Examining Child Welfare Outcomes Using Community-Based Participatory Research

Every year, thousands of children become involved in the child welfare system.  The responsibility for these children’s health and welfare lies with child welfare system.  However, governmental mandates and funding streams dictated by the federal, state and local governments place limitations on what services agencies can offer and what interventions they can implement.  This presentation will discuss findings from a two-year mixed method study funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Public Health Law Research Program to examine the impact of funding sources, both Title IV-E waivers as well as local levies, on child welfare outcomes.   The community-based participatory research team was comprised of attorneys, a statistician, an anthropologist, and child welfare experts.  The study included quantitative analysis of ten years of statewide county-level data, surveys with county child welfare leaders, and semi-structured interviews with key informants and a stratified sample drawn from counties with diverse funding structures and population levels.  Findings suggest funding matters, as well as partnerships.  The notion of the courtroom workgroup has been altered beyond the courthouse walls to include service providers, mental health professionals, substance abuse counselors, kinship care providers and myriad others.  The ability to use funding streams in flexible manners influences outcomes, but also assists with partnerships forged and fostered.  Future research plans are discussed for this portfolio of collaborative work with the ultimate goal of improving children’s lives.