Background

Housing First (HF) is an evidence-based service model that combines permanent housing and supportive case management premised on harm reduction and consumer self-determination to end homelessness for high-need individuals. Originally developed for use with single adults, this model is now being employed with families. Yet there is little empirical work on how HF is implemented with this particular population.

Objective

The aim of this study is to examine how frontline providers adapt and apply HF to formerly homeless or at-risk, families involved in child welfare.

Participants and setting

Frontline providers working in family HF programs (N = 59) were recruited from two states, across 11 organizations, and 16 program sites. The theoretical sample (n = 26) includes 13 participants working in programs that encouraged direct collaboration with Child Protective Services (CPS) in the program model and 13 participants from three non-CPS-aligned sites in a second state.

Methods

A grounded theory approach was used to analyze semi-structured, qualitative interviews.

Results

Frontline providers exercised street-level bureaucratic discretion when interpreting child protection reporting mandates and they found ways to adapt the HF model to this population. In doing so, they worked to juggle both their mandates to child protection and to principles of HF to create a “child safety-modified” form of HF.

Conclusions

While our study shows that providers are modifying HF to address the needs of families involved in child welfare, it also raises questions as to the degree to which HF can be done with high fidelity when used with this population.

中文翻译：

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在“住房优先”中为家庭协商儿童保护任务

背景

Housing First (HF) 是一种以证据为基础的服务模式，它结合了以减少伤害和消费者自决为前提的永久性住房和支持性案例管理，以结束高需求人群的无家可归。该模型最初是为单身成人开发的，现在已被家庭使用。然而，关于如何在这个特定人群中实施 HF 的实证工作很少。

客观的

本研究的目的是检查前线提供者如何适应和应用 HF 到以前无家可归或有风险的家庭参与儿童福利。

参与者和设置

在家庭 HF 计划中工作的前线提供者 (N = 59) 是从两个州、11 个组织和 16 个计划地点招募的。理论样本（n = 26）包括在项目模型中鼓励与儿童保护服务 (CPS) 直接合作的项目中的 13 名参与者，以及来自处于第二个状态的三个非 CPS 对齐站点的 13 名参与者。

方法

扎根理论方法用于分析半结构化的定性访谈。

结果

前线提供者在解释儿童保护报告任务时行使了街道级别的官僚自由裁量权，他们找到了使 HF 模型适应这一人群的方法。在这样做的过程中，他们努力兼顾儿童保护的任务和 HF 原则，以创建一种“儿童安全改良”形式的 HF。

结论

虽然我们的研究表明提供者正在修改 HF 以解决参与儿童福利的家庭的需求，但它也提出了一个问题，即在与该人群一起使用时，HF 可以在多大程度上以高保真度完成。