What Happened?

ABSTRACT

This article presents an overview and historical analysis of child welfare from its inception in the 19th century through the Social Security Act of 1935 and into the present. An argument is made that the historical de-professionalization of child welfare is reflected in changing societal values and resultant legislation framing investments in child welfare, as well as the influence of child welfare on the quality of services to children and families. De-professionalization has resulted in lowering the professional credentials of child welfare staff, increasing levels of employee turnover, the formulation of questionable policies, all affecting the quality of services to children and families. Implications of the findings for the re-professionalization of child welfare and for policy and practice are discussed.     

Child Well-Being: Where Is It in Our Data Systems?

Child well-being is a required goal for public child welfare. Despite this requirement, there continues to be no systematic inclusion of child well-being indicators in administrative data, particularly for children remaining in the home. This brief commentary provides a rationale and suggested steps for moving toward inclusion of well-being indicators as a part of standard electronic record-keeping. Suggested operationalized elements for inclusion in electronic records are offered as well as suggestions for linkage across systems to begin to capture elements of the outcome of well-being automatically. Limitations and barriers are discussed as well as present policy changes that may provide support for this endeavor.     

Caregiver engagement in the behavioral health screening and assessment for child welfare-involved children: child welfare and behavioral health workers’ perspectives

Caregivers are frequent sources of information of their children’s behavioral health and other service needs. It is particularly challenging to engage child welfare-involved caregivers who risk losing custody of their children. This case study explores how caregivers who were about to lose custody of their children engage in their children’s behavioral health screening and assessment from the perspective of child welfare and behavioral health workers. Using qualitative data collected via focus groups from child welfare and behavioral health workers, themes were identified related to the process of engaging caregivers in child behavioral health screening and assessment, determinants (both internal and external) for the caregiver engagement process, and how this process affected screening and assessment outcomes. Findings have implications for screening and assessing behavioral health needs of children involved with the child welfare system and recommended strategies to better engage caregivers in the process.     

Does the Money Matter? Examining the Source and Type of Child Welfare Dollars Through the Eyes of County Child Welfare Services Directors

Child abuse is addressed through a complicated design of federal, state, and local funds. Congress approved a new round of waivers permitting states to flexibly use funds, otherwise limited to foster care reimbursement, for other child welfare needs. Conducted in Ohio, this longitudinal study examined flexible funds from child welfare directors’ perspectives, including key informant interviews, a survey, and semi-structured interviews. Directors noted that improved discretion results in better child health outcomes and better community partnerships; community partnerships are essential to promoting the health and safety of vulnerable children; and federal child welfare success measures do not reflect directors’ perceptions of success.     

I’m From the Government and I’m Here to Help: How Can Public Health Perspectives Improve Outreach in Child Maltreatment Prevention Programs?

State and local governments are designing programs to prevent child maltreatment at an increasing rate. A relatively small portion of families offered these programs go on to engage in and complete services. Workers in a child maltreatment prevention program implemented across 21 sites in 1 state documented outreach efforts in logs maintained by program evaluators. Additionally, evaluators interviewed 23 outreach workers and supervisors who were developing and refining outreach strategies in this prevention program. Data from logs and responses to interviews speak to challenges in navigating prevention outreach with families to achieve engagement and buy-in, particularly when “cold-calling” about screened-out reports of child maltreatment. This paper presents a summary of barriers and facilitators of family engagement in outreach for prevention services, guidance from the public health literature on improving outreach strategies for at-risk populations, and suggested practice, policy, and research implications.     

Issues in Risk Assessment in Child Protective Services

ABSTRACT

Child welfare organizations throughout North America have expended millions of dollars to develop, implement, and institutionalize formal risk assessment models to improve decision making for maltreated children and their families. This article summarizes findings of the risk assessment literature and concludes that many risk assessment protocols currently in use may not improve either the consistency or the accuracy of protective service decisions for maltreated children. The article recommends strategies to improve decisions that promote child safety by utilizing a continuum of empirically supported decision making tools, each designed for a specific purpose during the life of the case.     

Making Choices: Adoption Seekers’ Preferences and Available Children with Special Needs

Most children available from public adoption agencies are children with special needs, such as disabilities. This pilot study on the child profile preferences of 5830 adults registered with province-wide adoption agency found that those who were most open to considering children with special needs had been formally seeking to adopt for some time and had completed government-required SAFE assessments and training. Most preferred younger children, and half would consider sibling groups. Between 43% to 60% indicated willingness to consider adopting children with degrees of learning disabilities, emotional behavioral disorders, and physical disabilities, although the willing proportion decreased as the level of each disability's specified impact progressed from “mild” to “moderate” to “severe.” Most preferred, among 20 categories of available children's possible exposures and health diagnoses, were past abuse exposures versus diagnosed disabilities or enduring conditions. Possible explanations for these findings and their implications are explored and ideas for further research proposed.     

Educational Services for Children in Foster Care

ABSTRACT

Most literature on the education of foster youth focuses on their individual outcomes and characteristics. A small body of literature documents a lack of collaboration between the child welfare and education systems. This study explores commonalities and differences in perspectives between child welfare and education system stakeholders. It draws on findings from a multi-county exploratory study on educational services for foster youth. The findings in this study identify several systemic barriers including placement instability within the child welfare system, limited financial resources of schools, and poor inter-agency communication. In addition, differences in the perceptions of school and child welfare agency personnel regarding the needs of foster children in school, problems encountered in enrolling children in school, and the role and motives of each agency in addressing these needs and problems are identified. These differences point to both the challenges involved in improving communications and collaboration between the two systems, as well as the opportunities to improve educational services to children in foster care.