Rethinking Child Welfare to Keep Families Safe and Together: Effective Housing-Based Supports to Reduce Child Trauma, Maltreatment Recidivism, and Re-Entry to Foster Care.

Large numbers of children who are placed in child protective custody have parents with a substance use disorder. This placement occurs despite evidence that the trauma of removal is associated with poor long-term child outcomes. This article describes a collaborative model of a continuum of housing-based clinical and support services for the whole family that has safely reduced foster care placement. An external evaluation of this pilot in Jackson County, Oregon, found significant differences in subsequent maltreatment, foster care re-entry, and family permanency outcomes favoring the treatment group. After initial external grant funds, this program is continuing and expanding across Oregon due to state legislation, and funding and can be a model for other states.