June 1, 2007

Evaluation of Oregon's Relief Nursery Program, 2005-2006

The Oregon Commission on Children and Families (OCCF) contracted with NPC Research to conduct the fiscal year (FY) 2005-2006 evaluation of Relief Nursery Programs. Relief Nurseries serve families in Albany, Bend, Cottage Grove, Eugene, Medford, Portland, Roseburg, and Salem. According to data provided to NPC Research by the Nurseries, over 600 families participated in the Nursery programs during fiscal year 2005-2006. Relief Nurseries provide core services to high-risk families, and outreach services based on community needs. Core services include therapeutic early childhood services, home visits, parent education classes, respite care, and alcohol and drug recovery support. This report describes the program's history and implementation, and provides an overview of the evaluation. Following the overview a detailed description of the program outcomes is provided. The evaluation of Relief Nurseries included measures of two key areas of parenting quality. The first, family functioning, includes topics such as the presence of consistent daily routines, the family's ability to handle these routines, and the availability of positive social support. The second measures the quality of parent-child interactions. Results found that after only 6 months of involvement in Relief Nursery services, participants significantly improved both their overall family functioning and the quality of their parent-child interactions. Overall, after 6 months in the program: the number of families demonstrating positive family functioning increased from 36% to 78% and the number of families demonstrating positive parent-child interactions increased from 46% to 78%. In addition, the program decreased overall family risk. The report concludes with a summary of the outcomes, highlighting implications and recommendations for future evaluation data collection and reporting infrastructure.