Overview
Conducted from 1994 through 2002, the Evaluation of Family Preservation
and Reunification Programs was intended to evaluate rigorously programs
designed to prevent the placement of children in foster care when it can
be avoided. A related effort to reunify families who had at least one child
placed in foster care was also evaluated, and related issue papers on family
preservation, fiscal reform, and cost estimation were produced. The evaluation
was originally undertaken as directed by Congress in the 1993 Omnibus Budget
Reconciliation Act which created the Family Support and Family Preservation
Program, since renamed the Promoting Safe and Stable Families Program. Westat,
Chapin Hall Center for Children, and James Bell Associates conducted the
evaluation and wrote the reports.
The following reports are available from this evaluation:
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Final Report of the Evaluation of Family
Preservation and Reunification Programs (December 2002)
The Evaluation of Family Preservation and Reunification Programs, conducted
between 1994 and 2002, studied four local programs providing services intended
to improve family functioning and reduce unnecessary foster care placements.
This traditional, experimental-design evaluation examined outcomes of sites
that each used the popular HomeBuilders service model which provides intensive
services to families over a period of approximately 6 weeks. The report discusses
family outcomes approximately one year after program entry. Key findings
include: (1) families served experienced a range of problems; (2) participating
families received a wider and deeper array of services; (3) foster care placement
was not reduced; (4) child safety was maintained; (5) family functioning
did not generally improve; (6) all subgroups experienced similar outcomes;
(7) families thought their lives had improved.
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Estimating Child Welfare Service Costs:
Methods Developed for the Evaluation of Family Preservation and Reunification
Programs (June 2002)
The Evaluation of Family Preservation and Reunification Programs studied
four local programs providing services intended to improve family functioning
and reduce unnecessary foster care placements. A cost study was originally
planned, but when the evaluation found no significant differences between
treatment and control groups on outcome measures of interest, the study’s
advisory group recommended that the cost study not be implemented. However,
it was thought that the field could benefit from a report on how a cost study
in child welfare services could be conducted. This document thus presents
a methodology for conducting a cost study of family preservation services
based on the lessons learned from the four study sites for which plans were
developed. While the methodology is designed for this specific evaluation,
it can be adapted for other research studies requiring cost analyses or for
ongoing budgetary and cost analysis efforts in child welfare programs. The
goals of this report are to provide a description of what may be encountered
in the child welfare cost data environment and to develop a methodology that
includes a comprehensive framework for developing and obtaining service units
and unit costs in order to assess the cost of the services to families involved
in the child welfare system.
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State Innovations in Child Welfare
Financing (April 2002)
This report describes how states are implementing fiscal reforms to contain
costs or improve the performance of their child welfare systems, 23 initiatives
in 22 states are described. The report also identifies issues that the
implementation of fiscal reforms face and describes how well fiscal reforms
appear to be working. Many of these reforms are based on the managed care
model used in medicine for the past 30 years, while other reforms use approaches
such as the privatization of services, performance contracting, and integrated
funding. The report concludes by identifying several challenges faced by
fiscal reform initiatives that must be solved if they are to be implemented
widely.
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Interim Report of the Evaluation of Family
Preservation and Reunification Programs (January 2001).
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. The evaluation design 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). The report concerns programs in Louisville,
Kentucky; seven counties in New Jersey; and Memphis, Tennessee. Information
was collected through interviews with caseworkers and caretakers to examine
caretakers’ parenting practices, interaction with the children, discipline,
social networks, economic functioning, housing, abuse and neglect, psychological
functioning, child well-being, and caseworker/caretaker interactions.
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Evaluation of the New York
City Home Rebuilders Demonstration (1998)
The HomeRebuilders project was an ambitious effort to test a major reform
of the foster care system in New York City. In 1993, the NY State Department
of Social Services and the NY City Child Welfare Administration began testing
a new approach to financing services to foster children and their birth families
based on concepts from managed care. Since paying for each day a child is
in foster care (per diem payment) is a disincentive to return children home,
the demonstration tested an alternative method of agency reimbursement. Instead
of paying for each day in care, agencies were paid a flat amount of money
or capitation payments for an identified group of children in foster care.
The funds were to be used to serve the children for 3 years. Funding was
front loaded in the first year to encourage early discharge.
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A Synthesis of Research on Family Preservation
and Family Reunification Programs (1995)
This paper reviews research on programs aimed at preventing out-of-home placement
of children, broader family preservation programs, and programs designed
to reunify families with children in foster care. It examines what is known
about the outcomes of these programs, relationships between service
characteristics and outcomes, and the response of subgroup clients to services.
Related studies of program implementation and the family support component
of the program are available from other offices within the U.S. Department
of Health and Human Services. These include:
To obtain a printed copy of any report, send or fax the title and your mailing
information to:
Human Services Policy, Room 404E
Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
200 Independence Ave, SW
Washington, DC 20201
Fax: (202) 690-6562
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Assistant Secretary for Planning and
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Last updated: 08/31/2008