NCJ Number
119222
Date Published
1988
Length
53 pages
Annotation
This evaluation focuses on the characteristics, services received, and outcomes for the first 30 families served by the Bronx, N.Y. Homebuilders program, a program providing intensive services for short periods to families with children at imminent risk of placement out of their homes.
Abstract
From 4 to 20 hours a week for up to 6 weeks, families receive personal contact, including counseling; help in managing anger and depression; practice in improving parenting skills; and help in meeting any basic needs. Therapists carry only 2 cases at a time. The families were mainly Hispanic or black, and most of the mothers had never married or were divorced. Of the 55 children involved, sixteen percent of them were under age 5, while 49 percent were over age 11. The mother's drug abuse was a concern to caseworkers in more than one-fifth of the families at intake and emerged as a concern after intake in other families. At referral, in more than half the families, the mother figure had been referred for neglect or the father figure for physical abuse. Neglect and incorrigibility were the main problems, depending on the children's age. The 16 families that agreed to interviews perceived their problems as severe. Services focused mainly on child management and emotion management. At the end of the Homebuilders intervention, 87 percent of the youths remained at home, while 82 percent were still at home 3 months later, and family functioning generally improved. Tables and appended forms and checklists.