Content by Keyword: Child Abuse, Neglect, and Family Preservation

The site selection process began with a discussion with personnel in potential sites of the issues and criteria surrounding site selection. The task of applying these criteria to real programs began a process of reconciling the differences between our hope of finding optimal sites and program and practice realities. We initially identified potenti

Designing a rigorous experimental study is only the first step; its implementation is a formidable task. Convincing administrators to subject their staff and programs to intense scrutiny is the first challenge, followed by implementing the evaluation in an ongoing service delivery environment. Negotiations required repeated meetings with administr

Barth, Richard P. “Theories Guiding Home-Based Intensive Family Preservation Services.” In Reaching High-Risk Families, Eds., Whittaker et al. Aldine de Gruyter, New York: 1990. James Bell Associates. (1997). “Interim Report: The Family Preservation and Family Support Services (FP/FS) Implementation Study Volume I,” submitted to DHHS, A

To obtain these measures, we used multiple data sources, including administrative data, interviews with workers and caretakers, and qualitative data collection on program operation and context.

Outcome measures relate to the goals of the programs and require multiple measures, including placement, subsequent maltreatment, family problems, and child and family functioning. Outcome measures are the heart of the experiment, but other types of measures were also needed in order to carry out the study and to more fully understand the observed

Each site was evaluated separately. To detect a difference of 15 percentage points between the experimental and control groups in such characteristics as placement rates with a probability of .8, we set a goal of 500 cases in each site, about 250 in each group. Even with this sample size, our ability to detect small differences is limited. Initial

Site selection was based on a number of criteria, including selecting programs which were based on well-articulated theories, in place long enough to operate in the way expected by program managers, consistently implemented, and with sufficient numbers of families to provide adequate sample sizes. It was also important that programs have a primary

The Evaluation of Family Preservation and Reunification is intended to estimate the impact of family preservation and reunification services. The design of the evaluation was guided by the following objectives:

In 1980, the Adoption Assistance and Child Welfare Act of 1980 (P.L. 96-272) required states to make “reasonable efforts” to prevent children from entering foster care and to reunify children who were placed out of the home with their families. A major focus of policy and planning in state child welfare systems was the development of family pr

The findings of this study are not new. A number of previous evaluations with relatively rigorous designs have failed to produce evidence that family preservation programs with varying approaches to service have placement prevention effects or have more than minimal benefits in improved family or child functioning. The work reported here may be th

This evaluation of family preservation programs was designed to assess the extent to which key goals of the programs are being met: the goals of reducing foster care placement, maintaining the safety of children, and improving family functioning.

In all three states, the caretaker interview, the caseworker interview, and the contacts data generally confirmed the expectation that the experimental group would receive more services and more intensive services than the control group (see  Table 4 ). In all three states, the number of experimental group caseworker activities reported by careta

Most families in the study had birth mothers as the primary caretakers. About half of these women had not graduated from high school. Half of the households in Tennessee were headed by a single-birth mother, compared to 43 percent in Kentucky, and 34 percent in New Jersey (see Table 2 ).

While data collection efforts were the same across sites, the sites varied in their approach to identifying families for services, the populations served, and the type of services provided (see  Table 1 ).

The design for this evaluation was an experiment in which families were randomly assigned to either a Homebuilders family preservation program (the experimental group) or to other, "regular," services of the child welfare system (the control group). This report concerns programs in Louisville, Kentucky; seven counties in New Jersey; and Memphis, T

Homebuilders, a foster care placement prevention program developed in 1974 in Tacoma, Washington, calls for short-term, time-limited services provided to the entire family in the home. 4   The program is based, in part, on crisis intervention theory. This theory holds that families experiencing a crisis - that is, about to have a child placed i

This is a report of an evaluation of programs intended to prevent the placement of children in foster care when it can be avoided. 1   This report focuses on programs in three states, using a particular approach to family preservation, Homebuilders, thought by many to be the most promising approach.

Submitted to: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation Room 450G, HHH Building 200 Independence Avenue, S.W. Washington, D.C. 20201 Submitted by: Westat, Inc. 1650 Research Boulevard Rockville, MD 20850 Chapin Hall Center for Children University of Chicago 1313 East Si