Paraprofessionals are used increasingly to deliver services to juvenile delinquents, primarily because of the lower cost associated with such services. The literature comparing the effectiveness of paraprofessionals to professionals indicates that paraprofessionals achieve results equal to or superior to those achieved by professionals. The majority of these studies used adults as clients. When paraprofessionals are trained to work with children and adolescents, the lack of detail about the training procedures makes replication and dissemination of effective interventions difficult. The authors describe three training projects in which paraprofessionals were trained and supervised in the use of functional family therapy, an empirically validated, teachable approach developed for use with families of delinquents. Factors that facilitate acquisition and utilization of this method are detailed, including trainee selection, training methods, supervision, and organizational consultation.
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