Bringing Families Home Program Supports Child Welfare-Involved Families
Bringing Families Home (BFH) is a state-funded program that provides permanent housing and supportive services to homeless and unstably housed families in San Francisco with child welfare system involvement. Families receiving in-home services to prevent their children from being placed in foster care and families with children in foster care receiving reunification services are eligible for the program and are referred by the child welfare system. The program is intended to prevent out-home-placement or increase the likelihood of reunification for families whose children are in foster care by stabilizing their housing and addressing other service needs.
Families that engage in the program receive a housing voucher, case management and support with their housing search. Chapin Hall works closely with project partners in San Francisco to monitor the implementation of BFH and evaluate housing, wellbeing, and child welfare outcomes.
BFH is the sustained version of Families Moving Forward, a federally funded demonstration project.
What We Did
We analyzed data for families that enrolled in BFH between June 2017 and June 2021. Those data included the results of assessments adult family members completed as well as information about housing status, receipt of supportive services, the status of child welfare cases and out-of-home care placements.
What We Found
BFH is successfully engaging, housing, and providing supportive services to most referred families. Adult well-being is improving for families that persist in the program in some domains, especially residential stability and family functioning. Â Three out of four families with a closed reunification case reunified with their children, and few of their children have re-entered care. Additionally, few families with a maintenance case had a child removed from home. Finally, achieving housing stability is the most common reason families exit BFH. Evaluators will continue to monitor process and outcome indicators, including child welfare outcomes, as more families successfully complete the program.
What It Means
These interim results suggest that BFH is helping families stabilize their housing and address their other needs. We will continue to monitor process and outcome indicators, including child welfare outcomes, as more families successfully complete the program.