• Evidence for Practice Series
• Low-income Families in Poverty Neighborhoods
• Participant and Staff Perceptions of Welfare to Work Services
• Child Welfare and the Courts Study
• Education for Foster Children: Removing Barriers to Academic Success
• Factors Influencing Foster Parents: Decisions to Continue or Cease Foster Parenting
• Foster Family Agencies: Children's Characteristics and Placement Considerations
• Receiving Centers and Informal Emergency Assessment Settings in Child Welfare: Child, Family, Service, and Placement Characteristics
• A Strategy for Outcome-based Accountability for School-based and School-linked Prevention Programs and Early Intervention Programs

Project Details:

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Low-income Families in Poverty Neighborhoods (2004)
This study involves a review of current research related to the coping and survival strategies of low-income families, the neighborhood effects of poverty on these families, and current promising programs and practices related to neighborhood-based services for low-income families.
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Participant and Staff Perceptions of Welfare to Work Services (2003)
This study addresses the perceptions of service participants and staff after five years of implementing welfare reform in the Bay Area Counties. It also features an in-depth assessment of staff decision-making as well as an analysis of administrative data systems.

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Child Welfare and the Courts Study (2002)
In 2001-20002, BASSC is conducting a study examining the relationship between child welfare agencies and the courts. The study combines qualitative and quantitative methods, and will be conducted in ten Bay Area counties. Data will be collected in focus groups with social workers in each county, and with foster youth, foster parents, and parents and guardians involved in dependency proceedings. Interviews with judicial officers and attorneys in each county, and with leaders of model programs addressing the relationship between the two systems will also be conducted. Finally, BASSC research staff will review case records in each county, to identify case characteristics associated with problematic interactions between the two systems.

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Education for Foster Children: Removing Barriers to Academic Success (2000)
In California, approximately 10 out of every 1,000 children are in foster care and approximately 72% of these children are school age (Needell, Webster, Cuccaro-Alamin, Armijo, Brookhart 2000). As foster children enter emergency shelter care and then move back to their own homes or into longer-term foster care situations, the primary job of the social worker is to protect children's immediate safety and ensure their emotional well-being. Concern for meeting foster children's educational needs is clearly within the social services domain of child well-being, yet it is the school system that ultimately is responsible for ensuring that all children receive appropriate education.
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Factors Influencing Foster Parents: Decisions to Continue or Cease Foster Parenting (2000)
The purpose of this study is to investigate how Alameda County can improve recruitment and retention rates of foster parents. Researchers conducted 7 focus groups across 64 individuals from one of three groups: those who had completed Model Approaches to Parenting Partnership (MAPP) training but never fostered, individuals who provided foster care for a few years and then stopped, and current foster parents. Results were incorporated into the recommendations by identifying specific key factors that were found to influence decisions to continue or cease fostering.

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Foster Family Agencies: Children's Characteristics and Placement Considerations (2000)
Here researchers aim to evaluate similarities and differences between children who enter different settings, as well as how social workers decide in which setting to place a child. A literature review was conducted, as well as archival analysis of the California Children's Services Archive, as the basis for producing questions for the two focus groups that were conducted with social workers and placement specialists. Recommendations were based on an integration of qualitative and quantitative data, providing methods for improving the effectiveness of the use of Foster Family Agencies.

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Receiving Centers and Informal Emergency Assessment Settings in Child Welfare: Child, Family, Service, and Placement Characteristics (2000)
Researchers in this study evaluated outcomes for children assessed through the centers versus informal emergency settings, utilizing a case extraction procedure of 58 children served by the Antioch receiving center and 54 children assessed in Contra Costa county through informal emergency settings. Recommendations provide guidelines for increasing the use of the centers and the benefits they provide for clients.

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A Strategy for Outcome-based Accountability for School-based and School-linked Prevention Programs and Early Intervention Programs (2000)
This study aims to help San Mateo County evaluate the effectiveness of its prevention programs. Researchers facilitated a group meeting consisting of an HSA administrator, representative supervisors, and other representative stakeholders. Combining the results of this meeting with a review of theoretical, empirical, and professional practice literature to investigate how program activities may influence outcomes. Recommended techniques for implementing a comprehensive evaluation plan are provided in six steps.

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