HOMEBUILDERS is an intensive, in-home family preservation and reunification program for families with children (birth to 18) returning from or at risk of placement into foster care, group or residential treatment, psychiatric hospitals, or juvenile justice facilities. The HOMEBUILDERS Model is designed to eliminate barriers to service, while using research-based interventions to improve parental skills, parental capabilities, family interactions, children's behavior, and family safety.

The primary intervention components of the HOMEBUILDERS Model are engaging and motivating family members; conducting holistic, behavioral assessments of strengths and problems; developing outcome-based goals; using evidence-based cognitive/behavioral interventions; teaching skills to facilitate behavior change; and developing and enhancing ongoing supports and resources. HOMEBUILDERS programs have been successfully implemented in diverse and multiethnic/multicultural communities across the United States and other countries.

The goal of this program is to prevent the unnecessary out-of-home placement of children through intensive, on-site intervention, and to teach families new problem-solving skills to prevent future crises.

The Michigan Families First study showed that at 12 months 93 percent of treatment children were still living at home, while only 43 percent of those in the comparison group were living at home. Both groups reported little to no subsequent abuse and neglect after the start of the study. Also, there was little police involvement and there were few arrests in both groups. School behavior between the two groups was similar.

Other evaluations of the HOMEBUILDERS program generally report positive outcomes. For instance, a single-group study of 1,506 children reported that 83 percent avoided out-of-home placement 12 months after intake. Another study of 453 families showed that few children in the treatment group were in out-of-home placement by the end of treatment, and 12 months after the start of treatment this increased to about one third of the sample. In addition, placement rates were higher for the comparison group than for the treatment group (85 percent of the comparison group compared with 44 percent of the treatment group) 12 months after the program. Some program outcomes produced mixed results, possibly owing to the use of heterogeneous client samples.