An evaluation of the process and outcomes of the Keeping Families Together pilot was conducted by Metis Associates.  The evaluation looked at the extent to which Keeping Families Together met its objectives of preventing child welfare involvement, reuniting children with their families in safe and stable homes, and helping vulnerable, child welfare-involved families create more healthy and stable lives in supportive housing.  Click here for a program evaluation overview.

Key findings demonstrated that the children in the Keeping Families Together pilot were safer than before supportive housing. 

  • More than half (61%) of the child welfare cases that were open at the time of the move to supportive housing were favorably resolved during the families’ involvement in Keeping Families Together.
  • At the time of program intake, six children brought into Keeping Families Together had previously been removed from their families by ACS. All were reunited with their parents by the conclusion of the evaluation.
  • No children were removed from their homes during the Keeping Families Together pilot.
  • Keeping Families Together participants had fewer incidences of repeat maltreatment while living in supportive housing.
  • For families in Keeping Families Together, preventive child services cases were favorably resolved an average of 10 months after the family was housed (compared to the ACS system-wide goal of 12 months for similar cases).
     

The evaluation found that the families’ stability improved.

  • By the end of the pilot period, 26 of the 29 families in Keeping Families Together remained in supportive housing, while the 15 control group families in shelters that mirrored Keeping Families Together eligibility typically remained in homeless shelters an average ranging from 15–39 months.
  • Nearly all of the families that entered with a substance abuse problem were reported to be clean and sober at the end of the evaluation period.
  • The school-aged children participating in the Keeping Families Together program showed steady average increases in school attendance from before move-in to after move-in.
     

Additional Resources/Links

Keeping Families Together Pilot Evaluation Report

 

Next: Building Effective Keeping Families Together Collaborations

go to the keeping families together toolkit table of contents.

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