Month: April 2015

Center staff release a report on universal housing screening in child welfare

Center staff release a report on universal housing screening in child welfare. Most families referred to child welfare live in poverty and many experience housing concerns. Connecticut is one of the five national demonstration sites engaged in federally-funded Partnerships to Demonstrate the Effectiveness of Supportive Housing (SH) for Families in the Child Welfare System. Staff of The Center are engaged as evaluators of the project. From November to January, a housing screen was administered to all families undergoing a child welfare investigation in one part of CT. The purpose was to ensure every family underwent housing review early in their child welfare involvement. The Center’s report indicates that, among substantiated cases (n=98), 21.4% had significant to severe housing barriers and 12.2% had unsustainable housing challenges. Extrapolating these numbers to the rest of the state, an estimated 1035 families might present with significant or severe housing concerns, and an additional 641 might present with moderate housing concerns. The report discusses policy, systems, state, and project implications of the study. This work was featured in the Child Welfare and Supportive Housing Resource Center newsletter.