ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the extent to which the development of a family preservation capacity can alter the basic locus of a state's response to at-risk children. It explores the implications of the basic form and content of family preservation programs for broader social service practice and for the organization and financing of family service delivery. Testimony, anecdotal evidence, and self-reporting from family preservation programs tend to reinforce the above findings on the efficacy of intensive, in-home interventions in avoiding probable placements. Accordingly, family preservation workers are deliberately charged with a responsibility for recognizing and responding to a range of presenting needs. As most advocates for family preservation recognize, the probability of enlisting a genuine political commitment to a systemwide intensive intervention capacity is greatly increased if it can be shown to be self-financing—that is, funded through the reinvestment of avoided costs.
