Study Reveals Impact on Child Safety and Permanency

“The Impact of Parents Anonymous® on Child Safety and Permanency”, Children and Youth Services Review, May 2021. Cynthia Burnson, Sarah Covington, Bertha Arvizo, Jun Qiao, Evident Change and Elizabeth Harris, Lodestar Center for Philanthropy and Nonprofit Innovation. The study found that parents who participated in Parents Anonymous® were significantly less likely to experience new referrals and new substantiated referrals to the child welfare system within a year of finishing the program than parents who did not participate in the program. The odds of a parent who finished the program experiencing a new substantiated referral were one third as high as those of parents who did not attend the program. While Parents Anonymous® serves a wide variety of parents, most participating parents from those two California counties are at high risk of repeated system involvement and have considerable histories in the child welfare system. Taken in context, the study findings indicate that the program could help reduce the likelihood of system involvement even for this high-risk group. This study adds to previous studies over the past 51 years showing Parents Anonymous® leads to better outcomes for families.

Interventions Relevant to Children and Families Being Served with Family First Funding that Have Been Shown to be Effective with Families of Color: Research Brief Executive Summary. Casey Family Programs, 2021. Parents Anonymous® is highlighted for effectiveness with children and families of color along with other programs rated Promising, Supported, or Well-supported by the FFPSA Prevention Clearinghouse. Parents Anonymous® is 1 out of 13 Supported and Well Supported programs shown to be effective with children and families of color.