The overall results are not consistent with the notion that the quality of the alliance between therapist and youth is of the utmost importance in accounting for symptom change. As the role of therapeutic alliance (TA) in residential care has been hypothesized to be critical in outcomes, it is suggested that researchers use multiple measurements of alliance and outcomes in future studies so that more definitive evidence can be obtained on the relationship between alliance and child therapy outcomes. Research studies have shown therapy as an established intervention for ameliorating emotional and behavioral problems of children and adolescents. TA has been hypothesized to be an important common factor in producing improvements for therapy participants. TA may be even more important in child therapy than in adult therapy; however, the role of TA in child therapy remains clouded. This study presents data from the first year of an ongoing project at a large residential treatment facility for youth with behavioral and emotional problems to evaluate the impact of TA on therapy outcomes for youth in residential care. It was hypothesized that youth would demonstrate significant improvement in both symptoms and behavior, and that TA would be a significant predictor of that improvement. Study participants consisted of 71 youth in an out-of-home family-style residential treatment facility that were referred to an onsite psychotherapy clinic. Tables, figures, and references