This study evaluated the impact of housing services among child welfare-involved families using observational data. Propensity score matching with data from the National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being compared intact families (n = 183) who received housing services 12 months after initial investigation to nontreated families balanced on…

The development of trauma-informed child welfare systems (TICWSs) that advance individual agency practice to target transformation of the system as a whole has been conceptualized but not documented. A grassroots effort to build a TICWS with key participants (e.g., Department of Human Services, Community Mental Health, Family Court, schools) in…

Expansion of the child welfare evidence base is a major challenge. The field must establish how organizational systems and practice techniques yield outcomes for children and families. Needed research must be grounded in practice and must engage practitioners and administrators via participatory evaluation. The extent to which successful practices…

Conducted interviews with six clients of a child welfare agency providing prevention and support services to the Native population of metropolitan Toronto, Ontario. Found that clients' comments about the agency's programs could contribute significantly to the agency's aim to secure a mandate for child protection. Explored the question of…

Organizational context, including line worker characteristics and service settings, may help explain the equivocal findings of intervention studies in the field of child welfare. Yet organizational context has been largely ignored in studies of child welfare interventions. The purpose of this article is to expound upon the likely role of the…

States that voluntary children's and family services are being affected by a reduction in government funds and argues for a vigorous response through the maintenance and development of tested, valid programs. (Author/MP)

Provides a cost effectiveness analysis specifically applied to a child abuse and neglect treatment program, describing the limitations of an economic analysis and suggesting methods to combat these limitations. (MP)

Offers detailed guidelines that could be used as standard operating procedures for the merger of voluntary social service agencies. Discusses a survey of 32 agencies that merged during the years 1973 to 1986. Issues related to the roles of organization, staff, and service delivery in such mergers receive particular attention. (Author/BB)

This study examines the characteristics of Texas youth designated as "most difficult to place" recipients of service under the "Exceptional Care Pilot Project" (N = 46). Findings include, among others, high levels of comorbid psychiatric disturbance (greater than 3 diagnostic groupings), physical (78.3%) and sexual (88%)…

Describes six survival strategies used by human service agencies in times of fiscal restraint. Discussed are political and funding strategies, and strategies to modify program resources, structural dimensions, roles, and administration. Also considered are factors that enable an agency to use the strategies. (RJC)

Describes the development of a case management program for children at the Center for the Vulnerable Child at Children's Hospital in Oakland, California. Case management was introduced into multidisciplinary clinical programs for foster children, drug-exposed infants, and adolescent mothers and their infants. (PAM)

Describes treatment activities at the Boys Town Emergency Shelter Program for runaway and homeless youths. An examination of data collected from 100 shelter users indicated a high number of teaching interactions between staff and youths high levels of youth satisfaction with the staff; and a low frequency of youth disruptive behaviors in the…

Argues that current economic problems may be an indication of deep, long term economic crisis. Points out implications of economic crises for families and human services, and suggests four options for responding as a society to economic hard times. (RH)

Briefly reviews general grouping of methods of program evaluation, discusses considerations in selecting a method, and comments on the roles and responsibilities of the public and voluntary sectors in the process of planning, evaluating, and implementing programs. (SS)

This article features three housing programs designed to target the needs of youth aging out of child welfare. One program combines housing and treatment to move substance-dependent youth off the streets; one combines the resources of Urban Peak, the only licensed homeless and runaway youth shelter in Colorado, with the Denver Department of Human…