Social Work Commons^™

Evidence Or Assertions? The Outcomes Of Family Preservation Services, Julia H. Littell

Graduate School of Social Work and Social Research Faculty Research and Scholarship

No abstract provided.

A Synthesis Of Research On Family Preservation And Family Reunification Programs, Julia H. Littell, John R. Schuerman

Graduate School of Social Work and Social Research Faculty Research and Scholarship

How effective are current efforts to preserve and reunify families in child welfare? In this paper we review 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.1 We examine what is known about the outcomes of these programs, relationships between service characteristics and outcomes, and the response of subgroups of clients to services.

Claims that family preservation programs result in substantial reductions in the placement of children are based largely on non-experimental studies. Such studies do not provide solid evidence of program effects. Evidence …

Problems And Prospects In Society's Response To Abuse And Neglect, John R. Schuerman, Julia H. Littell

Graduate School of Social Work and Social Research Faculty Research and Scholarship

This paper presents an analysis of the current situation in child welfare–the explosion of foster care caseloads, the proliferation of family preservation programs, and the principles underlying these approaches–and suggests new ways of thinking about reform of the child welfare system.

We begin with a review of the increase in out-of-home care. We then tum to an analysis of the three basic principles underlying the current child welfare system: permanency, least restrictive alternative, and reasonable efforts. We devote a major part of the paper to the family preservation programs that embody these principles. We describe what we perceive to be …