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Rural Health Information Hub
Rural Health Information Hub

Rural Project Examples: Child welfare

Effective Examples

Updated/reviewed April 2025

  • Need: To support parents whose children have been removed from the home so that the parents can make the changes needed for the children to return safely home.
  • Intervention: A statewide program in Iowa pairs these parents with mentors who have successfully navigated their own child welfare cases.
  • Results: Participants' children were more likely to return home than non-participants' children, and participants were less likely to have another child removal within a year of the child coming home.

Other Project Examples

Updated/reviewed January 2026

  • Need: Improve health and wellness outcomes for those affected by trauma and adverse experiences.
  • Intervention: A language, traditions, and customs-specific evidence-based peer support model that trains local communities on education and prevention strategies to address and heal the effects of trauma.
  • Results: Peer-reviewed results show decreases in emergency room visits and hospitalizations, over 50% reduction of trauma symptomology, decreases in unhealthy substance use, and improvements in family and spiritual well-being. Model elements have adapted in Canada and several Lower 48 states.
funded by the Federal Office of Rural Health Policy

Updated/reviewed November 2025

  • Need: To support pregnant and parenting women with a history of substance use, mental health, or co-occurring disorders in rural areas of Montana.
  • Intervention: One Health, a consortium of Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs), developed a team of "recovery doulas" – individuals who are dual-certified as doulas and peer-support specialists. The One Health recovery doula program offers group and individual services to women and their partners from pregnancy through the first years of parenthood.
  • Results: A team of four recovery doulas (or doulas-in-training) employed by One Health offer services in 8 rural eastern Montana counties. One Health has also successfully trained and certified 35 Peer Recovery Doulas statewide through their Peer Recovery Doula certification curriculum.

Updated/reviewed July 2025

  • Need: To develop a child and family well-being system that provides rural Texas communities with flexibility, authority, and adaptability to improve services and outcomes for children and families.
  • Intervention: SJRC Texas's division Belong is the lead provider for Community-Based Care (CBC) for Region 8, which encompasses 28 counties. Services include foster and kinship care, case management, and reunification services for those involved in the foster care system.
  • Results: Since October 2021, SJRC Texas | Belong CBC has served more than 2,150 children and young adults, and 834 youth have achieved permanency through family reunification or kinship care.

For examples from other sources, see: