Healthy Families Pilot Program - Annual Evaluation

The report is the final in a series of three reports issued on the Healthy Families Pilot Program. The first two reports focused on program implementation. The final report addresses the Program’s outcomes and impacts. Specifically, the Healthy Families Pilot Program has reduced the rates of child abuse and neglect for some participants. Reductions in child abuse and neglect were found for parents with more than one child and for parents who stay in the Program for at least six months. However, analyses of the child abuse and neglect data for first time parents and for parents with prior histories of abuse or neglect are inconclusive. In addition to the direct impact the Program has had for children by reducing child abuse and neglect, Healthy Families has been successful at improving children’s home environments and their health care. Parents in the Program are also found to benefit by increased self-sufficiency, resulting in a reduction in their reliance on public assistance programs. The Program is found to have some offsetting financial benefits that in the short term reduce the cost of the program to taxpayers by more than 50 percent. Long term benefits of the Program could not be estimated at this time, but may further offset the initial costs of the program.