This report presents impact findings from an evaluation of Project Connect—a home-based intervention for families involved in the child welfare system affected by substance use in Rhode Island. We used a randomized controlled trial (RCT) design to test whether Project Connect had a significant impact on reunifications and permanency among children in out-of-home-care in Rhode Island. The evaluation is part of a larger project, Supporting Evidence Building in Child Welfare, aimed at increasing the number of evidence-supported interventions for child welfare populations. We identified Project Connect for its focus on substance use, for its wide reach serving families involved in the child welfare system throughout Rhode Island, and because its model is unique in the state.

Why This Matters

Child welfare cases involving parental substance use are among the most complex, often resulting in the poorest outcomes. In 2022, about 1 in 4 reported cases of child maltreatment nationally had a caregiver with drug use as a risk factor. Families affected by drug use are less likely to achieve successful reunification, and children who enter foster care because of parental drug use are less likely to achieve permanency after they are reunified. Yet effective evidence-supported interventions for families in the child welfare system affected by substance use (and drug use in particular) remain relatively rare.

What We Found

The study focused on reunification at 6 months postrandomization and permanency at 12 months postrandomization among children who were in out-of-home care at the time of randomization. This roughly corresponds to end of treatment (6 months) and a short-term outcome posttreatment (12 months). At 6 months and 12 months postrandomization we found families randomized to Project Connect were statistically significantly less likely to be reunified compared with families randomized to services as usual. The results also showed no statistically significant differences in the share of children discharged to permanency (reunification, adoption, or guardianship) among families randomized to Project Connect compared with families randomized to services as usual. Regression-adjusted findings are below: 

• At 6 months postrandomization, 2 percent of children whose families were randomized to Project Connect were reunified compared with 8 percent of children whose families were randomized to services as usual.
• This difference in the shares reunified grew by 12 months postrandomization, as 15 percent of children whose families were randomized to Project Connect were reunified compared with 28 percent of children whose families were randomized to services as usual.
• On average, a lower share of children whose parents engaged in Project Connect achieved permanency at one year postrandomization compared with children in the control group.

How We Did It

The evaluation used an RCT design to test whether Project Connect produced better outcomes for children and families compared with other available services. From April 2021 to June 2023, families involved in Rhode Island’s Department of Children, Youth, and Families (DCYF) who were referred by their DCYF caseworker for substance use services were randomly assigned to one of two groups: Project Connect (treatment group) or to other services as usual (control group). We compared families assigned to each group based on their demographics, placement histories, case records, and reports of abuse or neglect.