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Introduction to Family Preservation Services

Family preservation services are short-term, family-focused, and community-based services designed to help families cope with significant stresses or problems that interfere with their ability to nurture their children. The goal of family preservation services is to maintain children with their families, or to reunify them, whenever it can be done safely. These services developed largely in response to an over-reliance on out-of-home care that characterized services in the 1970s.

Family preservation services grew out of the recognition that children need a safe and stable family and that separating children from their families is traumatic for them, often leaving lasting negative effects. These services build upon the conviction that many children can be safely protected and treated within their own homes when parents are provided with services and support and empowered to change their lives.

Family preservation services are most often provided to families that have come to the attention of the child welfare, mental health, or juvenile justice systems because of child abuse or neglect, child behavioral health challenges, delinquency, or serious parent-child conflict. These services are applicable to families that are at risk of disruption/out-of-home placement across systems.

Family preservation services may be provided to different types of families—birth or biological families, kinship families, foster families, and adoptive families—to help them address major challenges, stabilize the family, and enhance family functioning.

• Related resources

Selected Resources CWLA Standards of Excellence for Services to Strengthen and Preserve Families With Children Child Welfare League of America (2003, rev. ed.) View Abstract Recommends best, family-centered practices in family support, casework, and intensive crisis services. Includes an overview of the development of family-centered practice in child welfare. Information Packet: Family Preservation and Preventive Programs: Alternatives to Foster Care Placement (PDF - 88 KB) National Resource Center for Family-Centered Practice & Permanency Planning (2003) An overview of the types of family preservation services and programs that may be offered to families. Includes links to websites about model programs. Overview of Family Preservation Berry (2005) In Child Welfare for the Twenty-First Century: A Handbook of Practices, Policies, and Programs View Abstract Traces the evolution of family preservation as a goal in child welfare services and highlights promising approaches in providing services to families. Discusses the effectiveness of family preservation programs.

Updated on September 18, 2008