Peer-Reviewed Journal Articles
San Diego
The 2020 NCCD study of Family Visit Coaching in San Diego County, California, found that “the Family Visit Coaching model was overwhelmingly positive in the view of parents, workers and coaches.”
Families who were referred to Visit Coaching had much lower odds of reunification within 18 months, but “although they started at a great disadvantage, families who completed coaching had reunification outcomes that compared closely to the general population.” (Family Visit Coaching did not have a statistically significant effect on reunification.) Families who had had more than 30 coached visits had the best outcomes.
“Quantitative analysis of the parenting skills assessment showed a statistically significant improvement in parenting skills, and qualitative analysis of interviews with parents supported this…parents mentioned learning how to praise their child appropriately, redirect the child’s attention, and be effective as parents…the program helps promote relationship building between parent and child. Coaches and CWS staff described various program components that contribute to its effectiveness, including the individualized approach, the natural visit settings, visit frequency, and the program’s advocacy and reassurance aspects. Coaches provided parents with feedback before, during, and after visits, and worked on empowering parents…building on families’ strengths…focusing on parents’ sense of self-sufficiency.”
Child & Family Social Work
Bullen, T., Taplin, S., McArthur, M, Humphrey, C. & Kertesz, M. (2017), Interventions to improve supervised contact visits between children in out of home care and their parents. Child and Family Social Work, 22, pp. 822-33. This article rated 12 visit interventions including Visit Coaching/Family Time Coaching which in 2017 had no efficacy evaluations. The Bullen article concluded, “Despite the limited evidence for the Visit Coaching/Family Time Coaching model, several other family support interventions are based directly on this model,” including the Enhanced Therapeutic Contact model (Milani, 2014), a child resilience enhancement program (Smith, et al. 2014), a parent-caregiver approach to visits (Gerring et al. 2008), and a family reunification model (Simms & Bolden, 1991).
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