Effectiveness Trial for Project SafeCare for Child Neglect

Effectiveness Trial for Project SafeCare for Child Neglect

The study is a field trial comparing the SafeCare family preservation model to a comparable usual care model for parents in child welfare. The study also compares two levels of service quality control.

The study is a cluster-randomized field trial of the SafeCare(SC) home-based family preservation model for families in the child welfare system. The trial is conducted in collaboration with the state child welfare agency and their contracted in-home service system. The service system is regionalized and provides in home services to families referred by child welfare. Regions of the state are assigned by the study to either the SC model or to services as usual. Provider teams, nested within regions, are assigned to either a monitored or unmonitored model implementation quality control condition. The aims of the project are to test client level child welfare reentry outcomes between SC and standard conditions, across the two implementation and quality control conditions.

Inclusion Criteria:

• Parents in the child welfare system for neglect with or without physical abuse

Exclusion Criteria:

• Parents in the child welfare system for sexual abuse