Expanding Evidence on Replicable Recovery and Reunification Interventions for Families

The Substance Use-Disorder Prevention that Promotes Opioid Recovery and Treatment (SUPPORT) for Patients and Communities Act (Public Law 115-271) authorizes $15 million in funding for the US Department of Health and Human Services to replicate an intervention utilizing recovery coaches for parents engaged in the child welfare system due to substance use disorders that demonstrates favorable parental recovery outcomes and shortens time to reunification. The replication includes a three-part evaluation:

1. a pilot study;
2. an impact study that includes random assignment and multiple follow-ups of participating families over a 5-year period, and;
3. an implementation study conducted concurrently with the impact study.

The Administration for Children and Families’ (ACF) Children’s Bureau and Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation conducted the first phase of the Expanding Evidence on Replicable Recovery and Reunification Interventions for Families (R3) project, a feasibility study that laid the foundation for ACF to conduct the three-part evaluation. The R3 project had two goals. The first goal was to compile and disseminate a synthesis of the existing body on evidence of recovery and reunification interventions that utilize coaching models to the field. The second goal was to determine the feasibility of conducting a rigorous impact evaluation of one or more potentially replicable and scalable interventions.

To do this, the R3 project:

1. identified family recovery and reunification interventions that used recovery coaches and were suitable for moving to the next level of evidence;
2. engaged relevant experts and stakeholders who had valuable knowledge to contribute to the project;
3. identified sites appropriate for the evaluation; and
4. designed and implemented a feasibility study to inform an impact evaluation of selected interventions.

This contract was awarded to Abt Associates and its subcontractors, Faces and Voices of Recovery and Joseph Ryan (University of Michigan School of Social Work).

Point(s) of contact: Calonie Gray and Kelly Jedd McKenzie.

Information collections related to this project have been reviewed and approved by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs under ACF’s Generic Clearance for Formative Data Collections for ACF Research (OMB #0970-0356). Related materials are available at the Expanding Evidence on Replicable Recovery and Reunification Interventions for Families page on RegInfo.gov.