The National Family Preservation (NFPN) has conducted nationwide surveys of Intensive Family Preservation Services (IFPS) in 1994, 2007, 2011, and now 2014. This year marks the fortieth anniversary of IFPS (Homebuilders® model) so NFPN is publishing a special survey edition. Here are the highlights:

In the first nationwide survey of IFPS in 1994 a half-dozen states reported they had implemented the Homebuilders® model of IFPS on a statewide basis (75% or more of counties). Kentucky, Missouri, New Jersey, and Michigan have continuously provided IFPS while Tennessee and Louisiana discontinued IFPS for a period of time. Twenty years later 12 states responding to the survey have a statewide model of IFPS based on the Homebuilders® model.

• The 12 exemplary states report that they serve 11,364 families annually.
• Seven of the 12 exemplary states require 30 or more hours of initial training on IFPS while eight states require ongoing training.

What others have said about the Homebuilders® model of IFPS:

“Many people who argue for the removal of children see the damage which has been done by abusive or neglectful parents. I can understand that. However, they are not around to see the long-term damage to children that can result from acting hastily or unnecessarily to remove them from their families. They also do not see the enormous successes that have resulted from our family preservation efforts, even sometimes with families once thought to be beyond hope. We hear from many families (96 percent in the latest study) that family preservation is exactly what they needed to help them deal with their problems-and they would recommend it for other families.”

— Gerald Miller, Director, Michigan Department of Social Services, Detroit News, August 27, 1993.

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“It is a timeless model that encourages and supports the fundamental belief that all children need and deserve a family.”

— Douglas Nelson, Retired President and CEO of the Annie E. Casey Foundation).

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“Family preservation services appeal to our better side. With their constant commitment to the strengths, not weaknesses, of families in trouble, they are proving that most families can learn to stay together, that people can change.”

— Bill Moyers, Families First, PBS documentary

Here’s a glimpse at the future of IFPS:

NFPN and the Institute for Family Development (IFD) are jointly developing an IFPS Repository. The website will serve as the electronic library for irreplaceable memorabilia and documents from the past, current documents that are critical to retaining and expanding the knowledge base of IFPS, and room for growth to add more documents in the future.

And, here’s the last word in honor of the 40th anniversary of IFPS:

The Homebuilders® model of IFPS services is the most important development in the history of services to families.

Demonstrating that the most challenging families can safely remain together, offering these families unlimited access to intensive services, treating them as partners, and anticipating that they can and will change in a brief period of time is an audacious undertaking.

And one that has withstood the test of time.

To view the complete IFPS Survey Report, visit:
http://nfpn.org/preservation/2014-ifps-survey

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Posted by Priscilla Martens, Executive Director
National Family Preservation Network

A field placement with an Intensive Family Preservation Services agency gives students a unique experience in child welfare. The structure of IFPS interventions, including their intensity, can broaden, accelerate and integrate the student’s classroom learning.

The primary goal of an IFPS field placement is to learn how to provide short-term, intensive, home-based interventions with children and families. A major focus is learning and practicing interventions skills designed to help families resolve problems that put them at risk of disruption through placement of a child.

The field placement offers an opportunity for students to integrate their classroom learning. Theory, policy, and practice come together under the guidance of skilled IFPS agency staff. Students learn a variety of intervention skills that benefit their capabilities as clinicians whether in family preservation or other practice areas.

Skills learned in an IFPS field placement include:

• Engaging clients quickly
• Motivating clients to participate in counseling
• Assessing and utilizing client strengths
• Assessing family/individual functioning levels and problem areas
• Assessing the risk of child abuse, neglect, family violence and self-harm
• Structuring the family situation to prevent violence
• Defusing potentially violent situations
• Providing support through active listening, affirmations, availability and resource mobilization
• Teaching skills using cognitive behavioral techniques including: communication, parenting, mood management, behavioral management, problem solving, decision making, negotiation, and assertiveness
• Developing therapist self-care strategies and skills

Not all students will find a field placement in IFPS a good fit for them. Students benefit from a complete understanding of the benefits and demands of a field placement in IFPS before selecting the placement. Some characteristics are associated with greater student success and satisfaction in an IFPS field placement:

• Commitment to the goals, values and strategies of family preservation services.
• A belief that, in most cases, the best place for children is with their natural families and that IFPS can help achieve that goal while keeping children and other family members safe.
• Seeing the value of working with clients as colleagues and believing that people are capable of making significant changes in their behavior.
• Openness to diversity.
• Flexibility and availability to see families outside normal field placement days, including evenings and weekends.
• An understanding of the need to be available to clients in crisis situations, either in person or by phone.

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Posted by Peg Marckworth