it is not surprising that the number of family preservation services programs
has increased over the last 15 years. Although the current number of such
programs is unknown, their expansion has no doubt mirrored that of family-
based programs in general: For example, the National Resource Center on
Family-Based Services listed 20 programs in their 1982 program directory
and 269 in their 1988 directory, the most recent available directory ( National
Resource Center on Family-Based Services, 1988).

This expansion has been due to several factors, including the following:
(1) Family preservation services are grounded in unassailable values -- the
importance of having children grow up with their own parents and of child
and family self-sufficiency; (2) providers have actively promoted the use of
these services; (3) the family preservation concept has been aided and devel-
oped by prominent American foundations, most notably the Edna McCon-
nell Clark Foundation ( Nelson, 1988b); and (4) preservation services are
compatible with the emergent emphasis in public policy upon permanency
planning, treatment of children in the least restrictive environment possible,
and provision of community-based treatment programs in the child welfare,
mental health, and juvenile justice systems, respectively.

Therefore, it is not surprising that there is widespread agreement that
family preservation services have an important role to play in systems
serving children. However, at this point of service expansion and empirical
knowledge, a critical evaluation of the issues relevant to their implemen-
tation and further expansion is clearly needed. Their expansion poses seri-
ous policy dilemmas, and their implementation raises ethical issues. Also,
the accumulating evidence that family preservation services are not equally
effective or appropriate for all families with children at risk of out-of-home
placement suggests programmatic and research questions. My assumption
here is not that family preservation services should be eliminated but rather
that they should not be expanded without attention to some of the dilemmas,
issues, and questions raised in this chapter.

This chapter begins this evaluation by first defining family preservation
services and then tracing their historical antecedents, theoretical underpin-
nings, and the impetus for their development. Then, based upon all of the
above, some of the salient issues raised by this analysis are delineated.

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