Evaluation of an Intensive Family Preservation Service for Families Affected by Parental Substance Misuse

• NCJ Number: 225654
• Journal: Child Abuse Review Volume: 17 Issue: 6 Dated: November/December 2008 Pages: 410-426
• Author(s): Donald Forrester; Alex Copello; Clara Waissbein; Subhash Pokhrel
• Date Published: December 2008
• Length: 17 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Program/Project Evaluation
• Language: English
• Country: United Kingdom

Annotation

This article reports on the evaluation of a family intervention service in Wales called Option 2, which focused on families in which parents misused substances and children were deemed at risk for public care.

Abstract

The study found that approximately 40 percent of children involved in both Option 2 (n=279) and a matched comparison group of referred children who did not receive Option 2 services (n=89) eventually entered public care; however, Option 2 children took longer to enter care, spent less time in care, and were more likely to be back with their families at followup. Consequently, Option 2 produced significant cost savings. Findings suggest that Option 2 was a highly professional and appreciated service by its clients. For some families, it achieved permanent positive change. For other Option 2 families, particularly those with complex, long-standing problems, significant positive changes were not sustained over time. Option 2 intervenes with families whose children are considered at risk of entering public care. The program involves immediate, intensive, and short-term intervention through targeted services delivered in the client’s home. Child protection workers are on call 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Families are given as much time as they need at the time they need services. Services are concentrated in a period of 4 weeks, and workers are responsible for only one intensive case at a time. The finding that families with complex issues could not sustain positive change suggests that a short-term intensive intervention is not sufficient to achieve lasting change for these families. Longer term or episodic intervention services may be needed for such families. The quasi-experimental evaluation compared data relating to public care for the treatment and control groups for an average of 3.5 years after referral for services. 3 tables and 12 references