Key insight - CFSS Intensive Family Services (IFS) are helping families stay together.
In partnership with BetterStart, data has been used to map outcomes across the CFSS, creating a system that quantifies how effective services are in supporting children and families.
This evaluation is showing that CFSS IFS are achieving a 93.2% preservation rate (i.e. children do not enter out of home care) over a 24-month follow-up period.1 This is resulting in an additional 86 children every year not entering out-of-home care (based on a comparison group of high-risk families who do not receive intensive family support).
It has been estimated that this preservation outcome results in a conservative government return on investment of $1.86 for every $1 government spends. That is, for every $1 spent on IFS, the government avoids $1.86 on future out-of-home care costs over the following 4 years.
The evidence from BetterStart and DHS represents the first stage in a long-term, ongoing evaluation of CFSS IFS. Analyses planned as part of this ongoing evaluation include secondary child and parent outcomes related to safety and wellbeing such as child protection substantiated investigations, and drug and alcohol, injury or mental-health related hospital admissions or emergency department presentations.
Reference list
- BetterStart Health and Development Research Group, University of Adelaide, DHS Intensive Family Service: Quasi-experimental evaluation (2025).