The study found that approximately 40 percent of children involved in both Option 2 (n=279) and a matched comparison group of referred children who did not receive Option 2 services (n=89) eventually entered public care; however, Option 2 children took longer to enter care, spent less time in care, and were more likely to be back with their families at followup. Consequently, Option 2 produced significant cost savings. Findings suggest that Option 2 was a highly professional and appreciated service by its clients. For some families, it achieved permanent positive change. For other Option 2 families, particularly those with complex, long-standing problems, significant positive changes were not sustained over time. Option 2 intervenes with families whose children are considered at risk of entering public care. The program involves immediate, intensive, and short-term intervention through targeted services delivered in the client’s home. Child protection workers are on call 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Families are given as much time as they need at the time they need services. Services are concentrated in a period of 4 weeks, and workers are responsible for only one intensive case at a time. The finding that families with complex issues could not sustain positive change suggests that a short-term intensive intervention is not sufficient to achieve lasting change for these families. Longer term or episodic intervention services may be needed for such families. The quasi-experimental evaluation compared data relating to public care for the treatment and control groups for an average of 3.5 years after referral for services. 3 tables and 12 references