Issues in the Evaluation of Residential and Inpatient Treatment Programs – The funding of mental health services for children in the United States has undergone substantial modification in the 1980s. The emphasis of the current administration has been to reduce federal involvement in social services and to encourage the states to assume responsibility. As state legislatures and social service administrators have made decisions on the allocation of scarce funds, individual service providers have been required to demonstrate that their programs are accomplishing intended goals. Increasingly, funding requests have been accompanied by documentation that services are reaching the intended clients, that favorable outcomes have been experienced by these clients, and that cost-effective treatment practices have been followed.