scholarly journals Utilizing Strategic Management and Planning to Improve Child Welfare Outcomes

2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 27-33
Author(s):  
C. Sakhonchik
Keyword(s):  
Child Welfare ◽  
Strategic Management ◽  
Service Systems ◽  
System Reform ◽  
Children And Families ◽  
Relevant Research ◽  
Non Profit ◽  
Governmental Agencies ◽  
Sustainable System ◽  
Child Welfare Outcomes

This article should be treated as a tool for thinking about or rethinking how strategic management and planning can be used to achieve better outcomes for the children and families serviced by social service systems. The article summarizes some of the challenges facing the field of child welfare; identifies the benefits of utilizing strategic management and planning to improve outcomes, create accountability and achieve sustainable system reform; and explores relevant research on strategic management and planning for governmental agencies and non-profit organizations.

Racial Disproportionality and Disparities in the Child Welfare System: Why Do They Exist, and What Can Be Done to Address Them?

2020 ◽  
Vol 692 (1) ◽  
pp. 253-274
Author(s):  
Alan J. Dettlaff ◽  
Reiko Boyd
Keyword(s):  
Child Welfare ◽  
Black Children ◽  
Child Welfare System ◽  
Welfare System ◽  
Children And Families ◽  
Children Of Color ◽  
Racial Disproportionality ◽  
Welfare Systems ◽  
External Causes ◽  
Child Welfare Systems

Children of color are overrepresented in the child welfare system, and Black children have been most significantly impacted by this racial disproportionality. Racial disproportionality in child welfare exists because of influences that are both external to child welfare systems and part of the child welfare system. We summarize the causes of racial disproportionality, arguing that internal and external causes of disproportional involvement originate from a common underlying factor: structural and institutional racism that is both within child welfare systems and part of society at large. Further, we review options for addressing racial disproportionality, arguing that it needs to be rectified because of the harm it causes Black children and families and that forcible separation of children from their parents can no longer be viewed as an acceptable form of intervention for families in need.

Who Is and Is Not Served by Child Protective Services Systems? Implications for a Prevention Infrastructure to Reduce Child Maltreatment

2020 ◽  
Vol 692 (1) ◽  
pp. 182-202
Author(s):  
Kristen S. Slack ◽  
Lawrence M. Berger
Keyword(s):  
Child Welfare ◽  
Child Maltreatment ◽  
Child Protective Services ◽  
Child Welfare System ◽  
Community Response ◽  
Welfare System ◽  
Child Safety ◽  
Children And Families ◽  
Protective Services ◽  
Child Maltreatment Prevention

The majority of alleged abuse or neglect reports to the U.S. child welfare system are either screened out prior to an investigation (i.e., at the “hotline” stage) or investigated only to be closed with no finding of immediate child safety concerns. Yet while many of these children and families are at risk of subsequent incidents of child maltreatment or child welfare system involvement, they are not systematically offered services or benefits intended to reduce this risk at the point that child protective services (CPS) ends its involvement. This article provides an overview of the “front end” of the child welfare system, commonly referred to as CPS, highlighting which families are served and which are not. We then argue for a systematic and coordinated child maltreatment prevention infrastructure that incorporates elements of “community response” programs that several U.S. states have implemented in recent years. Such programs are focused on families that have been reported to, and sometimes investigated by, CPS, but no ongoing CPS case is opened. We further argue that such programs need to pay particular attention to economic issues that these families face.

scholarly journals Four essays on the child welfare system

2020 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ian Hyslop ◽  
Emily Keddell ◽  
David Hanna ◽  
Claire Achmad
Keyword(s):  
Child Welfare ◽  
Child Welfare System ◽  
Welfare System ◽  
The State ◽  
Family Court ◽  
Policy And Practice ◽  
Non Profit ◽  
Policy Practice ◽  
Role Of The State ◽  
Legislative Changes

The year 2019 represented a watershed moment for Aotearoa New Zealand’s child welfare system, as a public spotlight was shone on systemic ethnic inequities during ongoing legislative changes aimed at centering Te Tiriti o Waitangi and whänau, hapü, and iwi considerations in policy and practice. In the midst of this dialogue, Victoria University of Wellington’s School of Government hosted the “Children, Families, and the State”– a seminar series focused on the historical, current, and future role of the state in the lives of families and children. The seminars, and the discussion it generated, was due to the calls to action from speakers across the system, including leadership at Oranga Tamariki, within the family court, non-profit providers, commissioners and advocates, and academics. The following essays in this edition of Policy Quarterly capture viewpoints from several of the seminar speakers. Despite their different perspectives, common threads unite them. A greater recognition of the structural causes of the historical and current patterns of ethnic inequities in child welfare system contact, a commitment to whänau, hapü, and iwi-centred policy, practice, and partnership, the authors argue, are vital for a more just and empowering system.

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