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CHAPTER 11 Child Welfare:

Family Preservation PolicyThe Policy-Based Profession

An Introduction to Social Welfare Policy Analysis

for Social WorkersFifth Edition

Philip R. Popple & Leslie LeighningerSlides by Heather Kanenberg, University of Houston, Clear Lake

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Child Welfare

• With the understanding that child welfare is about protecting and promoting the wellbeing of children, supporting families, addressing social conditions that have a negative impact on children, and ensuring the physical and emotional safety of children…it is still the reality that many of us think of child welfare as CPS – and protecting children from neglect and abuse.


Child Welfare: Family Preservation

• 1974 brought the use of Homebuilders as a method of providing concrete services to families to build relationships between families and systems of support

• Result: Family preservation is the policy of choice in all 10 states when dealing with a child experiencing abuse and/or neglect


Child Welfare & Family Preservation: History

• The dominant themes in the historical analysis of the child welfare movement are as follows:– The Child Rescue Movement – 1873; Mary Ellen Wilson & missing

involvement of law enforcement– The involvement of the social work profession with child welfare; C.

Carl Carstens trained in social work began the concept of child protection; precursor to the Child Welfare League of America. Included prevention in the approach to working with children and their families.

– Child abuse becomes the dominant theme in the 1970’s – floating to the top among issues of poverty, health disparities, and delinquency…was abuse and neglect. The Medical Professions discovery and ‘claim’ to the battered child syndrome led to laws regulating practice and the requirement that we must report abuse and/or neglect.


Child Welfare & Family Preservation: History (cont.)

• The dominant themes continued:– Foster care, once a solution to providing a safe

environment for abused, neglected and dependent children, becomes a problem – no evaluation; not work to reunify; targeting one religious group; failed placements; etc. Research study by Maas and Engler leads, through a series of events, to Permanency Placement.

– Permanency placement is based upon several ideas: Child’s own home is best; If child is removed, a specific plan is needed; Primary goal should be reunification; Adoption is the goal if reunification isn’t possible;

– Looked to be successful…but the social environment had an impact!

– Family Preservation emerges - Homebuilders


Child Welfare & Family Preservation: Social Analysis

• From a social analysis point of view, the main problem that child welfare policy seeks to address is child dependency.

• Family preservation is one aspect of society’s response to the problem of child dependency, which has three levels:

(1) the primary level is that of child poverty,

(2) the secondary level is derived from the first and is the problem of child maltreatment, and

(3) the explosive growth of the foster care population


Child Welfare & Family Preservation: Social Analysis (cont.)

• Research is difficult to do and often results in findings that both support and negate the success of Family Preservation policies

• Social Values found in Family Preservation:– Conflicting precedence of family rights,

children’s rights, & government’s rights

– How to honor the rights of all involved and support healthy child development, quality of life, and supported families


Child Welfare & Family Preservation: Social Analysis (cont.)

• Latent Goals– Save money in the child welfare system

• Family preservation has four Manifest goals:– To prevent placement of children in families of

crisis

– To protect children and prevent subsequent child maltreatment

– To improve family functioning

– To prevent child abuse and neglect


Child Welfare & Family Preservation:Hypothesis

• Two primary hypotheses:

• “If intensive, time-limited social work services are provided to families with children at risk of placement, and these services are provided in a timely fashion, then placement of the children can be permanently avoided”

• “If child placement is avoided via provision of intensive family preservation services, then reduction in foster home placement will save more money than the family preservation services cost.”


Child Welfare & Family Preservation: Political Analysis

• When applying political analysis to child welfare policy, it is important to remember that family preservation is a social policy that appeals to stakeholders across the political spectrum.

• The 1997 Adoption and Safe Families Act is viewed by some as representing a shift away from family preservation and toward child-centered policy. – This act requires that agencies demonstrate that they have

made “reasonable efforts” to preserve a family before parental rights are terminated.


Child Welfare & Family Preservation: Political Analysis (cont.)

• Liberals and Conservatives alike find things to support in Family Preservation policy

• 1997 the Child Abuse Prevention Act also known as the Adoption and Safe Families Act– Emphasizes child safety in the child welfare

decision making

– Creates an opt out of family preservation when certain criteria are met that leave the child at risk


Child Welfare & Family Preservation: Economic Analysis

• Economic analysis of child welfare policy indicates that economic considerations are the driving force behind the rapid growth and support of family preservation.

• For family preservation to show that it is cost effective:– The number of foster placements will have to begin to

decrease or– The rate of increase will have to slow and – Evaluation results will have to establish family

preservation as the main cause of the rate decrease


Child Welfare & Family Preservation:Policy/Program Evaluation

• Researched by many, in several different arenas:– Findings are mixed, generally supportive of family preservation

• Policy/Program evaluation concerns include:– Leaving children in potentially harmful environments; this requires

very close monitoring of the family situation– The rigor of studies of various programs like Homebuilders, which do

not include a control group– An overemphasis on placement prevention

• Criticisms have led to a more focused look at family preservation as well as simple placement prevention and child safety

• An emphasis on efficacy of social work at its intersection with child welfare and family preservation policy


Child Welfare & Family Preservation:Proposals for Reform

Current proposals for policy reform include:

• A steady movement toward Kinship care

• Supporting families who participate in Kinship care so that they can become licensed and paid as foster parents, and

• Supporting them so that they can be financially assisted to adopt the children in their care

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