Family preservation is a case in point.
In the 1980s, many states developed programs intended to be alternatives to removing children from homes where they had been abused or neglected. Proponents believe keeping children with their natural families is, in most cases, better than removing them to foster care, and it is less costly. For these reasons, family preservation is often viewed as a central component of child welfare reform. Meanwhile, the media has offered a darker side of the story, featuring front-page stories of the tragic results from failures of preservation efforts to help individual families. A more objective look Chapin Hall researchers drew a far more complicated picture after completing a study of the family preservation program in Illinois, the largest state-level study of its kind.