Safe Families for Children (SFFC) Accepted into California Evidence-Based Clearinghouse for Child Welfare (CEBC) as a Promising Research Evidence
Safe Families for Children’s road to becoming an evidence-based program began twelve years ago with a generous grant from the Annie E. Casey Foundation funding the University of Maryland Graduate School of Social Work to assist SFFC in developing a theory change and logic model.
Over the years, Safe Families has consistently strived for program excellence and innovative child welfare practices through rigorous research, evaluation, and outputs. The recognition from CEBC as ‘Promising Research Evidence’ is a testament to our unwavering commitment to verify our prevention efforts to keep children safe and families together.
In August 2017 the Arnold Foundation funded researcher Mark Testa (University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, Graduate School of Social Work) to complete a randomized control trial (RCT). In November 2023, SFFC’s RCT was published in the peer-reviewed International Journal on Child Maltreatment (IJCM) which serves as a forum for innovative efforts to promote interventions and programs focused on the safety, protection, and welfare of children.
On June 21, 2024, SFFC received the CEBC rating of Promising Research Evidence, “highly relevant” for child welfare practice based upon the RCT manuscript published in the IJCM. This step verified the evaluation framework that Safe Families provides a safe alternative for parents in crisis and helps keep children out of the foster care system.
The research confirms:
- SFFC is a safe and effective intervention for deflecting families from foster care.
- SFFC is as safe as services as usual when children remain in their homes during a maltreatment investigation.
- SFFC is an effective safe intervention for unifying children with their parents.
What this means:
- CEBC is the leading rating system for evidence-based practice in the field of child welfare.
- The ‘Promising Research Evidence” is the highest possible rating Safe Families could achieve with one completed evaluation.
- This rating from CEBC will enhance a chapter’s ability to secure additional funding from foundations and government contracts.
- SFFC may be the only faith (church) driven effort that has attained this rating level.
In conclusion, this present status places Safe Families on a priority list for Family First funding. However, we have no control over the timeline that it will be reviewed.
More information can be found here