Families involved in the child welfare system are often navigating multiple, intersecting challenges at once, including housing instability, poverty, health needs, and trauma. When housing is unstable, these challenges compound, increasing the likelihood of child welfare involvement and, in the most severe cases, family separation.
The Keeping Families Together model was developed in collaboration with the Corporation for Supportive Housing through its Frequent User System Model (FUSE) to intervene at this intersection by pairing permanent supportive housing with wraparound services for families involved with child welfare who are also experiencing homelessness. A new evaluation of Mecklenburg County’s Keeping Families Together program offers important insight into how this approach is working locally and what it tells us about the role of housing in stabilizing families and reducing system involvement.
This blog summarizes findings from the Mecklenburg County Keeping Families Together program evaluation, highlighting housing outcomes and changes in child welfare involvement for families served between 2020 and 2023.