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| The Real Kentucky Derby |
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Kentucky
is renowned for its famous Derby horse race. However, there are much
higher stakes in Kentucky than a horse race, and those are Kentucky’s
families involved in the child welfare system. A new research report
from Kentucky shows that the state’s family preservation and
reunification programs are winning the race in keeping these families
together. The Kentucky Department for Community Based Services has four Family Preservation Programs (FPP) with varying levels of duration and intensity to help keep families together or reunify them. The intensive programs are based on the Homebuilders® model. The services are contracted to nonprofit agencies and are available in every county of the state with almost 2,000 families served annually. Workers are required to use the NCFAS and NCFAS-R assessment scales to measure family functioning and progress. Families served by FPP are at higher risk, have younger children, and have had more involvement in the child welfare system. The study found that only 6% of children were placed in out-of-home care after receiving FPP services; 33% of non-FPP children entered out-of-home care. FPP families had a lower rate of recurrence of substantiated child abuse or neglect. Children who had received FPP services at some point and then entered out-of-home care had shorter stays, fewer placement moves, more placements with siblings, more team meetings, and much higher rates of reunification with parents. In cases where families received reunification services while children were in out-of-home placement, 89% of the children were returned to their parents. For every dollar spent on FPP, the state saved nearly three dollars in out-of-home care costs. What are some of the implications of the Kentucky study? Family Preservation and Reunification Programs Are Effective The Kentucky study joins other recent studies in demonstrating the effectiveness of carefully structured and targeted family preservation and reunification programs. Assessment Tools Provide Critical Feedback Kentucky mandates the use of the NCFAS and NCFAS-R assessment tools with its FPP programs. Kentucky has just completed retraining FPP workers on use of the tools. Ratings on family functioning are almost a mirror image of the findings from NFPN’s study last year on intensive family preservation and reunification programs (See http://www.nfpn.org/ifps-research-report/ ), and similar to previous studies. The assessment tools assist with case planning, monitoring progress, and determining if the family can successfully stay together. Consistently in the research, the lowest ratings at closure are in the area of parental capabilities. Programs should give more attention to identifying strategies that would increase the level of parental capabilities. Replication The best way to acknowledge Kentucky’s success is to imitate it! Agencies that are starting up or planning to strengthen their family preservation and reunification programs would do well to look at Kentucky’s FPP model of services. Advancing the Field The Kentucky study provides evidence-based support and incentives for states to establish or expand family preservation and reunification services. Kentucky intends to double these services based on this study. Other states can follow Kentucky’s example by evaluating their family preservation and reunification programs, strengthening them where indicated, and expanding them to help families more effectively while also reducing out-of-home placements and costs. To view the full study, visit: http://chfs.ky.gov/NR/rdonlyres/1C6C930E-A2D9-4336-8CBF-CDA1C2D2D31A/0/FPPEvaluation_Final.pdf |
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