Family-Centered Services: Approaches and Effectiveness

Abstract

Much of the emphasis in the nation's system of child protection focuses on investigations to determine whether child abuse or neglect has occurred, and procedures for arranging out-of-home care for children who are not safe at home. Less attention often goes to the capacity of public and private agencies to provide services that help stressed families prevent child maltreatment before it begins, or that enable families with serious child-rearing problems to stabilize the home and provide more appropriate care for their children. This article examines the current understanding of the most promising and effective means of serving families. It highlights the family-centered service approach, which encompasses family support services for families coping with normal parenting stresses, and family preservation services designed to help families facing serious problems and possible out-of-home placement. The article explains the characteristics of family support and family preservation services, and discusses how these services are accessed and financed. It reviews available evaluation findings regarding the effectiveness of the two types of family-centered services, and considers the challenges faced when evaluating such services. Finally, the article discusses issues related to planning and service delivery, such as coordination and system reform, financing, targeting, relationships between workers and families, and efforts to strengthen entire communities.

Child maltreatment in the family: a European perspective

“…Evaluations of family support programmes elsewhere suggest that the effects are modest and inconsistent (McCroskey & Meezan, 1998). Some show improved child outcomes, others positive effects on parents, but few findings appear consistently across evaluations.…”

“…Cox (1997Cox ( , 1998 and McCroskey and Meezan (1998) conclude that home visiting programmes have not been found to prevent child maltreatment, as measured in official reports, although some programmes modified aspects of parenting that are thought to influence maltreatment. Ayoub and Willett (1992) studied the effects of family preservation for 100 families referred for incidents of maltreatment, and found that treatment was most successful for situationally and chronically stressed families.…”

“…This strategy is the most likely to ensure that further harm or injury is reduced, although the same data set points to issues concerning victimisation whilst children are in substitute care. McCroskey and Meezan (1998) note that the current emphasis on family preservation in the child welfare system may work against the best interests of the children. Some parents are beyond the reach of even the best treatment programme.…”

Utilising Group Work in the Implementation of Family Preservation Services: Views of Child Protection Social Workers

“…Policy directives indicate that non-governmental organisations (NGOs) should be aimed at reducing child abuse and neglect while protecting the child and preserving the family unit (Ministry for Welfare and Population Development, 1997). Child protection services are focused on family-centred interventions, referred to in the literature as "family support services" and "family preservation services" (Katz & Hetherington, 2006;McCowskey & Meezan, 1998;Statham, 2000).…”

“…Globally the numbers of children being exposed to child abuse and neglect have increased (Adams, 2005;Watson, 2005), yet family welfare organisations are finding themselves under-resourced and unable to meet this demand for services (DePanfilis & Zuravin, 2002;McCowskey & Meezan, 1998). In South Africa inadequate human resources and the growing demand for child protection services have had a profound effect on the professional practice of social workers, posing critical challenges to them in achieving both the goals of social work and the democratic ideals of the country (Abdullah, 2013:2).…”