Components of the Solution-Based Casework Child Welfare Practice Model That Predict Positive Child Outcomes

While a number of studies have shown the efficacy of the solution-based casework (SBC) practice model for child welfare (e.g., Antle, Christensen, van Zyl, & Barbee, 2012 Antle, B. F., Christensen, D. N., van Zyl, M. A. & Barbee, A. P. (2012). The impact of the Solution Based Casework (SBC) practice model on federal outcomes in public child welfare. Child Abuse & Neglect, 36, 342–353.[Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]), the current analysis examines the top ranked behaviors in cases reaching outcomes of safety, permanency, and well-being in both high adherence and low adherence cases. Sixteen top behaviors seem to have the greatest impact on outcomes, all of which are key to the three major theoretical orientations utilized in SBC. Thus, these results not only narrow in on the key behaviors that drive success in the practice model, but also shows the utility of the theoretical underpinnings of the practice model.     

Using Cost Analysis to Examine Variability in Replications of an Efficacious Child Neglect Prevention Program

This article reports on a program- and case-level cost analysis of five replication sites of an efficacious child neglect prevention program. Approximately one-third of all sites' total labor hours were expended on direct family services and casework support for a specific family, with the remainder spent on indirect implementation support and program administration activities. Including non-personnel costs, the all-site mean total cost per family was $6,276, ranging across sites from $2,245 to $10,260. Costs varied greatly among individual families within sites. More research is needed to understand factors associated with differences in cost.     

Child Welfare Assessment Practices in Scotland: An Ecological Process Grounded in Relationship-Building

Beginning with the initial contact with the family, Scottish child welfare policy and practice are grounded in ecological practice and community relationships. New guidance called “Getting it Right for Every Child in Scotland” (GIRFEC) is focused on universal child well-being and may have a significant impact on social work practice. This article explores the results of a multi-methods case study conducted in Scotland and highlights key aspects of new policy implementation and relational social work characteristics that are important to advance ecological child welfare practice. It may also have implications for other cultural contexts.     

Development and Initial Findings of an Implementation Process Measure for Child Welfare System Change

This article describes a new measure designed to examine the process of implementation of child welfare systems change. The measure was developed to document the status of the interventions and strategies that are being implemented and the drivers that are being installed to achieve sustainable changes in systems. The measure was used in a Children's Bureau-supported national effort to assess the ongoing implementation of 24 systems-change projects in child welfare jurisdictions across the country. The article describes the process for measure development, method of administration and data collection, and quantitative and qualitative findings.     

Barriers to Cross-Systems Collaboration in Child Welfare,Education, and the Courts: Supporting Educational Well-being of Youth in Care Through Systems Change

Cross-systems collaboration between child welfare, education, and the courts benefits when challenges and priorities are identified early. We measured perceptions of educational stability in foster youth with a statewide survey of 1,603 professionals in education, child welfare, and the courts. Results reveal commonalities among perceived challenges to collaboration across systems (e.g., multiple foster care placements; school changes) and differences in perceived importance or significance of a given issue by professional group. Results guided collaborative work in Kansas and may assist other states seeking strategies that inform cross-systems collaboration to improve educational well-being for youth in foster care.     

Vicarious Trauma in Child Welfare Workers: A Study of Organizational Responses

Child welfare is provided within an organizational context that both supports and thwarts the efforts of workers and administrators to meet the myriad of goals established by federal, state, and local regulation and professional bodies. As the field moves toward trauma-informed services for children and families (Ko et al., 2008 Ko, S. J., Ford, J. D., Kassam-Adams, N., Berkowitz, S. J., Wilson, C., Wong, M., Brymer, M. J., &; Layne, C. M. (2008). Creating trauma-informed systems: Child welfare, education, first responders, healthcare, juvenile justice. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 39(4), 396–404.[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]), the effect of trauma on workers has received less agency attention (Middleton &; Potter, 2015 Middleton, J. S., &; Potter, C. C. (2015). Relationship between vicarious traumatization and turnover among child welfare professionals. Journal of Public Child Welfare, 9(2), 195–216.[Taylor &; Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). This exploratory, qualitative study examines the level of knowledge administrators have regarding vicarious trauma and probes the organizational responses of public child welfare agencies to the vicarious trauma experienced by workers.     

Views on workplace culture and climate: through the lens of retention and Title IV-E participation

ABSTRACT

Retention of public child welfare (PCW) workers is the focus of much scholarly research. Examinations of the topic have ranged from assessments of workers’ background to job factors and attitudinal components about the workplace. Unlike most studies, the present study uses agency administrative data on retention. In it, 502 PCW workers responded to a point-in-time survey covering a wide range of topics including job satisfaction, commitment to child welfare, perceptions of culture and climate, Title IV-E status, and demographic variables. While Title IV-Es were more likely to leave the agency, several significant interactions between Title IV-E and retention status showed that Title IV-Es who left the agency had significantly lower supervisor satisfaction and influence than Title IV-Es who stayed; and lower efficacy scores than non-Title IV-Es who left. No such differences were found for non-Title IV-E stayers and leavers. Implications for these differences for county agencies and universities are discussed.     

Strengthening Public-Private Partnerships in State Child Welfare Systems: Results of a Multi-State Strategic Planning Process

Dramatic growth in health and human service contracting over the past two decades has increased the need for managerial competency in the development and sustainment of effective cross-sector partnerships. Although the quality of relations between partnering agencies can affect client outcomes, few macro-level interventions for strengthening cross-sector partnerships have been described or tested in the literature. This article describes a facilitated, strategic planning process implemented in five different states and presents pre-post test results of its effect on different factors known to affect partnership success. Implications for child welfare administrative practice and research are discussed.     

Early Care and Education for Children in the Child Welfare System: Evaluations of Two Training Programs

Despite evidence that early care and education services benefit at-risk children, they remain underutilized by families in the child welfare system. This article describes two training programs developed to educate child welfare and childcare/preschool staff about the importance of early care and education for maltreated children and how to access these services. A combined total of 274 trainees completed knowledge tests about this topic and significant pre- to post-training improvements indicate that both training programs effectively increased participants' knowledge about this important topic. In addition, improvement in self-assessed competency was observed for participants in one program, and positive changes in attitudes and anticipated practice behavior regarding childcare for foster children were observed among participants in the other.     

Training Child Welfare Professionals to Support Healthy Couple Relationships: Examining the Link to Training Transfer

Integrating healthy relationship and marriage education (RME) into child welfare services is a relatively recent initiative. Guided by the theoretical work in child welfare training evaluation, the current study describes the development and testing of a new RME training for child welfare professionals. Based on data collected from 272 trainees, results from structural equation modeling indicate a linear association between learner attitudes and newly acquired knowledge and skills to perceptions of training usefulness, which, in turn, influenced implementation of RME skills with clients. Implications for the delivery and evaluation of programming, in general and specific to RME, are shared.     

Bridging the Gap Between Research and Practice: The Work of the Steering Team for the Child Welfare Research and Evaluation Translational Framework Workgroup

This article describes the framework developed by the Child Welfare Research and Evaluation Translational Framework Workgroup that was sponsored by the U.S. Children's Bureau for building evidence and bringing evidence-supported interventions to scale. The framework delineates five phases of implementation and evaluation: 1) identify and explore problem definitions and strength of evidence for promising interventions; 2) develop and test innovative interventions when evidence is suggestive; 3) compare and learn about alternative treatments where evidence is equivocal; 4) replicate and adapt better treatments when summary evidence is strong; and 5) apply and improve continuously the quality and integrity of evidence-based practice.     

A Statewide Study of the Public's Knowledge of Child Abuse Reporting Laws

This study conducted telephone interviews with a random sample of adults (N = 509) in a state with a universal child abuse reporting law. A substantial proportion of the interviewees (39%) were not aware of this law. Findings indicated that the public's understanding was mixed. Most respondents knew that reports could be made anonymously and that their identity could be kept private. However, most believed that children are automatically removed from the home if there is maltreatment and more than 50% were not aware they could be charged with a misdemeanor for failing to report a suspicion of child abuse. The respondents who had ever made a report (19%), had a greater knowledge of the laws than those who had not made a report. Older adults and those with less education had the least accurate perception of child abuse reporting policies. When asked about barriers to reporting, respondents cited worries that reporting would not help the child. Findings suggest that efforts to increase the public's comfort with reporting may require strategies to increase their confidence that the benefits will outweigh the risks for the child.     

Social Media and E-professionalism in Child Welfare: Policy and Practice

The professional child welfare literature offers little guidance to child welfare managers and agency policy makers about the use of social media to search for or communicate with clients. Ethical social media use relies upon e-professionalism, defined as the professional identity established by workers through the way they utilize digital communications. This article offers considerations for standards of e-professionalism in child welfare policy and practice. Specific considerations are outlined for social media policy and practice scenarios are offered, which can be used to prompt agency discussions with child welfare workers.     

Acting Like It Matters: A Scoping Review of Simulation in Child Welfare Training

Simulation-based training is often used to prepare health practitioners and is increasingly employed to train child welfare workers. This scoping review systematically searched the published and grey literature for studies that evaluated training for child welfare practitioners and used simulation methods that included standardized actors. Three studies met inclusion criteria, all documenting improvement in participants' use of specific skills. Other outcomes were mixed, possibly reflecting the heterogeneity of samples, study methods, measures, training of actors, theoretical frameworks, and content areas. Though results were mostly positive, the small number of studies indicates a substantial need for further research.     

Developmental Disabilities in Children Involved with Child Welfare: Correlates of Referrals for Service Provision

Using data from the National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-being (NSCAW), this study explores the characteristics of child welfare involvement for children (N = 639; aged 3–17.5 years) with at least one developmental disability. In addition, a central focus of this exploration was to examine respective differences in how caregivers and caseworkers initiated referrals for services for children with disabilities. The sample was divided into three exclusive groups based on type of developmental disability: learning disability (weighted percentage 70.3%); Mental Retardation (now referred to as Intellectual Disability), Downs Syndrome, or; developmental delay (weighted percentage 1.8%); and presence of multiple types of disabilities, including autism (weighted percentage 27.9%). Results from the logistic regression analyses indicate children in this population who are placed in out-of-home care receive more referrals than those residing in-home with biological caregivers; older children and children with multiple disabilities are also more apt to obtain referrals to formal assessments. On the other hand, children who were considered in the “other” race category (includes children who identify as: multi-racial; Asian; Pacific Islander; Native American) were significantly less likely to be referred for a formal assessment. Regarding the association between specific maltreatment type and assessment referrals, children with reports of emotional maltreatment had significantly higher odds of being referred for formal assessments.     

Family Group Conferencing: An Indigenous Practice Approach to Compliance With the Indian Child Welfare Act

Native American children are perpetually over-represented in the U.S. child welfare system, despite the creation of the Indian Child Welfare Act. This article examines the use of family group conferencing, particularly initiated in Indian child welfare systems, as a practice method to reduce the disproportionality in this area.     

Kinship Guardianship,Adoption, and Foster Care: Outcomes from a U.S. National Sample

Using data from a national longitudinal survey of children referred to child protective services (NSCAW II), this article compares behavioral, child/caregiver relationship, and school performance outcomes for children residing in kinship and nonkinship settings. Up to three waves of data were gathered for each child. The analysis sample comprises 4,202 children and 10,881 observations. Two sets of regressions were completed. One represents family living settings using child-mean centered predictors while the other does so with dummy-coded variables. An advantage of the child-mean centered predictors is that omitted variables that vary between children but that are constant within each child do not introduce bias. The regressions using dummy-coded variables evidenced, on balance, somewhat better outcomes for kinship settings than for nonkinship ones. Good outcomes in these regressions were found for kinship adoption. Results with the child-mean centered regressions were more equivocal, though perhaps still favored kinship settings. Limitations and policy recommendations conclude the article.     

Mental Health Treatment Experiences and Expectations in Foster Care: A Qualitative Investigation

This study explores perspectives on mental health treatment experiences and expectations for youth in foster care and their foster parents. In-depth interviews were conducted and identified for major themes: (1) the dual stigma of foster care and mental health care; (2) the lack of engagement in mental health therapy; (3) trust issues with the therapist and other individuals; and (4) the desire to integrate mental health services with primary care services. These results have implications for mental health service delivery and suggest opportunities to improve mental health treatment through an integrated care approach.     

Racial Disparities in Service Referrals for Families in the Child Welfare System

Among families in the child welfare system, family reunification depends largely upon the services to which families are referred. This study examines whether race/ethnicity influences the number and types of services to which families are referred. Findings suggest that compared to African American families, Hispanic families were more often referred to psychosocial services (e.g., mental health) than basic needs (e.g., housing). These findings indicate a need to reduce service referral disparities between ethnic groups.     

Child- and Family-Centered Practices in a Post-Bureaucratic Era: Inherent Conflicts Encountered by the New Child Welfare Professional

Various child welfare organizations are changing services by adopting child- and family-centered approaches and moving away from redundant bureaucracy, top-down strategies, and fragmented networks. This shift inevitably poses challenges. This article uses the case of intensive family case management in the Netherlands to explore conflicts perceived by professionals and associated coping strategies. Findings are that internal conflicts (leading to a relapse into old routines or to misinterpretation of purpose) and boundary conflicts (leading to a relapse into old collaboration agreements) cause challenges. Pioneering organizations need to provide support for learning and reflection between professionals, seeking alignment between accountability and learning.