The Illinois Child Welfare Department implemented a statewide health care system to ensure that children in foster care obtain quality health care by providing each child with a medical home. This study demonstrates that the Medical Home model works for children in foster care providing better health outcomes in higher immunization rates. These…

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…

An abundance of research suggests that children in the child welfare system (CWS) have experienced numerous traumatic events and are exhibiting traumatic stress symptoms. Therefore, it is critical that the CWS work closely with the mental health system to ensure that these children receive the appropriate trauma screening, trauma-focused…

State child welfare risk and safety assessment data were analyzed to determine three levels of in-home service that correspond to the Child Welfare League of America's (CWLA) national caseload standards and to evaluate the number of staff needed to provide services at each level. The analysis revealed that 50% additional case-carrying in-home…

The increasing diversity of the populations encountered and served by child welfare workers challenges cultural competence models. Current concerns focus on the unintentional over-emphasis on shared group characteristics, undervaluing unique differences of individuals served, and privileging worker expertise about the client's culture, thereby…

National survey data were used to assess whether child welfare agency ties to behavioral health care providers improved placement stability for adolescents served by both systems. Adolescents initially at home who were later removed tended to have fewer moves when child welfare and behavioral health were in the same larger agency. Joint training…

This article describes qualitative findings regarding lessons learned from research and demonstration projects in four states focused on the implementation of clinical supervision within their public child welfare agencies. This was part of a larger mixed methods study of the effectiveness of these new clinical supervision models on practice,…

Despite the recognized importance of mental health concerns among youth in the child welfare population, data suggest a significant gap between children who need services and children who receive services. This paper aims to address this problem by focusing on the ways in which the system identifies--or fails to identify--children as needing…

As the population of the United States has changed over the last two decades, so has the population of children who come to the attention of the child welfare system, resulting in increasing calls for cultural competence in all aspects of child welfare programming and practice. Given the changing demographics among children involved in the child…

There is limited research assessing the effectiveness of family engagement for improving permanency for children. An important challenge is that randomized designs are not feasible for evaluating these practices because effective implementation of family engagement requires systemic change. Findings from a national evaluation are presented to…

This study examines the comparative effectiveness of using law enforcement agencies for child protective investigation (CPI), in contrast with the traditional approach of CPI conducted by the public child welfare agency. The analysis uses 2006-2007 data from a natural experiment conducted in Florida to show modest differences in performance and…

This study examined adolescent paternity through structured interviews with their social workers. It adds to the literature by exploring if there were young men involved with the child protection services (CPS) system who are fathers, identifying their unique needs, and beginning discussions on working with these young men. CPS social workers from…

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…

Differences between child welfare- and nonchild welfare-involved families regarding barriers to child mental health care, attendance, program satisfaction, and relationship with facilitators are examined for a multiple family group service delivery model aimed at reducing childhood disruptive behaviors. Although child welfare-involved caregivers…