Family preservation is one of the most intensively-scrutinized programs in all of child welfare.
Michigan's Families First program sticks rigorously to the Homebuilders model. After one year, among children who were referred because of abuse or neglect, the control group children were nearly twice as likely to be placed in foster care, as the Families First children. Thirty-six percent of children in the control group were placed, compared to only 19.4 percent of the Families First children. After one year, 85.2 percent of the children in the comparison group were placed in foster care, compared to only 44.4 percent of the children who received intensive family preservation services. Here again, researchers are beginning to see impressive results.