A Field Experiment to Test the Effectiveness of Housing Services for Homeless Families Under Investigation for Child Maltreatment

This study takes advantage of a field experiment in Chicago, IL to test the effectiveness of the Family Unification Program (FUP). This US Office of Housing and Urban Development initiative aims to facilitate interagency collaboration between the child welfare and public housing service systems by providing Section 8 Housing Choice Vouchers to homeless families under investigation for child maltreatment. The program coordinates services between the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services (IDCFS) and the Chicago Housing Authority. FUP aims to stabilize housing instability and prevent parent-child separation by providing inadequately housed families with access to affordable housing.

A longitudinal sibling-clustered randomized controlled trial tests program impact within 12 months of referral to FUP. Participants represented families (n =65) involved in the child welfare system in Chicago, IL whose inadequate housing threatened out-of-home placement of children, in Chicago, IL. Families included in these analyses represent an initial cohort referred for FUP between July, 2011 and December, 2011 and followed 12 months later, and final analyses will be conducted with approximately 100 families currently enrolled in the study. All families were deemed eligible for FUP by IDCFS, and only intact families whose children remained in the home at referral were randomized to treatment conditions. Families were randomized on a one-to-one ratio at the time of referral by the research team. Surveyed families represent the population of families referred and eligible for FUP in Chicago, IL.

Results found no differences between treatment and control families on baseline characteristics. Approximately, one out of five families experienced homelessness (22%) at the time of follow-up. A similar rate occurred for out-of-home placement (23%). Logistic regressions tested whether treatment assignment predicted more family stability using intent-to-treat analyses. Families referred to FUP were significantly less likely to report living in precarious housing or literal homelessness situations (b = -1.79, SE = .71, p < .05). To test program effects on out-of-home placement, a binary indicator of whether any child in the home had been removed for any period of time between three months post randomization and follow-up interview was regressed on treatment condition. The p-value for this analysis was set to .10 given apriori power calculations that suggested ability to detect anticipated small effects among intact families with double the sample size available in the initial cohort used in this preliminary analysis. A trend toward significance was found with families referred to FUP being less likely to experience out-of-home placement (b = -1.03, SE = .66, p = .11).