MARKETING SOCIAL-CHANGE - THE CASE OF FAMILY PRESERVATION

Foundations, in attempting to fill the vacuum created by the Federal government's retreat from the field of child welfare in the 1980s, have played an important role in penetrating professional practice and shaping public policy. This case study examines the Edna McConnell Clark Foundation's promotion of the Homebuilders type of family preservation services as the sole model worthy of public support. It suggests that successful marketing and dissemination of a single program design, in this policy environment, not only may displace other, no less effective programs and models, such success in marketing may also have adverse effects on research, education, continued innovation, needed diversity, and the public policymaking system.