April 2015Vol. 16, No. 3Nationwide Survey Celebrates 40 Years of IFPS
Since its inception in 1992, the National Family Preservation Network (NFPN) has served as the national voice for intensive family preservation. Through research-based tools, training resources, and technical assistance, NFPN works with public and private child- and family-serving agencies to promote family preservation, reunification, and father involvement. One of its avenues for achieving these goals is through the promotion of Intensive Family Preservation Services (IFPS), an intervention strategy that works to reduce the number of children entering out-of-home care by strengthening and preserving families. Starting in 1994, NFPN has conducted periodic nationwide surveys of IFPS that examined topics such as exemplary programs in use across the nation and information about less intensive programs being implemented by States.
The 2014 IFPS Survey Report coincided with the 40th anniversary of the Institute for Family Development's HOMEBUILDERS® model, the United States' oldest and best-documented IFPS program. The model provides intensive, in-home crisis intervention, counseling, and life-skills education for families with children who are at imminent risk of placement in foster care. In honor of the HOMEBUILDERS® milestone, the 2014 survey report highlights 40 years of IFPS events and activities that have helped families stay safely together. The report is divided into four sections:
- Exemplary IFPS Programs—2014
- New Survey Questions
- IFPS Then and Now
- The Future of IFPS
The report provides a table illustrating how exemplary States have successfully implemented the HOMEBUILDERS® model. A list of contacts for exemplary States is also included. A timeline walks readers through major IFPS events starting in 1974, which is when HOMEBUILDERS® was first implemented in Tacoma, WA. The report compares specific results from the 1994 and 2014 surveys, and it concludes with a discussion of ideas regarding how IFPS will continue to be implemented after the current leaders in the field have retired.
Access IFPS Nationwide Survey 2014 Special Edition: Celebrating 40 Years: Past, Present, and Future on the NFPN website at http://www.nfpn.org/preservation/2014-ifps-survey.
Related Item
Children's Bureau Express interviewed Charlotte Booth, Executive Director of the Institute for Family Development, and Priscilla Martens, Executive Director of NFPN, in the May 2014 issue. Read more in "Intensive Family Preservation Services Turns 40."