Although it is a widely used indicator, the use of substantiation in child welfare practice and research is not without critics. Much of this criticism concerns the ability of the substantiation disposition to distinguish between child protective services (CPS) investigations in which maltreatment occurs or does not occur. This study examined the relationship between substantiation and maltreat...

This special issue of Child Welfare emerged from a series of conversations with child welfare colleagues who partici pated in the work conducted by CWLA and the Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund as they developed a unique partnership entitled. Fostering Transitions: CWLA/Lambda Legal Joint Initiative To Support LGBTQ Youth and Adults Involved with the Child Welfare System. A special issue...

This article addresses the emerging use of parent mentors--parents who have successfully negotiated the child welfare system and provide support and advocacy to others. The theoretical justification, roles, and expected outcomes and benefits of parent mentors are explored. The organizational factors thought to be required for such programs are also described, drawing on the available literature...

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 nine Michigan communities provides a field tested ...

Despite the best efforts of child welfare agencies, community agencies, and individuals, some children are not safe in their homes and must be placed in substitute care settings by child welfare authorities. Increasingly, as this article points out, child welfare agencies are placing children in the homes of their relatives rather than in traditional foster family homes (31% of all children in ...

Demographic trends indicate that a growing segment of families is exposed to adversity such as poverty, drug use problems, caregiver transitions, and domestic violence. Although these risk processes and the accompanying poor outcomes for children have been well studied, little is known about why some children develop resilience in the face of such adversity, particularly when it is severe enoug...

Estimating costs in child welfare services is critical as new service models are incorporated into routine practice. This paper describes a unit costing estimation system developed in England (cost calculator) together with a pilot test of its utility in the United States where unit costs are routinely available for health services but not for child welfare services. The cost calculator approac...

The financing structure of any large public service system both reveals the priorities held by policymakers and drives the delivery of services. Of the $11.2 billion in public funds for child welfare services, somewhat less than half is federal. As this article explains, federal funds for child welfare overwhelmingly go to support out-of-home care (foster care and adoption services), and these ...

The Report should put fresh heart into the staff of child guidance c'inics as it is the first official document to set out their principles and ^fpport extensions of their work such as have long been advocated by the N-A.M.H. The need for the basic team of child psychiatrist, educational Psychologist and psychiatric social worker with special training for their lunction, is established and the ...

BACKGROUND Published descriptions of implementation strategies often lack precision and consistency, limiting replicability and slowing accumulation of knowledge. Recent publication guidelines for implementation strategies call for improved description of the activities, dose, rationale and expected outcome(s) of strategies. However, capturing implementation strategies with this level of detail...