Examined differences by gender in the presence of risk factors, patterns of previous delinquency, and response to treatment in 51 boys and 37 girls (all aged 12-18 yrs) who were placed in a foster care program designed to be an alternative to incarceration. The program emphasized therapy focusing on such things as interpersonal skills, practicing anger control strategies, and methods for problem solving and negotiation. The biological (or adoptive) parents of the Ss also participated in therapy emphasizing discipline, encouragement, and supervision strategies. Girls had fewer foster parent-reported problem behaviors than did boys during the 1st month of treatment. By month 6, problem behavior levels for boys had dropped, while scores for girls had increased to the level of the boys at Month 1. No differences in pre-post arrest data or program completion rates for boys and girls were found.