Family Relief Nursery Outcomes
A track record of over 20 years and regular independent evaluations have shown the Relief 
Nursery model to be one of the most effective approaches to preventing child abuse and neglect in at-risk families. Family Relief Nursery is a member of the Oregon Association of Relief Nurseries and is subject to annual evaluation by an independent research firm.
Overall, Relief Nursery are playing an important role in reducing children's risk for maltreatment in Oregon. A recent evaluation documented Oregon Relief Nurseries’ role in preventing and reducing children’s involvement in the child welfare system. Results in two areas were particularly striking:
Outcome: Child Welfare reports are reduced
- Victimization rates for Relief Nursery families after enrolling in services dropped below the victimization rate for children ages 0-5 in the general population
- Overall, 98.6% of families served by the Relief Nurseries were free from abuse or neglect.
Outcome: Foster care placements are reduced
- After enrolling in Relief Nursery services, the number of foster care placements decreased from 57 to 5.
- In addition, the amount of time children spent in out-of-home foster care placements decreased from 394 days to 179 days after families were enrolled in Relief Nursery services.
Download a one-page summary of this report here.
View the full report here.