CSH is proud to be announcing a new effort to provide support to the most vulnerable families in communities throughout the county, The Child Welfare and Supportive Housing Resource Center. The resource center is a joint effort of CSH and the Center for the Study of Social Policy (CSSP), that will provide technical assistance, facilitate information-sharing and assist in capacity-building for grantees of the federal Administration on Children, Youth and Families (ACYF) Partnerships to Demonstrate the Effectiveness of Supportive Housing for Families with Child Welfare initiative.
We have learned through Keeping Families Together, our pilot demonstration in New York City, that supportive housing offers stability and essential support to families with children who are at risk of recurring involvement in the child welfare system and that present the highest cost to society. Keeping Families Together showed real promise in reducing expenses and reuniting children with their families in a safe, stable environment.
Like Keeping Families Together, the five grantees of this federal demonstration will test whether or not supportive housing can prevent and end homelessness and foster care placement among families with complex challenges like substance abuse and mental health issues. This unprecedented investment in supportive housing by the child welfare system reflects the growing recognition that supportive housing is a promising solution to some of our most costly and tragic social problems. Unnecessary foster care placement is often detrimental to the health and well-being of children and can often lead to homelessness in adulthood.
At CSH we are energized by this new effort and look forward to providing best practices and capacity building to these five grantees who are working to improve overall child and family well-being across the country. During April, which is Child Abuse Awareness Month, we are especially encouraged and excited about The Child Welfare and Supportive Housing Resource Center as it is a perfect demonstration of our mission to use supportive housing as a way to improve lives for our most vulnerable families and individuals.
Read the entire press release here
Read Commissioner Bryan Samuels take on keeping children safe
