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 Relief Nurseries serve families in Albany, Bend, Cottage Grove, Eugene, Medford, Portland, Roseburg, and Salem. These nurseries served over 600 families during fiscal year 2005-2006. Relief Nurseries provide core services to high-risk families, and outreach services based on community needs. Core services include therapeutic early childhood services (and related services such as food and transportation),
home visits, parent education classes, respite care, and alcohol and drug treatment. Relief Nurseries demonstrate positive outcomes for families, including improving daily family functioning and parent-child interactions and reducing overall risk. Below is a summary of outcomes for Relief Nursery families participating in core services during FY 2005-06.
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| RELIEF NURSERIES IMPROVE DAILY FAMILY FUNCTIONING AND PARENT-CHILD INTERACTIONS |
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The recent evaluation of Relief Nurseries included measures of two key areas of parenting quality. The first, family functioning, includes topics such as the presence of consistent daily routines, the family’s ability to handle these routines, and the availability of positive social support. The second measures the quality of parent-child interactions, specifically, whether or not the parent expresses warmth and love, shows sensitivity and responsiveness to the child, uses firm, effective guidance, and creates a developmentally supportive learning environment.
Results from the evaluation found that after only 6-months of involvement in Relief Nursery services parents significantly improved both their overall family functioning and the quality of parent-child interactions. Overall, after 6 months in the program: |
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78% had positive family functioning |
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78% were demonstrating positive parent-child interactions |
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| RELIEF NURSERIES DECREASE OVERALL FAMILY RISK |
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| Over 75% of the families served by Relief Nursery core services are at high risk for negative long-term outcomes.
Families are screened using a 65-item risk assessment tool at program entry and exit. The evaluation found that the number of family risk factors decreased significantly at program exit, by an average of 2 risk factors per family. Further, results found that the greater the level of risk reduction for families the less likely it was that children would be involved in child welfare or placed in foster care homes at follow-up. Both of these findings imply potential benefits for families as well as potential cost saving for taxpayers. |
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| Prepared by NPC Research |
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