Keeping Families Together: The Homebuilders Model

When a family’s problems become so severe that traditional community resources are unable to help them effectively, caseworkers are usually advised to place children outside the home. Family preservation services such as Homebuilders are designed to give caseworkers and families another option: services that are more intensive, accessible, flexible, and goal-oriented than conventional supports. Keeping Families Together profiles the kinds of families that are assisted by prevention services such as this, tracing the salient features of its innovative approach to crisis intervention, its organizational features, and its knowledge and research base. When the book first appeared, Contemporary Psychology said that it speaks for itself as a wonderful description of how to be of help to families in crisis.”