Family Service Use and Outcomes for Youth With Disabilities

Families of youth with disabilities often access services to promote youth’s transitions to adulthood. Such services can be oriented toward the youth or family. Using descriptive statistics and regression modeling of survey and administrative data, we explored patterns of service use and the association between outcomes for 9,013 youth with disabilities who enrolled in a demonstration project. Those randomly assigned to a treatment group used family services more frequently than those in a control group, and youth in families using family services were more likely to use services themselves. The use of family and youth services together was associated with better youth employment. Because few programs offer family services, policymakers and practitioners might consider ways to connect families to such services.