Project Details
Evidence for Practice Series

Reports:

1. Research on the Community Re-integration of Formerly Incarcerated Adults: Implications for County Human Services (September 2008)
2. Research on the Community Re-integration of Formerly Incarcerated Juveniles: Implications for County Human Services (September 2008)
3. Foster Care Re-Entry: Evidence and Implications (March 2008)
4. Strategies for Engaging Adults in Welfare-to-Work Programs (January 2008)
5. Instruments for Assessing Elder Mistreatment: Implications for Adult Protective Services (September 2007)
6. Children and Caregivers in TANF Child-Only Cases: Identifying Unique Characteristics, Circumstances, and Needs (February 2007)
7. Assessing Child and Youth Well-Being: Implications for Child Welfare Practice (September 2006)
8. Understanding Poverty From Multiple Social Science Perspectives (June 2006)
9. Family Assessment in Child Welfare Services: Instrument Comparisons (June 2006)
10. Assessing the Outcomes of Substance Abuse Treatment Programs for Child Welfare Populations (January 2006)
11. Assessing the Outcomes of Parent Education Programs for Child Welfare Populations (February 2006)
12. Impact of Organizational Change on Organizational Culture: The Prospects for Evidence-based Practice (June 2006)
13. Dissemination and Utilization of Evidence for Promoting Evidence-based Practice (June 2006)
14. Implementing Evidence-based Practice: Evidence and Training Implications (June 2006)

Project Details:

Research on the Community Re-integration of Formerly Incarcerated Adults: Implications for County Human Services (September 2008)

Download the full PDF Report.

Research on the Community Re-integration of Formerly Incarcerated Juveniles: Implications for County Human Services (September 2008)

Download the full PDF Report.

Foster Care Re-Entry: Evidence and Implications (2008)
When children must be removed from their birth families to protect their safety and well-being, in most cases the child welfare system works to improve the abilities of parents to provide an adequate home environment in order to achieve the goal of family reunification. Ideally, reunification represents returning children to live safely and permanently with their families of origin. However, not all reunifications are successful and children may re-enter foster care. This report examines the research on foster care re-entry, including risk and correlates of foster care re-entry, resilience and correlates of successful reunification, and the impact of child welfare interventions and service models on reducing re-entry. The report concludes with a discussion of the implications of the findings for child welfare practice and future research.

Download a summary of this report in PDF format.
Download the full PDF Report.

Strategies for Engaging Adults in Welfare-to-Work Programs (2008)
The Deficit Reduction Act (DRA) reauthorized the TANF block grant program through 2010.  In addition to tightening the regulations, the DRA expanded work participation standards for families receiving TANF, putting increased pressure on states to meet stricter work participation rate requirements. If states fail to meet these requirements or make adequate progress, they will face potentially severe federal fiscal sanctions.  Given the increasing urgency to meet federal work requirements among TANF participants, this analysis presents the major findings from a review of studies on engagement strategies for the welfare-to-work population. A review of engagement strategies can provide administrators with an understanding of innovative programs to assist them in meeting participation requirements and helping families to reach self-sufficiency.

Download a summary of this report in PDF format.
Download the full PDF Report.

Instruments for Assessing Elder Mistreatment: Implications for Adult Protective Services (2007)
Assessment of elder mistreatment is hindered by a myriad of factors including inconsistent definitions, divergent and untested theories of causation, and limited research attention to the problem. In addition to these difficulties, professionals encounter complex situations requiring considerable clinical assessment skills and decision-making capacity. Adult Protective Services (APS) workers, as well as mandated reporters such as health care providers and social workers, need an assessment tool that can reliably and accurately assess for elder mistreatment. Based on a structured review of 15 screening and assessment instruments and a practice survey completed by 90 APS workers and supervisors, this article discusses the psychometric properties of the instruments and the relevance to APS. Implications of the findings for future research, practice, and policy are discussed.

Download this report in PDF format.

Children and Caregivers in TANF Child-Only Cases (2007)
“Child-only” are cases under TANF in which the adult is not included in the benefit calculation and aid is provided only for the child(ren). The proportion of child-only cases within TANF caseloads continues to increase while overall TANF caseload numbers decrease. California has seen a particularly steep rise in child-only cases, raising concerns about the needs of children and care providers in these families. This report presents major findings of studies on characteristics of children and caregivers in child-only cases. The implications of the study findings for child welfare and welfare-to-work services are discussed.

Download a summary of this report in PDF format.
Download the full PDF Report.

Assessing Child and Youth Well-Being: Implications for Child Welfare Practice (2006)
The measurement of child well-being has become increasingly important in child welfare practice in the past ten years with the federal emphasis on measuring positive outcomes for children and families. Practical and methodological barriers to evaluating well-being exist alongside positive developments in the field. This article reviews the research literature related to child and youth well-being, providing a context for the discussion of measurement issues in child welfare settings. Based on a structured review of the literature, the article discusses instruments that appear to be most appropriate for use in a child welfare setting.  Instruments are presented within stages of development, including (1) Infancy and Early Childhood, (2) Middle Childhood, and (3) Adolescence. Implications for the design and use of child well-being instruments in child welfare practice are discussed. 

Download a summary of this report in PDF format.
Download the full report in PDF.

Understanding Poverty From Multiple Social Science Perspectives (2006)
This BASSC learning and training resource was inspired by recent research on the views of staff delivering welfare-to-work services in the counties surrounding the San Francisco Bay Area (Austin, Johnson, Chow, De Marco, & Ketch, in press). When asked to prioritize an array of training topics relevant to their practice, the staff members rated “poverty” high on their list. Part I of this report begins with a review of the leading textbooks on human behavior and the social environment used in graduate social work education programs to see how poverty is featured in discussions of the social environment. Part I also features the different perspectives of poverty utilized by the major social science disciplines. Each one of literature reviews was designed to identify the major themes of each discipline’s approach to poverty (Economics, Sociology, Political Science, Psychology, Anthropology, and an inter-disciplinary view of global poverty). Part II focuses on theory integration and practitioner perceptions of poverty; namely, a discussion of social capital and its relationship to neighborhood poverty and networking, a report on the views of poverty held by social work students as they entered and exited graduate social work programs, and a teaching case on the culture of poverty which captures some of the experiences of a public social service agency as it sought to address the issue of poverty in a staff training program following the implementation of welfare reform.
Download the full report in PDF

  Adobe Acrobat Reader 5 required for viewing PDF files

^ TOP OF PAGE

Family Assessment in Child Welfare Services: Instrument Comparisons (2006)
Family assessment instruments can enhance the clinical judgment of child welfare practitioners by structuring decision-making processes and demonstrating the linkages between assessment, service provision, and child and family outcomes. This article describes the concept of family assessment in the child welfare context and provides an overview of the theoretical and disciplinary influences in the family assessment field. Based on a structured review of 85 instruments, the article discusses 21 that appear to be the most valid and reliable for evaluating four federally-defined domains of family assessment: (1) patterns of social interaction, (2) parenting practices, (3) background and history of the parents or caregivers, and (4) problems in access to basic necessities such as income, employment, and adequate housing. Key measurement criteria as well as practical considerations in the selection and implementation of family assessment instrumentation in child welfare are discussed.
Download a summary of this report in PDF format.
Download the full report in PDF

  Adobe Acrobat Reader 5 required for viewing PDF files

^ TOP OF PAGE

Assessing Parent Education Programs for Families Involved with Child Welfare Services: Evidence and Implications (2006)
Parent education programs may be offered or mandated at various stages of the child welfare services continuum. However, little is known about the effectiveness of these programs. This review of 70 studies includes outcome data generated from 58 of the most rigorously evaluated parenting education programs with families determined to be at-risk of child maltreatment and/or abusive or neglectful. The report is divided into four sections: 1) definitions of effective parenting and how they contrast with leading etiological models of child maltreatment, 2) the framework of the review, 3) major findings, and 4) implications related to guidelines for contracting for parenting education programs and recommendations for future research.
Download a summary of this report in PDF format.
Download the full report in PDF

  Adobe Acrobat Reader 5 required for viewing PDF files

^ TOP OF PAGE

Substance Abuse Interventions for Parents Involved in the Child Welfare System: Evidence and Implications (2006)
As child welfare systems across the country face the problem of parental substance abuse, there is an increasing need to understand the types of treatment approaches that have been found to be effective for substance-abusing parents. This structured review of the literature focuses on interventions for substance-abusing parents in the child welfare system, as well as interventions for mothers and women in general. In addition, practitioners and policy makers are becoming increasingly aware of the importance of collaboration between the child welfare system (CWS) and the alcohol and other drug system (AOD). As such, a review of collaborative models between the CWS and AOD system is also included in this review.
Download a summary of this report in PDF format.
Download the full report in PDF

  Adobe Acrobat Reader 5 required for viewing PDF files

^ TOP OF PAGE