Moving Child Welfare Forward
Achieving Positive Outcomes for Children, Youth and Families

Class Eight: Using Child Welfare Data to Measure Performance

Topics

• Characteristics of children in care
• The use of Child and Family Services Review (CFSR) results, performance measures and data to evaluate agency performance
• State and national child welfare data

Learning Objectives

When this class is complete the student should be able to:

• Locate and use data from the major child welfare data bases
• Analyze what the state and national child welfare data is saying about the performance of the system
• Employ child welfare data to support management decisions and plan future initiatives.

Suggested Assignments

• Using the Kids Count Data Book online at www.aecf.org/kidscount/databook, go to the profile section, select a state and look at the 10 indicators of child well being. Analyze positive and negative changes in the state and national trend line. Can you make any conclusions using these figures? Can you see any trends? Do these numbers surprise you? Do you think these figures could be misleading in any way? Develop a list of questions you would ask to understand the changes in state and national trends. Come to class prepared to present your analysis.
• Using the Children's Bureau website, (www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/cb/cwrp/index.htm), look up results of the Child and Family Services Reviews for the same state that you looked at in the Kids Count Data Book and find out how that state scored on the outcomes measures.
• Review and come to class prepared to discuss the Hawaii case study. (This case links data to outcomes and practice and asks the learner to interpret outcomes data using some basic analysis tools. (Source: Bringing Together the Child Welfare Team,Trainer’s Guide, September 27, 2002 . Available on the internet at: (www.muskie.usm.maine.edu/asfa)
• Find NCANDS, SACWIS, and AFCARS data on line and write a short description of the purpose and types of data contained in each data base.

Suggested in class activities

• Guest Speaker: Child welfare agency administrator/quality assurance director to discuss the state’s CFSR results and how the agency is using the results to improve outcomes for children, youth and families.
• Discuss data analysis lessons to be learned raised by the T he Trouble with the Child and Family Service Reviews: the Federal Government’s Failed Attempt to Measure Child Welfare System Performance article.
• Small group activity: In small groups, l ook at students’ individual state analysis from the Kids Count Data Book and CFSR results and compare the results to national statistics for the same items. What conclusions can you draw from these numbers? What decisions can be made based on this data to improve services for children and families in the state(s) or country?
• Small group exercise: In small groups, review the Hawaii Case Study and answer the following questions. Ask that a recorder be named who will report back to the large group.

  Question 1: (a) What percentage of children in your section had a recurrence of child abuse and neglect in FY 01? In the first quarter of FY 02? (b) How does that figure compare with the national standard? (c) What factors or practice issues could explain this decrease?

  Question 2: (a) What percentage of children re-entered foster within twelve months in FY 01? In the first quarter of FY 02? (b) Does the percentage appear to be increasing or decreasing? (c) How do the percentages compare with the national standard? (d) What factors or practice issues could explain this decrease?

  Question 3: Finally, what role has substance abuse played in your unit's cases? What data can you provide to demonstrate this?

  Bring all the participants back together and begin to gather the small group reports by asking one group to summarize the case situation. Then ask another group to report how it answered question each question. Discuss.

Suggested Readings

• Kids Count Data Book . (2004) Baltimore , MD : Annie E. Casey Foundation. Available online at (www.aecf.org/kidscount/databook). Presents state profiles, data, graphs and changes over time in several indicators for children’s well being.
• National Coalition for Child Protection Reform (2003). The Trouble with the Child and Family Service Reviews: the Federal Government’s Failed Attempt to Measure Child Welfare System Performance. Alexandria , VA. Available on line at: (www.nccpr.org). Discusses flaws in the CFSR process such as sample size, sample choice, low standards and bias.

Supplemental Reference Materials

Readings

• Child Maltreatment 2002: Reports from the States to the National Child Abuse and Neglect Data Systems. (2004) Washington , D.C. : U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Children’s Bureau. National statistics on child abuse and neglect.

On-Line Resources

• www.acf.dhhs.gov/programs/cb The Children’s Bureau website provides access to SACWIS, AFCARS and NCAND data, contains the final reports from the states that have completed the Federal Review. It contains the review outcomes and the data for each state displayed along with the national standards for each outcome.
• http://nccanch.acf.hhs.gov The National Clearinghouse on Child Abuse and Neglect Information web site contains data from the National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System (NCANDS).
• www.acf.dhhs.gov/programs/cb/dis/sacwis/about.htm contains information about the Statewide Automated Child Welfare System (SACWIS).
• www.acf.dhhs.gov/programs/cb/dis/afcars/index.htm contains information about the Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System (AFCARS).

Introduction

Objectives

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