Abstract
Findings from a study at five demonstration sites are presented. Referring service providers' assessments of families entering Intensive Family Preservation Service [IFPS] programs are compared with their assessments of families where they have recently placed children in care. These assessments are supplemented by information from qualitative interviews with referring workers and their supervisors about their use of IFPS programs. Referring service providers understood these two groups of families very differently. They were resistant to referring to these IFPS programs families they considered at risk of breakdown. The study identifies factors innate to the IFPS model as well as to host agencies which prevented these programs from reaching families in crisis, as originally intended. This drift in focus had negative cost implications for these programs and resulted in a loss of support from their host organizations.
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Hayward, K., Cameron, G. Focussing Intensive Family Preservation Services: Patterns and Consequences. Child & Youth Care Forum 31, 341–356 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1016878611476
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1016878611476