Families with Children

Final report Prepared under Contract HHS-100-95-0036 U.S. Department of Health & Human Services Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

A REVIEW OF FAMILY PRESERVATION AND FAMILY REUNIFICATION PROGRAMS By Westat, Inc. in association with James Bell Associates, Inc., and The Chapin Hall Center for Children at the University of Chicago May 30, 1995 For the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

by Julia H. Littell and John R. Schuerman Westat, Inc., in association with James Bell Associates, and the Chapin Hall Center for Children at the University of Chicago. A part of the National Evaluation of Family Preservation Servcies For the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation Department of Health and Human Services

This compendium is published by the Division of Children and Youth Policy within the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation. It summarizes the results of the Division’s research projects from 1986 through the present and highlights future plans.

The study of family strengths has been pursued by researchers from a variety of disciplines, including psychiatry, sociology, psychology, and family/marriage counseling.

This is a body of research on families that are enduring, cohesive, affectionate, and mutually-appreciative, and in which family members communicate with one another frequently and fruitfully. They are families that raise children who go on to form successful families themselves. They are not necessarily families that are trouble-free.

This collection of brief issue papers uses diverse data to describe 15 major problems facing American children and families. Each paper summarizes the state of knowledge about the scope of the problem, trends, current government expenditures, costs per case, effectiveness of current intervention strategies and public attitudes about the problem areas.

MAXIMUS, Inc. April 1988 This report was prepared under contract #HHS-100-85-0004 between HHS's Office of Social Services Policy (now the Office of Disability, Aging and Long-Term Care Policy) and MAXIMUS, Inc. For additional information about this subject, you can visit the ASPE home page at http://aspe.hhs.gov.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the health and disability status of AFDC families using information gathered in the 1984 Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP) and to assess the implications for welfare work programs.