HOMEBUILDERS | Plataforma de Evidencias

This is a program that provides services and treatment for families with at-risk children and adolescents aged 0 to 17. The aim is to prevent institutional foster care and the separation of parents from their children, as well as to reduce cases of child abuse and behavioral problems.
The program seeks to develop goals and an intervention plan with the family, directly in their homes, following these components: engagement and bonding, assessment and planning, behavioral change, skills development, provision of local services, community collaboration, immediate response, limited dedication to a few cases at a time, flexibility, and adaptation.

Impact evaluations

Impact evaluation studies have shown that the participants had a statistically significant increase in the permanence of children and adolescents under the guardianship of their families, as well as reduced institutional care rates [1] [2] [3]. The monitored families were also followed up within social assistance services, which the authors attribute as a possible result of the intervention’s focus on connecting families to services [3].

Bibliographic reference

[1] Wood, S., Barton, K. & Schroeder, C. (1988). In-home treatment of abusive families: Cost and placement at one year. Psychotherapy: Theory, Research, Practice, Training, 25(3), 409–414. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0085362

[2] Fraser, M. W., Walton, E., Lewis, R. E., Pecora, P. J. & Walton, W. K. (1996). An experiment in family reunification: Correlates of outcomes at one-year follow-up. Children and Youth Services Review, 18(4-5), 335–361. https://doi.org/10.1016/0190-7409(96)00009-6

[3] Walton, E. (1998). In-home family-focused reunification: A six-year follow-up of a successful experiment. Social Work Research, 22(4), 205–214. https://doi.org/10.1093/swr/22.4.205

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