Jacquelyn McCroskey - Evaluating Family-Based Services

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Evaluating Family-Based Services

Evaluating Family-Based Services

Peter J. Pecora, Mark W. Fraser,
Kristine E. Nelson, Jacquelyn McCroskey,
and William Meezan

First published 1995 by Transaction Publishers

Published 2017 by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN 711
Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017, USA

Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business

Copyright 1995 by Taylor & Francis

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

Notice:
Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.

Library of Congress Catalog Number: 94-49161

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Evaluating family-based services / Peter J. Pcora...[et al.],
p. cm. (Modern applications of social work)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-202-36093-8 (cloth : acid-free paper)ISBN 0-202-36094-6
(paper: acid-free paper)
1. Family servicesUnited StatesEvaluation. 2. Family social workUnited StatesEvaluation. I. Pcora, Peter J. N. Series.
HV699.E84 1995 94-49161
362.8280684dc20 CIP

ISBN 13: 978-0-202-36094-2 (pbk)
ISBN 13: 978-0-202-36093-5 (hbk)

Contents

Notes

Notes

10 CONSTRUCTIVIST RESEARCH
Mary K. Rodwell

Appendix to Chapter 11
A SAMPLE RESEARCH PROPOSAL

Preface

The development of hundreds of family-based service (FBS) programs across the country at a time of increasingly scarce human service resources makes evaluation imperative. The purpose of this book is to help administrators, practitioners, and evaluators balance clarity, precision, rigor, usefulness, and sensitivity to client needs and diversity in evaluating FBS programs.

This book assumes a basic familiarity with research methods and program evaluation in order to devote attention to the challenges encountered in conducting research in this program area. Many basic research and evaluation concepts, therefore, will not be addressed in detail. Readers are instead referred to a number of additional resources for more information. However, the major steps and issues that are central to conducting a successful FBS evaluation are described. Our goal is to provide a practical, realistic discussion of the difficult issues that must be addressed in the evaluation of FBS programs.

Reviewers of an early draft of this book emphasized that while there are many similarities in population characteristics among child welfare, juvenile justice, mental health, and other areas that employ FBS, there are also important differences. The service delivery context for each of these systems varies. Thus, while some examples from different systems are cited, the major context for the book is public and voluntary child welfare services.

All clients deserve the best services possible. Well-designed evaluation studies can help FBS agencies refine intervention technology, making it more effective. Anyone who attempts evaluation in this area must recognize that the families being served by FBS programs, while vulnerable to many social problems, have strengths and resources upon which to draw. With this in mind, the fact that the families being served are the ultimate beneficiaries of the research effort provides extra incentive to conduct rigorous evaluation studies.

Peter J. Pcora, Mark W. Fraser,
Kristine E. Nelson, Jacquelyn McCroskey,
and William Meezan

Acknowledgments

In completing this book we are deeply grateful for helpful comments and suggestions from our colleagues who are in the midst of evaluating family-based services programs. In particular Marianne Berry, Sally Davis, Dean Fixen, Ray Kirk, Robert Plotnick, Sonya Schoenwald, Lynn Usher, Kathleen Wells and James Whittaker each reviewed selected chapters. Teresa Patterson, Merrily Wolf, and Lila Hurwitz helped edit and format numerous drafts.

Two of the senior editors at Aldine, Richard Koffler, executive editor, and Arlene Perazzini, managing editor, deserve special recognition for their consultation and patience. We appreciate the support of our deans and agency administrators: Frank Baskind, Dick Edwards, Nancy Hooy-man, Ruth Massinga, Rino Patti, James Traglia, and James Ward. This book is dedicated to the families who use family-based services, to the staff members who work with them, and to our own families who provide us with encouragement and support in our work.

Introduction

Reform of the policies and systems that provide services to families and children is underway throughout the nation. Public agencies, not-for-profit agencies, and grass roots organizations are developing new service approaches, integrating services across traditionally separate domains, and collaborating with new partners to demonstrate the potential of reform and to better serve families. While the terminology differs by areain education the watchword is restructuring, in health and mental health care managed care, in social services family based servicesthe underlying themes of these reform efforts are remarkably similar: meeting changing family needs, maximizing limited resources, and increasing effectiveness. This book focuses on the third theme: demonstrating the effectiveness of service reform efforts across a broad array of family-based services.

A variety of social services that focus on strengthening families to prevent out-of-home placement of children have emerged in the fields of child welfare, mental health, and juvenile justice. In the 1950s and 1960s, early forerunners of these services were developed as programs to treat the multi-problem family. Since that time, these placement prevention services have been described as family-based services, home-based services, services to children in their own homes, and family preservation services. While program design and specific interventions differ, most of the programs fitting the broader name of family-based services share some or all of the following characteristics:

• A primary worker or case manager establishes and maintains a supportive, empowering relationship with the family.
• A wide variety of helping options are used (e.g., concrete forms of supportive services such as food and transportation may be provided along with clinical services).
• Caseloads of two to twelve families are maintained.
• One or more associates serve as team members or provide backup for the primary worker.
• Workers (or their backup person) are available twenty-four hours a day for crisis calls or emergencies.
• The home is the primary service setting, and maximum utilization is made of natural helping resources, including the family, the extended family, the neighborhood, and the community.
• The parents remain in charge of and responsible for their family as the primary caregivers, nurturers, and educators.
• Services are time-limited, usually one to four months (Bryce & Lloyd, 1981).

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