Intensive family preservation services with non-imminent risk families: A descriptive, exploratory study
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Description
The Intensive Family Preservation Services Model has conventionally been utilized as a final attempt to prevent child removals, a largely residual approach. The target population for intensive family preservation services has almost exclusively been families in acute crisis, at imminent risk of having children removed due to severe child maltreatment or child behavioral problems Evolving federal policy over the past three decades has broadened the application of family preservation programs to families along the continuum of risk. Federal legislation has progressively encouraged and supported movement towards the provision of more intensive services at earlier stages of family disruption, as a proactive, preventive approach to avoid more serious problems in the future. Over the past several years, a single-site intensive family preservation services program, located in Southeast Louisiana, has experienced a distinct shift in the level of out-of-home placement risk of families referred, from high or imminent risk families, to a preponderance of families at low to moderate risk This exploratory, descriptive study, applied a secondary analysis of data from 82 closed case files to consider the application of the Intensive Family Preservation Services Model to families at low to moderate, non-imminent placement risk, a population for whom this model approach was not originally intended. This study provided vital new information about these families to answer three research questions related to demographic and socio-economic characteristics, changes in family functioning and goal accomplishment, and the types and intensity of services received. Further exploration of these variables was conducted in relation to successful and non-successful outcome families Study findings revealed a high degree of homogeneity in demographic and socio-economic attributes of successful and non-successful outcome groups. Results suggest non-imminent risk families experienced positive outcomes if primary caregivers were cooperative, received necessary concrete resources from program workers, accessed recommended resources and referrals, accomplished case plan goals and objectives, and made significant improvement in the various domains of family functioning under consideration The application of the Intensive Family Preservation Services Model to non-imminent risk families appears fairly promising, as a form of early intervention to help prevent the occurrence of more serious risk