NCJ Number
84666
Date Published
Unknown
Length
90 pages
Annotation
The study surveyed 470 family counseling programs to learn about such programs' activities within law enforcement/criminal justice systems and to identify gaps in knowledge that require further investigation.
Abstract
These programs are characterized by three different service approaches: comprehensive services approach, offering multiple services to multiproblem families; family management approach, focusing on skill acquisition and development; and family restructuring approach, relying most heavily on family intervention to bring about a change in the family system. These models are a necessary first step toward assessment by providing a basis for argument on evaluation issues and required measures, a method for identifying success criteria, and for other reasons. Findings indicate that projects lacked consensus in applying 'family counseling' but that they generally agreed that 'family systems' were being treated. The police, courts, and schools were generally supportive of family counseling. More needs to be known about why clients drop out of counseling and what effects on siblings can be observed. For many of the programs, recidivism was the most common outcome used to measure success. The direct success of family counseling in improving family functioning was largely ignored. Thus, those conducting evaluations should be required to define the intended treatment, include historical and demographic descriptors, and other factors. Moreover, if projects were to maintain data in an organized way, aggregation across similar projects could occur, and more evaluation questions could be answered. Data tables, about 45 references, illustrated program models and suggested evaluation measures, and the survey instrument are included.