
- No
- Data monitoring committee
- No
Study at a glance
From the registry record, last updated by the sponsor on 20 Apr 2026. Recruitment status is as the sponsor reported it: confirm with the study team.
- Official title
- Evaluate the Adoption-specific Prevention Treatment Program (ADAPT)
- ClinicalTrials.gov ID
- NCT01744951
- Acronym / sponsor ID
- ADAPT / ADAPT-02
- Keywords
- Adoption, Foster care, Substance abuse, Older children, Mental health
- Study type
- Interventional
- Recruitment status
- Terminated
- Enrolment
- 60 participants (estimated)
- Lead sponsor
- University of California, Los AngelesUniversity, hospital or other
- Collaborators
- Center for Adoption Support and Education
- Study start
- Oct 2012 (actual)
- Primary completion
- Sep 2017 (actual)
- Study completion
- Dec 2018 (actual)
- First posted
- 7 Dec 2012 (estimated)
- Results
- Not posted in the source record
Clinical summary
The research question as the sponsor registered it. This describes what the study plans to test, not what it found.
This study seeks to pilot a manualized adoption-specific intervention aimed at providing a preventive intervention for families adopting children ages 5-14 years where family reunification has been terminated and the family is moving toward adoption or who have adopted children from foster care in the last three years. This work will fill a major gap in services to children and families and is developed to improve mental health and family functioning of children adopted from foster care, as well as decrease adoption disruptions. President Clinton's 1997 adoption initiative, The Adoption and Safe Families ACT (ASFA), along with subsequent Congressional initiatives, have provided incentives to States and subsidies for adopting older children with a resultant increase in rates of adoption from foster care from 26,000 in 1995 to 53,000 (stabilized annual rate) beginning in 2002. The mean age at adoption from foster care is now 6 years old. These older children have histories of physical and sexual abuse, neglect, and multiple placements, all factors that predict behavior problems over time. To address this gap in our knowledge of providing care for this vulnerable group, we have developed a manualized adoption-specific intervention for families adopting children from foster care. Because adoptive children generally enter homes with stable, well-functioning parents, interventions may be particularly effective in helping the children adjust and their parents learn to understand and manage children with difficult past histories.
The aim of this current pilot trial is to test this intervention designed to improve the outcomes for children adopted from foster care through a randomized trial. Our hypothesis is that this manualized adoption-specific intervention will be more effective than care as usual in improving child mental health and family functioning outcomes; specifically, families and children who have been randomized to the manualized adoption-specific intervention will show better outcomes on the post-treatment measures and the 3 month follow-up than on the pre-treatment measures than the care as usual families and children.
Study design
- Primary purpose
- Prevention
- Allocation
- Randomised
- Intervention model
- Parallel groups
- Masking
- None (open label)
- Number of arms
- 2
| Arm | Type | Receives |
|---|---|---|
| ADAPT | Experimental | Behavioral: ADAPTADAPT is a manualized intervention with eight treatment modules designed as an early intervention for children, ages 5-14, who are being adopted from foster care and their adoptive parent/s. |
| Care as usual | No intervention | –Children, ages 5-14, and their adoptive parent/s will receive care as usual in the treatment setting. |
Who may qualify
- Ages
- 5 to 14 years
- Sex
- All
- Healthy volunteers
- Accepted
- Age groups
- Child
Key inclusion criteria (3 listed)
- Children being adopted from foster care, ages 5-14
- Children (within above age range) who have been adopted in the last three years
- Family reunification services have been terminated
Key exclusion criteria (4 listed)
- Children with the following Diagnostic and Statistical Manual psychiatric disorders will be excluded from study participation: Pervasive Developmental Disorders (e.g. Asperger's, autism, mental retardation, or psychotic disorder as known to the parents
- Children will be excluded if the child has a major neurological disorder or a major medical illness that would interfere with participation in the study
- Children who pose a significant risk for dangerousness to self or others that makes participating inadvisable
- Children and/or parents who are non-English speaking and unable to complete treatment without a translator will not be included
Eligibility is decided by the study team after screening; this overview does not establish that a patient qualifies. Full inclusion and exclusion criteria.
Interventions
| Intervention | Type | Arms |
|---|---|---|
| ADAPTADAPT consists of the following modules/sessions: Module 1: Trust, positive coping strategies, and behavior management; Module 2: Developmental understanding of adoption experience; Module 3: Substance abuse prevention; Module 4: Loss and grief issues about birth family and foster care; Module 5: Attachment/joining with adoptive family; Module 6: Search for identity/self -esteem; Module 7: Adoption and the outside world; Module 8: Trauma Treatment (if appropriate) | Behavioural | ADAPT |
Primary outcome
Parent Weekly Report
Time frame: Participants will be followed for the duration of the therapeutic intervention, an expected average of 24 weeks.
The Parent Weekly Report consists of two measures: Brief Problem Checklist (Chorpita et al., 2010 and Parent Daily Report (Chamberlain \& Reid, 1987).
1 secondary outcome
Number of child participants whose internalizing and externalizing behaviors improve
Time frame: 0 weeks, 24 weeks, 36 weeks
Results and safety
The study was stopped early. Results are not available in the source record.
Research links
- Official record on ClinicalTrials.govLast updated by the sponsor 20 Apr 2026.
Referral and contact
AzTrials does not enrol participants or take referrals. Contact the study team or a site listed below; they decide who can take part. This study is not recruiting at the moment.
Jeanne Miranda, Ph.D. principal investigator
University of California, Los Angeles
5 sites in 1 country: see every site and its status.
Questions about this trial
What is this clinical trial studying?
A study testing ADAPT in people with Prevent Disorders in Children Adopted From Foster Care, run by University of California, Los Angeles at 5 sites in United States.
The full registered description is in the About this study section and the official record.
Who may be eligible to take part?
The sponsor lists 3 inclusion and 4 exclusion criteria. Eligibility is decided by the study team after screening, so read the full criteria and contact a listed site.
Is this clinical trial currently recruiting?
The record says: stopped early, as of the sponsor's last update on 20 Apr 2026. Status can change between updates, so confirm with the study contact before making plans.
Where is the study taking place?
The record lists 5 sites in United States. Whether a site is taking part right now should be confirmed with that site. See every site.
What are the possible benefits and risks?
They depend on the study and the treatment, and no study can promise a benefit. The study team explains the known risks during informed consent, before anyone joins; the record itself does not list them.
Are results available for this study?
The study was stopped early. Results are not available in the source record.
How can a doctor refer a patient or contact the research team?
The record lists no contact. The official record names the sponsor, who can be asked directly. AzTrials does not enrol participants or take referrals.
What does the primary outcome measure?
Parent Weekly Report (time frame: Participants will be followed for the duration of the therapeutic intervention, an expected average of 24 weeks.). It is what the study was designed to measure, not a finding.
Where can I read the original study information?
Does a listing mean the treatment is approved or proven to work?
No. A listing means the study is registered. It does not show that the treatment is safe, works, or is approved by a regulator.
How often is this information updated?
AzTrials copies changed records from ClinicalTrials.gov every night and reloads the whole registry every week. The sponsor last updated this record on 20 Apr 2026.