Family Reunification

The program is an intensive case management model for providing services to youths involved in the child welfare and juvenile justice systems, with the goal of reducing recidivism. The program is rated Ineffective for reducing arrests, misdemeanor offenses, felony offenses, and running away, as well as for reducing placement disruptions.

This is a preventive intervention intended to reunite children returning home to their parents after their first stay in foster care. The program sought to prevent reunification failures when children were returned home to their biological parents by supporting parents and by making the transition a smooth process for both immediate and continued parenting success. The program is rated Promising for improving encouragement strategies. 

This is a home-visitation program that aims to prevent and address factors associated with child abuse and neglect. The program is rated Promising. Parents in the SafeCare group demonstrated statistically significant decreases in depression symptoms and risk of child protective services recidivism, compared with parents in the control group. However, there were no statistically significant differences in the risk of child physical abuse among a sample of American Indian parents.

This adapted version of Functional Family Therapy is designed to improve functioning for child welfare-involved families. This program is rated Promising. Treatment families showed a statistically significant greater likelihood of achieving all treatment goals and a lower likelihood of being referred to another program at case closing, compared with control families. However, there were no statistically significant differences between groups in out-of-home placements.

This program used a decision-making model to help families involved in the child welfare system to create a care plan. The program is rated Ineffective. There were no statistically significant differences found in child safety, child maltreatment, length of welfare involvement, or imposed supervision orders. The treatment group reported a statistically significant higher level of perceived social support; however, the treatment group also had a higher percentage of out-of-home placements.

This program is designed to stabilize families at risk for parent-child separation by addressing housing needs. The program is rated Effective. There was a statistically significant positive effect on rate of placement in foster care for treatment group children, meaning treatment group children were placed in foster care at a slower rate, compared with control group children.

This program is designed to find and engage kin and fictive kin to support the needs of foster care youth. The program is rated Promising. There was a statistically significant greater number of kin and fictive kin found and positive attachment figures identified for the intervention group, compared with the comparison group. However, there was no significant difference in proportion of relative placements to total placements, reunification rates, or externalizing and internalizing behaviors.

This program was designed to improve well-being and permanency outcomes for children with complex trauma in state care. The program is rated Ineffective. Overall, findings were mixed. There were statistically significant findings favoring the treatment group, including increased likelihood of adoption; however, there were also statistically significant findings favoring the control group. Overall, the preponderance of evidence suggests the program did not have the intended effects on children.

This is a program for parents who have substance abuse allegations and are involved in the child welfare system. The program is rated Effective. The study found that parent participants were more likely to have their children returned, more likely to experience a permanency-planning outcome, and less likely to have their parental rights terminated. Additionally, children of program participants spent less time in the child welfare system. These findings were statistically significant.

This program consists of a specialized court for substance-using caregivers involved with the child welfare system. The program is rated Promising. Program participants showed a statistically significant higher likelihood of family reunification and a lower likelihood that children would reenter care after permanent reunification. However, families that participated in the program achieved permanency at a statistically significant slower rate, compared with families that did not participate.

This is a treatment court dedicated to cases of child abuse and neglect, in which parental substance abuse is one of the primary reasons for child welfare involvement. The program provides parenting training in conjunction with substance abuse treatment to increase the likelihood of reunification. The program is rated Effective. Families who received services through the Family Drug Court were statistically significantly more likely to reunify than comparison families.

This is a positive youth development program for preadolescent children (ages 9-11) who have current or previous child welfare involvement due to one or more adverse childhood experiences. The program is rated Promising. Children who participated in the program displayed statistically significant reductions in posttraumatic stress symptoms, dissociation symptoms, and scores on key mental health outcomes, compared with children in the control group.

The program is a preventative, family-based intervention targeting families with young children who possess risk factors for child behavioral misconduct. The program is rated Promising. Evaluation results showed that the children of families who participated in the intervention demonstrated statistically significantly reduced problem and externalizing behaviors, compared with children of families in the control group.

This is a residential program that focuses on improving behavioral and academic skills in a family-style setting with the goal of family reunification. The program is rated Promising. Participants showed a statistically significant increase in their grade point averages and perceptions of the importance of going to college, compared with the control group. However, the program did not show an impact on the years of school completed or likelihood of receiving a high school diploma or GED.

This is a home-based, family preservation model for families in crisis because a youth has run away from home. The model targets 12- to 17-year-olds who are staying in a runaway shelter and dealing with substance abuse issues. The program is rated Promising. Treatment group adolescents reported a statistically significant reduction in the percentage of days they used alcohol or drugs, compared with control group adolescents who received services as usual, at the 15-month follow up.

This is a family drug court program designed to serve families involved with child welfare as a result of parental substance use. The program is rated Promising. Treatment group parents had a statistically significant higher percentage of experiencing family reunification, compared with comparison group parents. Children of treatment group parents also had a statistically significant fewer number of days in non-kinship or long-term foster care compared with children of comparison group parents.

This is an in-home, family preservation service and reunification program for families with children returning from or at risk for out-of-home placement. The program is rated Effective. The treatment group had a statistically significant greater number of reunifications and reduced rates of out-of-home placement, compared with the control group. However, there were no significant differences between groups in successful reunification (i.e., whether the children returned to foster care).

The program is a multicomponent family skills training program that targets substance-abusing families. The program is rated Promising. There were overall mixed results across three studies. One study found no significant effects on measures of child problem behavior, risk/protective factors, and family factors. However, one study found significant impacts on children’s problem behavior, and another study found significant impacts on time to reunification for child welfare-involved families.

This is a decision-support system designed to reduce subsequent abuse and neglect of children and expedite permanency for children who have been removed from home. The program is rated Promising. At the 12-month follow up, treatment group children experienced statistically significant higher rates of permanency status, compared with control group children. However, there were no differences between groups on rates of reentry to the foster care system after reunification.

This is a behavioral treatment alternative to residential placement for adolescents with antisocial behavior, emotional disturbance, and delinquency. The program is rated Effective. Treatment group boys showed a statistically significant drop in criminal referral rates, criminal activities, and days spent in lock up, compared with comparison group boys. Treatment group girls showed a statistically significant reduction in delinquency, compared with comparison group girls.

This program is for parents whose children are wards of the state. The program is rated Effective. Intervention parents had statistically significant improvements in treatment outcomes and lower rates of rearrest, compared with control parents. Children of intervention parents experienced statistically significant improvements in child welfare outcomes, compared with children of control group participants. There were no significant differences between groups for placement stability.

This is a gender-specific, family-based intervention designed to help drug-using mothers who participate in family drug court to maintain their parental rights. The program is rated Ineffective. The program had no statistically significant effects on child welfare outcomes, self-reported drug use, physical child abuse potential, overall psychological stress, self-reported alcohol use, family and social functioning, psychiatric problems, and urinalysis results.