Family Preservation and Reunification Program Evaluation (Printer-Friendly Format)

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Family Preservation and Reunification Program Evaluation

General Information

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Evaluator(s)	Westat, Inc. Chapin Hall Center for Children at the University of Chicago
Investigator(s)	John Schuerman (Chapin Hall Center for Children at the University of Chicago) Peter Rossi (Chapin Hall Center for Children at the University of Chicago)

Domain	Child/Family
Status	Completed (final report released)
Duration	Sep 1994 - Dec 2002
Type	Research and/or Program Evaluation
Program/Policy Description	The Evaluation of Family Preservation and Reunification Services is intended to estimate the impact of family preservation and reunification services. The goal of these services is to prevent children from entering foster care and to reunify children who were placed out of the home with their families. The design of the evaluation was guided by the following objectives: To identify and describe the range of existing placement prevention, family preservation, and reunification programs; To determine the extent to which family preservation and reunification programs are effective in safely reducing unnecessary foster care placement; To determine the extent to which family preservation programs are effective in meeting the basic needs of children and in promoting improved family functioning; To explore the extent to which family preservation/reunification programs have varying degrees of success with different target populations; To determine the extent to which program variables, child welfare system variables, and other factors in the service delivery environment affect the success of family preservation and reunification programs; To identify the effects of each family preservation/reunification program on its related child welfare system; and To compare the costs of family preservation/reunification services to those of control groups. The evaluation was conducted through randomized experiments in four family preservation sites: Kentucky, New Jersey, Tennessee, and Pennsylvania and the evaluation of an earlier implemented reunification program in New York City.
Notes	No notes reported.

Last Updated	03/31/03
Type of Summary	Unreviewed
Contact(s)	Matthew Stagner (not reported) Urban Institute (T) (202) 690-5653 (F) not reported
Submitter(s)	Research Forum Staff (info@researchforum.org) National Center for Children In Poverty 215 West 125th St, 3rd Fl (T) (646)284-9600 (F) not reported

Populations Studied

Target Population	Children Foster care candidates/participants
Subgroups Analyzed	Children in Foster Care
Sample Size and Unit	Random assignment of families to experimental or control group: Kentucky: 174 cases, 175 controls New Jersey: 275 cases, 167 controls Tennessee: 98 cases, 49 controls
Execution	Not reported.

Sites Studied

Louisville, Kentucky
7 counties in New Jersey
Memphis, Tennessee

Program Components, Policies, and Activities Evaluated

Foster Care Services

Variation in program components across sites?

Outcomes Assessed

Family and relationship outcomes

Child Outcomes

Types of Studies

Type	Impact Study (Controlled Experiment)

Data Sources

Source	Administrative data

Source	Interview

Source	Survey

Findings Available

Interim Impact Findings
Final Impact Findings

Recommendations

Existing Publications

01/01/01	Family Preservation and Reunification Program Evaluation: Interim Report	Westat
01/01/00	Family Preservation and Reunification Program Evaluation: Decisions on Placement and Family Preservation: Agreement and Targeting (Evaluation Review)	Chapin Hall
12/01/02	Family Preservation and Reunification Program Evaluation: Final Report	Westat
04/01/02	Family Preservation and Reunification Programs Evaluation: Estimating Child Welfare Service Costs: Methods Developed for the Evaluation of Family Preservation and Reunification Programs	Westat
05/01/95	Family Preservation and Reunification Programs Evaluation: A Synthesis of Research on Family Preservation and Family Reunification Programs	Westat
09/01/98	Family Preservation and Reunification Programs Evaluation: Evaluation of the New York City Home Rebuilders Demonstration	Westat