Title: Initiatives to Improve Child Welfare
Outcomes

Series: OJJDP Fact Sheet

Author: Lynn Marble

Published: Office of Juvenile Justice and
Delinquency Prevention

Subject: Program Evaluation, Information Systems

pages: 5

bytes:

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The public and private sectors are intensifying
efforts to ensure that child welfare services
result in positive outcomes for children and
families. Two catalysts are spurring these
efforts: (1) the Adoption and Safe Families Act of
1997 (P.L. 105-80), which requires the U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to
develop outcome measures to rate the performance
of State child welfare programs;[1] and (2) the
growing use of managed care principles (including
fiscal accountability) by child welfare services. 

Highlights of Outcome Initiatives

In light of these developments, the Child Welfare
League of America (CWLA) has published a document
that describes a variety of initiatives to measure
the effectiveness of child welfare services.
Outcome Initiatives in Child Welfare describes 38
recent initiatives in 6 categories: CWLA, national
organizations, universities, States, counties and
cities, and individual agencies. The publication
is not a comprehensive catalog of initiatives;
rather, it provides an overview of activities
taking place at different levels of the child
welfare system and provides liaison contact
information for the initiatives described. This
Fact Sheet highlights some of the efforts featured
in Outcome Initiatives.

CWLA Initiatives

CWLA has several ongoing research projects that
are tracking the outcomes of children and youth in
residential placement, foster care, group care,
and kinship care. CWLA's Child Welfare National
Data Analysis System, the Nation's first
comprehensive and interactive child welfare
database, was announced in May 1999 and is the
subject of an upcoming OJJDP Fact Sheet. CWLA's
Managed Care Institute has several initiatives
that promote best practices for children's
services in a managed care environment.

National Initiatives

A number of national organizations are
facilitating dialog, developing guidelines, and
providing training related to outcome measurement.
The American Humane Association and the National
Association of Public Child Welfare Administrators
sponsor national roundtables on outcome measures
in child welfare services. The Casey Outcomes and
Decision Making Project, undertaken by the Casey
Family Program and the Annie E. Casey Foundation
in partnership with the American Humane
Association, the American Bar Association's Center
for Children and the Law, and the Institute for
Human Services Management, is developing tools
that will help agencies adopt a managed care
approach to child welfare service delivery.
Outcome Initiatives also describes activities
undertaken by the American Public Human Services
Association, the Corporation for Standards and
Outcomes, the Council on Accreditation of Services
for Families and Children, and the National Child
Welfare Resource Center for Management and
Administration.

University-Based Initiatives

Several universities are developing, tracking, and
researching child welfare outcomes and promoting
implementation of management based on
outcomes/results. Chapin Hall Center for Children
at the University of Chicago created the
Multistate Foster Care Data Archive, which
provides longitudinal data on all children in
out-of-home placement in selected States. The
Children and Family Research Center at the
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is
conducting a national study of States'
outcomes-related initiatives and is publishing a
resource guide based on study findings. Outcome
Initiatives also describes projects at Harvard
University, the University of California at
Berkeley, and the University of Kansas.

State Initiatives

Many States have been tracking outcomes for their
child welfare systems since the 1970's, largely in
response to demands from State legislatures and
requirements in child welfare-related lawsuits.
Outcome Initiatives outlines activities in
Colorado, Kansas, Massachusetts, Michigan,
Minnesota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania,
and Texas. [2] In 1992, Colorado formed a group of
private and public sector representatives to
develop an outcome model; the State is testing the
model in six pilot counties. Kansas has begun to
privatize most of its child welfare services,
using performance-based contracts. Massachusetts
recently created "Commonworks," a network of
approximately 150 organizations providing services
for abused/neglected youth. Michigan convened 70
focus groups with more than 1,000 participants
(judges, State employees, children, and others) to
identify and rank outcomes for child welfare
services. The Minnesota "Milestones" initiative
will collect data to track the State's child
welfare performance over the next 30 years.In
1995, Ohio implemented the Child Protection
Oversight and Evaluation Quality Assurance System,
which tracks child welfare outcomes in the areas
of safety, permanency, and well-being and provides
regular data collection, analysis, and feedback.
Oklahoma, the first State to implement the
Statewide Automated Child Welfare Information
System (SACWIS), has made extensive progress in
linking the system to measurable outcomes. Under
legislative mandate, Oregon identified eight
outcomes for its child welfare services and
defined strategies, services, and measures for
each outcome. In Pennsylvania, a task group of
public and private State and county
representatives used a consensus-building approach
to develop a child welfare system plan that
stresses results-based management. The Texas
Department of Protective and Regulatory Services
is using a "children's services simulation model"
to integrate baseline data, evaluate the
effectiveness and efficiency of service delivery,
and predict outcomes.

County and City Initiatives

Counties and cities have made significant reforms
in their child welfare systems by implementing
outcome- and performance-based management. For
example, New York City, NY, began a comprehensive
reform initiative in 1996 with a plan that
specified concrete strategies for reorganizing the
City's protective, preventive, and foster care
services; in June 1998, the City released a status
report on the first phase of the initiative,
during which 15 outcome and performance indicators
were tracked. Outcome Initiatives also describes
projects in Baltimore City, MD; District Four, FL;
El Paso County, CO; and Santa Clara County, CA.

Agency-Based Initiatives

Outcome Initiatives also summarizes programs and
outcome measurement strategies and criteria of
four private sector agencies providing child
welfare services. Boysville of Michigan, Inc.,
Clinton, MI, is a Catholic-oriented, nonprofit
agency that offers residential and community-based
programs for youth and families. The Casey Family
Program in Seattle, WA, serves children requiring
long-term foster care. St. Christopher's, Inc., in
Dobbs Ferry, NY, is a multiservice agency with a
family-focused approach to service delivery and
outcome measurement. Youth Villages in Memphis,
TN, uses a continuum-of-care model emphasizing
clear outcome criteria and cost effectiveness.

For Further Information

Copies of Outcome Initiatives for Child Welfare
are available for $14.95 from the Child Welfare
League of America, Inc., 440 First Street NW.,
Third Floor, Washington, DC 20001-2085; e-mail
books@cwla.org.For additional information, contact
Amy Gordon, Research Associate, Child Welfare
League of America, Inc., 440 First Street NW.,
Third Floor, Washington, DC 20001-2085; 202-662-
4288 (phone), 202-638-4004 (fax), agordon@cwla.org
(e-mail) or visit the CWLA Web site at
www.cwla.org.

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Lynn Marble is a Writer-Editor with the Juvenile
Justice Clearinghouse.

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The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency
Prevention is a component of the Office of Justice
Programs, which also includes the Bureau of
Justice Assistance, the Bureau of Justice
Statistics, the National Institute of Justice, and
the Office for Victims of Crime.

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1 HHS published its final outcome measures in the
August 20, 1999, issue of the Federal Register.

2 As a result of legislative requirements, all 50
States will have outcome tracking systems. The
States highlighted are only examples.