Current Research and Evaluation

Family Reunification Evaluation

Casey Family Services has operated the Family Reunification Program since 1989 in two sites: Portland, Maine and Hartford, Connecticut. In collaboration with the Connecticut Department of Children and Families and the Maine Department of Human Services, the program was recently redesigned to focus on families whose children are placed in out-of-home care for the first time. A major objective is to begin services as soon as possible to facilitate the timely attainment of permanency for children within ASFA guidelines. A hallmark of this program is the close collaboration between Casey Family Services and its state partners in helping families achieve family goals and objectives, recruiting and training foster families, and collaborating with other community resources.

Casey has contracted with a team of researchers headed by Barbara Pine, M.S.W., Ph.D., of the University of Connecticut, to evaluate this program. The evaluation has two components:

• A process evaluation that will examine the implementation of the program, in particular, the process of collaboration among all partners; and
• An outcome evaluation that will assess changes in child and family functioning and the achievement of permanency plans for children.