Family preservation and family support programs: child maltreatment outcomes across client risk levels and program types

Family Preservation Services: Types of Services Rendered by Social Workers to at-Risk Families

“…Experts emphasise the advantages of family support services that focus on giving families access to services, resources or networks in the community in order to ensure that the children of at-risk families remain within the family and thereby avoid the need for statutory services (Chaffin, Bonner & Hill, 2001;Jack, 1997;Nair, Blake & Vosler, 1997;Pithouse & Tasiran, 2000;Warren-Adamson, 2006). Examples of such services are parent education programmes, family support services such as feeding schemes, play groups, and school-or community-based resource centres (Armstrong & Hill, 2001:351;Cole, 1995:165;Pierson, 2004:81;Tracy, 1995:974).…”

Child Neglect: Developmental Consequences, Intervention, and Policy Implications

“…Family-focused interventions have been found to be effective in addressing neglect in troubled families (Kluger, Rivera, & Mormile-Mehler, 2001). There are two family intervention programs that are commonly used with at-risk families in the United States to prevent child maltreatment: family support and family preservation (Chaffin, Bonner, & Hill, 2001). Family support services are community-based interventions that try to augment the family's own strengths by putting in place appropriate support services, such as mentoring, parenting education, support groups, and home visiting.…”

“…Family support services are community-based interventions that try to augment the family's own strengths by putting in place appropriate support services, such as mentoring, parenting education, support groups, and home visiting. Family preservation, on the other hand, targets families who are currently in the middle of a crisis situation (Chaffin et al, 2001). Family preservation consists of an intensive, in-home model that focuses on the family and encourages change among all family members (Gaudin, 1993).…”

“…He concluded that the starting point for any intervention should be on assessing families' amenability to change and producing useful risk assessments to evaluate each family's specific needs. Chaffin et al (2001) compared family support and family preservation program completers to dropouts and to clients who participated in only one session. They found no differences between the three groups on overall reduction of child neglect.…”

South African Child and Family Welfare Services: Changing Times or Business as Usual?

“…The fact that the social security system or grants system has been expanded and is widely seen as a poverty-alleviation measure has further implications for child and family welfare organisations, since an important risk factor for child abuse and neglect arises when a family member in a household is the recipient of social security (Chaffin, Bonner & Hill, 2001;Connell et al, 2007) and in South Africa a grant often has to cover the expenses of the whole family. Thus, whenever large numbers of citizens receive social grants, the risk of child abuse and neglect increases.…”