KITS: School Readiness in Foster Care Efficacy Trial
(Subcontract PI: Fisher)
National Institute of Drug Abuse and National Institute of Child Health and Development

The Kids in Transition to School (KITS) project is a 5-year randomized efficacy trial of a preventive intervention to enhance psychosocial and academic school readiness in foster children as they enter school. CR2P is providing the intervention for the KITS project. The KITS intervention targets specific school-related skills during the summer and early fall preceding school entry via three mechanisms: (1) a therapeutic playgroup; (2) caregiver psychoeducational support groups; and (3) behavioral consultation in the home, school, and community settings. KITS is designed to increase children’s attention and effortful control in classroom settings, to promote preliteracy skills, and to provide caregivers with skills for facilitating children’s successful transition to kindergarten. The research evaluation will test the direct effects of the intervention on school readiness and kindergarten outcomes and the moderating effects of child and contextual characteristics including early adversity (prenatal/neonatal health, maltreatment history, and placement history), child cognitive functioning, and placement transitions. We are also examining whether intervention effects are associated with changes in areas of the brain related to stress response, particularly the HPA axis and medial prefrontal cortex. Over the 5 years of the project, 200 foster children will be enrolled in the project.