A family navigator model for foster parents to promote youth mental health wellness: Study development and protocol

Background: Children in foster care experience disproportionately high rates of mental illness, yet most do not receive timely or evidence-based mental health treatment. Foster parents play a critical role in treatment engagement but face substantial structural and informational barriers to accessing care.Objective: This study describes the development, human-centered design, open and pilot randomized controlled trial of Family Navigator Plus (FN+), a telehealth-delivered family navigation intervention designed to increase foster parent activation and reduce barriers to mental health treatment access for children in foster care. Methods: FN+ is a 5-week, manualized intervention delivered via telehealth by trained community health workers. The study includes three phases: 1) human-centered design interviews with foster parents, caseworkers, and providers; 2) an open trial (N = 12) to refine the intervention; and 3) a pilot randomized controlled trial (N=60) comparing FN+ to an attention control condition focused on youth civic engagement. The primary outcome is foster parent activation in the child’s mental health care. Conclusions: This study will provide critical feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary effectiveness data for a scalable, cost-effective approach to improving mental health care access for children in foster care.