John D. Fluke, Ph.D. Director Child Protection Research Center American Humane Association The Second Canadian Roundtable on Child Welfare Outcomes Center for Research on Children and Families, Centres of Excellence for Children’s Well-Being: Child Welfare, Montreal, Canada 8 – 9 October, 2009

The Second Canadian Roundtable on Child Welfare Outcomes  Brief History of National US Data Collection  State and National Data  Outcome Policy and Trends: an Example  Building and Maintaining Infrastructure Sustainability/Overcoming Inertia  The Value of Data/Outcomes Systems

The Second Canadian Roundtable on Child Welfare Outcomes  Early Studies in the US ◦ Incidents Extracted from Media Reports (1950s – 1970s) ◦ National Reporting Study on Child Abuse and Neglect  1976 – 1988  Other Studies of Incidence ◦ Strauss and Gelles ◦ Finkelhor ◦ Prevent Child Abuse America  Major US National Data Collection Activities ◦ National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System (NCANDS) 

The Second Canadian Roundtable on Child Welfare Outcomes  Early program conducted by the American Public Human Services Association (then the American Public Welfare Association), Voluntary Cooperative Information System (VCIS) ◦ Established 1982 ◦ Aggregate data only  Chapin Hall Center for State Foster Care and Adoption Data (State Data Center) and the Multistate Foster Care Data Archive ◦ Established circa 1989 (three states) ◦ Case level multi-year longitudinal data ◦ 20 States are now participating  Federal Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System (AFCARS) ◦ Regulations published in 1993 for mandatory reporting ◦ First data collection 1995

The Second Canadian Roundtable on Child Welfare Outcomes  Other Major National Data Collection and Analysis Programs  National Incidence Study (NIS)  Four Studies to Date (first released in 1980, most recent data to be released 2009?)  National Study of Child and Adolescent Well Being (NSCAW)  Two cohort cycles of data collection (1999 & 2008)  Multiple rounds of data collection up to a seven year follow- up  Chafee National Youth in Transition Database (NYTD)  Under development (final regulations published)

The Second Canadian Roundtable on Child Welfare Outcomes  Adoption and Safe Families Act of 1997 P.L ◦ First to Identify Safety, Permanency and Well Being as Outcomes of the US Child Welfare System ◦ Basis for Outcomes Regulations and the Child and Family Services Review Process (CFSR)  State Automated Child Welfare Information System (SACWIS) ◦ Enhanced funding available for state child welfare agencies enacted in 1993 under Title IV-E funding provisions ◦ Originally 75% match by US govt., as of 1997 at 50% ◦ Critical impetus for the feasibility of data collection (e.g., NCANDS, AFCARS)  Fostering Connections Act of 2008 ◦ Improvements to kinship & subsidized guardianship regulation ◦ Allows tribes direct access to Title IVE funding

The Second Canadian Roundtable on Child Welfare Outcomes  Several States and Localities Have Strong Data Collection and Analysis Programs Coupled with Research Centers ◦ Examples:  All Use Data for Program Management and Outcomes, but add contextualizing analysis CaliforniaIllinois North CarolinaTexas Washington

National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System (NCANDS)

The Second Canadian Roundtable on Child Welfare Outcomes  Meets US legal requirements to collect child maltreatment data  Provides data that are critical to policymakers and administrators of CPS programs  Data are used to support a range of US initiatives, notably ◦ ASFA Outcome Measures ◦ Child and Family Services Review Process ◦ Office of Management and Budget Program Assessment Rating Tool (PART)  Contribute to the understanding of child maltreatment and the impact of intervention policy

The Second Canadian Roundtable on Child Welfare Outcomes  Facilitators of Case Level Data Collection in the US ◦ US Legislation ◦ Related Programs  State Automated Child Welfare Information Systems (SACWIS)  Child and Family Service Review Process (CFSR)  System has evolved ◦ Almost all States are Now Providing Case Level Data (48 in 2007) ◦ Data are timely and available annually ◦ Range of applications has expanded dramatically

The Second Canadian Roundtable on Child Welfare Outcomes  Action (regulations, policy, programs) ◦ Data collection program is authorized by US Office of Management and Budget (OMB) ◦ Supports US HHS Children’s Bureau Child and Family Services Review Process (CSFR) ◦ Support Children’s Bureau OMB Program Assessment Rating Tool (PART) measures  Evaluation ◦ Contract is competitively bid by the US HHS Children’s Bureau  Feedback loop ◦ Project convenes a State Advisory Group each year ◦ Data program is reviewed for revision every three year by the US Office of Management and Budget (OMB)

The Second Canadian Roundtable on Child Welfare Outcomes  Longitudinal ◦ Aggregate data since 1990; case level data since ◦ Encrypted unique child and perpetrator identifiers.  Time Period ◦ Data are collected annually  Mapping and Validation of Data ◦ Data are mapped to national categories ◦ Data are validated for coding, internal consistency, and analytical accuracy and comprehensiveness

The Second Canadian Roundtable on Child Welfare Outcomes  Measures of Maltreatment ◦ Six major categories (Physical, neglect, medical neglect, sexual, emotional, other).  Analytic Environment ◦ Comprehensive Data Quality Assessment Process ◦ OLAP Reporting Tools ◦ Specialty Ad-hoc Research and Analysis Capacity

The Second Canadian Roundtable on Child Welfare Outcomes  In August 2001, the US Children’s Bureau set the first national standard for recurrence : ◦ A State meets the national standard if of all children who were victims of substantiated or indicated child abuse and/or neglect during the first 6 months of the period under review, 6.1 percent or fewer children had another substantiated or indicated report within 6 months.

The Second Canadian Roundtable on Child Welfare Outcomes  As of June 2006 the Standard was revised ◦ Of all children who were victims of a substantiated or indicated maltreatment allegation during the first 6 months of FY 2004, what percent were not victims of another substantiated or indicated maltreatment allegation within the 6-months following that maltreatment incident? ◦ National Standard Based on 45 States: 94.6% or higher

The Second Canadian Roundtable on Child Welfare Outcomes January 18, 2007 EUROPEAN SEMINAR ON MONITORING SYSTEMS OF CHILD ABUSE

The Second Canadian Roundtable on Child Welfare Outcomes  In addition to Indicators Based on Federal Data Collection Programs a Sample of Cases is Reviewed to Address Other Standards (30 to 50)  States not meeting standards must implement a 3 year Program Improvement Plan (PIP) approved by the US government ◦ Plans address a range of programmatic and intervention strategies, for example:  Multiple maltreatment and chronic neglect  Alternative response systems  Safety and risk assessment systems  Required child and family visits for placed children  Large Investment in Federal Resource Centers to Assist States in Developing and Implementing PIPs  States not in compliance may be subject to penalties  After each three year cycle the US standards are reviewed and revised.

The Second Canadian Roundtable on Child Welfare Outcomes not much can be done with aggregate data transition occurred over many years in US Aggregate Data to Case improvements in ID construction and data management sustainability of program yields multi- year data still struggling to achieve this in the US Cross- sectional Data to Longitudinal  Stages or Transitions

The Second Canadian Roundtable on Child Welfare Outcomes  Data Analysis/Utilization Stages or Transition Fiscal to Outcomes Analysis Program Specific to Cross Program Analysis Single to Multiple Agency Analysis includes the incorporation of special data collection General Program Information to Specialized Studies

The Second Canadian Roundtable on Child Welfare Outcomes Disparity Index Percent on Caseload Skills (AA only)Removals Workload (worker) Community Resources (worker) Family Poverty Family Risk Level AA Only

The Second Canadian Roundtable on Child Welfare Outcomes  Infrastructure ◦ Enabling Legislation and Regulatory Framework for Data ◦ Strong Information Technology and Operational Systems Architecture  Key Analytic Design Components (e.g., OLAP capacity) ◦ Data Quality Improvement Processes  Research/Evaluation Capacity  Mechanisms for insuring data integrity  Documentation

The Second Canadian Roundtable on Child Welfare Outcomes  Sustainability ◦ Recognition of Long-Term Benefits/Minimal Short Term Expectations ◦ Long Term Funding ◦ Data use agreements and confidentiality ◦ Workforce  Dissemination ◦ Archives ◦ Reports and Publications ◦ Technical Assistance

The Second Canadian Roundtable on Child Welfare Outcomes “Total physical and mental inertia are highly agreeable, much more so than we allow ourselves to imagine.” – John Kenneth Galbraith  Inertia Avoidance ◦ Key Issues: Inflexible Regulatory Frameworks Improvements in Knowledge Obtaining Buy-InBalancing Input with Action Data Stability vs. ChangeFunding Unintended Consequences

The Second Canadian Roundtable on Child Welfare Outcomes  Value of outcome data supporting policy: ◦ Problem Recognition/Definition & some examples  Re-entry (rereporting, recurrence, recidivism, foster care reentry, disruptions, etc.)  Racial Disproportionality and Disparity ◦ Standard Setting  Child and Family Services Review Standard Setting  Information System Guidelines (SACWIS) ◦ Monitoring  Child and Family Services Review  Alternative Response Implementation

 Current and timely policy support ◦ Data Turnaround ◦ Rapid data quality assessment  Continuity ◦ Ability to monitor trends ◦ Outcomes and performance  Research ◦ Longitudinal design ◦ Special populations ◦ Infrequent events ◦ Decision making  Simulation ◦ Sampling frames  Assess Resources ◦ Staffing ◦ Workload ◦ Costing/Cost Effectiveness

John D. Fluke Director Child Protection Research Center American Humane Association USA (303) Contact