Family Connections Grant
As part of a 1.8 million dollar grant from the Children’s Bureau, Partnership for Strong Families conducted an evaluation of Family Team Conferencing (FTC). The purpose of this research project was to test different approaches of FTC. FTC is an already established part of services provided by PSF, however there are different models of FTC that are practiced and researched elsewhere. This project tested a control FTC approach utilized at Partnership for Strong Families with two alternative models to see if each produced different results or were perceived and valued differently by all participants, especially the family. The results that were of interest to the study included: increasing child and family safety at home, reducing timelines to achieve permanent homes for children, improving child and family well-being, greater family involvement in case planning and decision making, and other service goals and outcomes deemed of value by families working with service providers. In order to test these different models, an experiment was conducted. The results of this study are of major importance in helping Partnership for Strong Families evaluate the value of FTC in achieving desired outcomes and improving service with children and families.
