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Family Preservation: The Parents’ Perceptions, Cheryl D. Lee, Cecilia Ayon

Journal of Family Strengths

This research documents the perspective of 100 parents who had an open case with the Department of Children and Family Service’s (DCFS) regarding their family’s well-being, reasons for referral and satisfaction with services. Two DCFS services, Family Preservation (FP) and routine Family Maintenance (FM) were examined using standardized instruments. Parents’ responses regarding reasons for involvement with the system differed from DCFS administrative data. FP parents had more children, were more likely to be monolingual Spanish speakers, and perceived greater improvement in discipline and emotional care of children and housing than FM parents. FP parents reported being satisfied with services. Implications …

Assessing Treatment Integrity: A Case Example, Anat Zeira, Betty Blythe, Anita Reithoffer

Journal of Family Strengths

This paper presents an example of assessing treatment integrity as part of an experimental study of home-based, intensive family preservation services (IFPS). Participants were 103 IFPS workers and 24 state public child welfare agency workers (FC). The structured, self-report questionnaire included questions about specific components of the services, as well as the characteristics of the family and the workers themselves. Findings suggest that IFPS workers delivered services according to the treatment model guidelines. The procedure yielded a good estimate of whether the structural components of treatment were delivered according to the model as delineated in the treatment manual. The paper …

Post-Permanency: An Assessment For Families’ Needs For Services And Supports, Madelyn Freundlich, Rosemary J. Avery, Sarah Gerstenzang, Sara Munson

Journal of Family Strengths

This article reports the results of a qualitative study that sought the perspectives of birth parents and adoptive parents following reunification or adoption of children from foster care. Using a participatory action design that actively involved young adults formerly in foster care and parents in the design and implementation of the study, the study focused on the consumers’ perspectives on several issues related to permanency. The article reports findings from interviews with a subset of 27 birth and adoptive families in New York City who were asked about their post-permanency experiences and from interviews with 38 child welfare professionals who …

Domestic Violence Resources For Women Receiving Intensive Family Preservation Services, Marianne Berry, Joan Letendre, Jody Brook

Journal of Family Strengths

Intimate partner violence is a common correlate of child abuse and neglect and often is not addressed in family preservation services. In many cases, the ideologies of family preservationists and advocates for women 's safety can be at odds. This article presents a study of a collaborative model of intervention, utilizing family preservation workers and community resource practitioners working with domestic violence as group facilitators. The study utilizes a pretest, post-test design to evaluate a domestic violence resource group for women who were concurrently receiving intensive family preservation services. The study examines the effect of the program on participants' self-perceptions …

Preserving Family: Themes From A Qualitative Study Of Kin Caregivers, Don Cohon, Lisa Hines, Bruce A. Cooper, Wendy Packman, Elizabeth Siggins

Journal of Family Strengths

This article presents themes from a qualitative study of 58 African American female kinship caregivers in San Francisco. Core concepts that emerged describe various paths along which children move into kin homes, and caregivers' mixed emotional reactions to becoming surrogate parents. Women also discussed multiple family roles they assumed after taking in children. Responses highlight three primary reasons for becoming caregivers that center on providing for and protecting these children—particularly from the perceived threat of the public foster care system—and ultimately preserving the family unit. Paradoxically, caregivers' reasons mirror the stated goals of the public foster care system, which they …

Family Preservation: Perceptions Of Effectiveness, Frank G. Kauffman

Journal of Family Strengths

This qualitative study examines the attributes or perceptions of service providers and overseers as to the effectiveness of intensive family preservation services provided by a social services agency in Tucson, Arizona. The services provided are patterned after the Homebuilders' model developed in 1974 in Tacoma, Washington. Data collection was generated from interviews and focus groups with the in-home service providers, the program supervisor, and investigators and case managers with Child Protective Services (CPS). Although placement prevention rates (PPR) are the dependent variable in most studies on this form of intervention, this study seeks to understand those characteristics of the model …

Family Reunification Among Two Groups Of Runaway Adolescents Utilizing Emergency Shelters, Sanna J. Thompson, Liliane Cambraia Windsor, Kim Zittel-Palamara

Journal of Family Strengths

Limited research has addressed reunification of runaway youths with their families following an emergency shelter stay; however, recent studies have shown that those who reunify with their families following a shelter stay have more positive outcomes than those relocated to other residences. This study evaluated differences between two samples of runaway youth utilizing youth emergency shelters in New York (n = 155) and Texas (n = 195) and identified factors associated with reunification among these two groups of adolescents. Less than half (43.7%) of the youths were reunited with their families. Among New York runaway youths, those who had lived …

Family Preservation Journal, 2005, Volume 8, (Entire Issue)

Journal of Family Strengths

The entire issue. Large file.

Intersystem Collaboration: A Statewide Initiative To Support Families, Elizabeth M. Tracy, David E. Beigel, Ann C. Rebeck, Jeffrey A. Johnsen

Journal of Family Strengths

The study described in this paper utilized a qualitative case study method to assess the processes involved in inter-system collaboration in the context of one state's system change initiative. The collaborative experience is described from the perspective of participating service system professionals and family members. The major themes of collaboration that emerged from the study included changes in communication across systems, changes in inter-system relationships, changes in attitudes, changes in interactions with families, and changes in the ways services are delivered. Lessons learned and practice implications of each theme are discussed.

The Extended Family: Reviewing An Invaluable Resource, Elaine Walton, Jini Roby, Richard Sullivan, Amy Frandsen

Journal of Family Strengths

During the last two decades, the extended family has been rediscovered as a viable and meaningful resource for nurturing and protecting children. The purpose of this article is to provide an historical context for involving the extended family in child welfare cases and to identify key factors influencing that involvement.

Implementing Intensive Family Preservation Services: A Case Of Infidelity, Raymond S. Kirk, Kellie Reed-Ashcraft, Peter J. Pecora

Journal of Family Strengths

The importance of treatment fidelity in evaluations of all human service programs, including intensive family preservation services (IFPS), is examined in this article. Special attention is focused on the issue of treatment fidelity in IFPS programs attempting to adhere to a specific program model (Homebuilders©), and on the problems that lack of treatment fidelity has caused for research that has been conducted on this and other program models. Attempts to address the issue of treatment fidelity in other program areas offer models for constructing treatment fidelity assessment tools for IFPS. The authors suggest a schema for assessing treatment fidelity in …

The Elegant Simplicity Of Family Preservation Practice Legecies And Lessons, James K. Whittaker

Journal of Family Strengths

An earlier version of this manuscript was prepared for the Chapin Hall invitational seminar on family preservation, The Chapin Hall Center for Children at the University of Chicago, September 16 & 17, 1999. The author wishes to acknowledge the comments and helpful suggestions of seminar participants-Jacqueline McCroskey, Martha Shirk, Fran Jacobs, John Schuerman, Lee Schorr, Charlotte Booth, Kristi Nelson, Susan Kelly, Frank Farrow, and Susan Notkin. These comments, as indeed many of their prior contributions, have had a seminal effect on my thinking about family preservation services over the years. Clark Peters and other Chapin Hall staff deserve special thanks …

Promising Practices To Engage Families And Support Family Preservation, Marianne Berry

Journal of Family Strengths

The Adoption and Safe Families Act of 1997 (ASFA) is the latest legislation in two decades of important child welfare policy in the United States. The Adoption and Safe Families Act has served to shorten the period of time that caseworkers and families have to show that families are making progress toward family preservation, with permanency decisions being made after 12 months, rather than 18. The importance of engaging and motivating families in services has therefore increased. The practice directive of ASFA can be summarized as 'Act Smart, Fast, and Accountable. " Using findings from largely correlational research, concrete recommendations …

Family Preservation Journal, 2002, Volume 6, Issue 1 (Entire Issue)

Journal of Family Strengths

The entire issue. Large file.

Intensive In-Home Family-Based Services: Reactions From Consumers And Providers, Elaine Walton, Alfred C. Dodini

Journal of Family Strengths

An intensive family preservation program was examined through interviews with 31 families who received the services and four caseworkers who provided the services. The primary finding from interviews with both care givers and caseworkers was that a positive therapeutic relationship between the worker and the client family contributes most to the success of the program. Workers who provided the services stressed the need for making concrete services available as well as clinical intervention and skills training, and they were adamant about screening families for appropriateness before including them in an intensive, inhome program.

Family Preservation Journal, 1998, Volume 3, Issue 2. (Entire Issue)

Journal of Family Strengths

Entire issue (large pdf file)

Articles include:

• Getting to Know You: Psychoeducational Groups to Counter Social Isolation of Neglectful Mothers. Marianne Berry
• Intensive Family Preservation in Children's Mental Health: Predictors of Placement. Cathryn C. Potter
• An Innovative Family Preservation Program in an African American Community: Longitudinal Analysis. Patricia Ciliberti
• Chipping Away at the Monolith: Dispelling the Myth of Father Noninvolvement in Children's Early Literacy Development. Robert W. Ortiz

Conceptual Bases Of The Planning Process In Family Preservation/Family Support State Plans, June Lloyd

Journal of Family Strengths

Congress and the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) intend for the Family Preservation and Support Act of 1993 (P.L. 103-66) to catalyze major reforms in state human services systems. DHHS and numerous other institutions developed conceptual and procedural guidance for the states' planning processes. Review of the planning dimensions of participation and expertise reveals that major emphases on stakeholder participation and technical planning processes obscure the need for expertise in family preservation and family support.

Current Resources

Journal of Family Strengths

Reviews of:

• The Book of David: How Preserving Families Can Cost Children's Lives. Richard J. Gelles. New York: Basic Books. Reviewed by Marianne Berry
• Children in Families at Risk: Maintaining the Connections. Edited by Lee Combrinck-Graham. New York: TheGuilford Press. Reviewed by Lois Wright
• Fantily-Centered Behavior Scale and User's Manual. Reva I. Allen, Christopher G. Peter, & Beverlyn F. Cay Brown. The University of Kansas. Reviewed by Miriam J. Landsman

Family Preservation And Support: Past, Present, And Future, Katharine Hooper-Briar, Anne Broussard, John Ronnau, Alvin L. Sallee

Journal of Family Strengths

As the family preservation and support movement evolves rapidly, this article overviews the past, present and future of this approach to policy and services. Building upon several decades of practice experience and research, and now federally funded, program designers are searching for ways to implement system wide change with an array of services all from a family focus, and strengths perspective. Critical issues facing the movement are discussed and a set of benchmarks to judge our future success is presented.

Family Preservation Journal, Summer 1995, Volume 1. (Entire Issue)

Journal of Family Strengths

Entire issue (large pdf file)

Articles include:

• Family Preservation and Support: Past, Present, and Future. Katharine Hooper-Briar,C. Anne Broussard, John Ronnau, and Alvin Sallee
• An Examination of Treatment Fidelity in an Intensive Family Preservation Program. Marianne Berry
• Intensive Family Reunification Services: A Conceptual Framework and Case Example. Elaine Walton, Mark W. Fraser, Catherin Harlin, and Robert E. Lewis
• Intensive Family Preservation Services: Do They Have Any Impact on Family Functioning? Roy W. Rodenhiser, Joseph Chandy, Kazi Ahmed
• Institutionalizing Intensive Family Preservation Services: A Strategy for Creating Staffing Standards Based on Projections of At-Risk Children from Referral sources. Robert E. Lewis

Intensive Family Reunification Services: A Conceptual Framework And Case Example, Elaine Walton, Mark W. Fraser, Catherine Harlin, Robert E. Lewis

Journal of Family Strengths

Recent federal mandates require child welfare agencies to make reasonable efforts to reunify families after out-of-home placement. Consistent with those mandates, agencies are increasingly employing techniques from family preservation services intended initially to prevent out-of-home placement. The purpose of this article is to articulate a conceptual framework and practice guidelines for family reunification services and to describe an experimental reunification program based on a family preservation model. A case example illustrates the way in which the services affected one family that participated in the experiment.