An analysis of the impact of the Strengthening Families Program on family reunification in child welfare

This study examines reunification outcomes of children of alcohol or other drug involved parents who were placed in foster care and received the Strengthening Families Program as part of their child welfare service intervention. Following the use of propensity score matching to generate a comparison group, survival analysis was utilized to predict reunification rates. Strengthening Families participants had a significantly higher reunification rate than matched families who did not receive this intervention. Time to reunification was run from two points in the life of the child welfare case: from the date of child removal from the home and from the date of Strengthening Families Program start. In both instances, our analyses indicated that the Strengthening Families Program participants were significantly more likely to reunify than comparison cases.