NCJ Number
205248
Journal
Child Abuse & Neglect Volume: 25 Issue: 10 Dated: October 2001 Pages: 1269-1289
Date Published
October 2001
Length
21 pages
Annotation
This study examined maltreatment outcomes for participants in statewide groups of community-based family preservation and family support (FPFS) programs funded under Federal PL 103-66.
Abstract
PL 103-66, which was enacted in 1993, authorized $930 million over a 5-year period for States to plan and implement a range of FPFS services. Family support services are primarily community-based prevention activities designed to alleviate stress and promote parental competencies and behaviors that will increase the ability of families to nurture their children, enable families to use other resources, and create supportive social networks to enhance childrearing skills. Family preservation services, on the other hand, typically target families already maltreating their children. FP services can overlap with FS services, and a given agency or program might serve both FP and FS client populations. A total of 28 primary agency sites participated in the current evaluation project between 1996 and 1999. Within these 28 sites, 74 separate service programs operated. Over a 3-year period, the sites documented serving 1,996 clients. A total of 1,601 clients agreed to participate in the evaluation. These clients were primarily low income with moderate to high risk for child maltreatment and with no current involvement in the child protection system. They were assessed and monitored over time for future child maltreatment incidents reported to child protective services. The study compared clients who completed the program with program dropouts, and it compared recipients of longer full-service programs with recipients of one-time services. The effects of program duration, intensity, service site and service model/content were assessed. Program effects were modeled by using survival analysis and variable-exposure Poisson hierarchical models, controlling for initial client risk levels and removing failure events because of surveillance bias. Changes in lifestyle, economic, and risk factors were also considered. A total of 198 (12.2 percent) of the clients had at least 1 defined failure event over a median follow-up period of 1.6 years. Controlling for risk and the receiving of outside services, program completers did not differ from program dropouts or from recipients of one-time services. Further, there was no relationship between program intensity or duration and maltreatment outcomes. The programs that helped families meet basic needs and programs that used mentoring were found to be more effective than parenting and child-development programming. Center-based services were more effective than home-based services, especially for higher risk parents. Thus, the programs were generally ineffective in preventing future child maltreatment. A number of possible explanations for these findings are explored. 1 table, 5 figures, and 19 references