CSSP : Recent Publications

“Progress of the New Jersey Department of Children and Families, Final Monitoring Report"
(89 pgs, 644KB 4/08)

The third monitoring report shows the progress New Jersey has made toward meeting the requirements of the Modified Settlement Agreement (MSA) in the six month period between July 1 and December 31, 2007. During this monitoring period the Department of Children and Families DCF) has continued to build a solid infrastructure and has launched some important changes in the ways in which child welfare is practiced in NJ. The Monitor found that DCF fulfilled and sometimes exceeded the expectations of the MSA in almost every area in which the MSA called for activity in this period.

“An Assessment of the Quality of Child Abuse and Neglect Investigative Practices in the District of Columbia"
(32 pgs, 109 KB 3/08)

This paper presents findings from a case record review of 40 CFSA investigations completed in March 2007. The snapshot of practice highlights investigation quality as the critical area for improvement. The Monitor hopes the information contained in this report provides CFSA with the opportunity to review its current investigations practices as compared to best practice information. Using the findings of this report, as well as conducting its own assessment efforts, will allow CFSA to determine what additional actions should be taken to improve the quality of this work and ensure better outcomes for children and families.

“An Analysis of Racial and Ethnic Disproportionality and Disparity at the National, State and County Levels
(29 pgs, 1MB 1/08)

It is another paper by Robert B. Hill, Ph. D. entitled, “An Analysis of Racial and Ethnic Disproportionality and Disparity at the National, State and County Levels. This study expands the knowledge about racial and ethnic disproportionality and disparity at the national, state and county levels for the field of child welfare, using two national data sets, the National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System (NCANDS) and the Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System (AFCARS), to examine the participation of Native American/American Indians, Asian Americans/Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders, Blacks, Hispanics and Whites at three decision-making points: child protection investigations, substantiated investigations, and placement into foster care.

Using Pediatric Care and Practitioners to Ensure Children are Ready to Learn
(21 pgs, 84 KB 01/08)

On February 22-24, 2006, a team from Hartford, Connecticut traveled to Des Moines, Iowa to participate in a peer technical assistance match focused on children’s developmental health. Hartford and Des Moines have exemplary programs in broadening the scope of pediatric medical care to ensure more complete preventive and developmental health care: Connecticut’s “Help Me Grow” program and Iowa’s “Assuring Better Child Health and Development II” (ABCD II) initiative. Both of these efforts recognize that pediatric practitioners are in a key position to identify early issues that can affect child development and readiness to succeed in school, which include medical conditions but extend to social and developmental issues as well. The match was designed to help each of these exemplary efforts build upon its own successes and adapt practices from the other to strengthen the role of pediatric practice in ensuring children are healthy and ready to succeed in school.

Building Strong Communities Through Affordable Housing
(27pgs, 100 KB, 01/08)

On March 7-8, 2006, a team from New Orleans, Louisiana (a former Making Connections site) joined together with a team from Atlanta, Georgia in a peer technical assistance match to discuss neighborhood redevelopment and to inform New Orleans’ plans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. The hurricane destroyed the majority of New Orleans’ public housing complexes and damaged those that were not destroyed. Low income and public housing residents, along with other New Orleanians were scattered across the country. New Orleans housing leaders and activists sought to use this destruction as an opportunity to improve housing and quality of life conditions for low income residents and those receiving public housing assistance, so they set out to identify and learn from best practices and models that could inform the rebuilding effort. Because Atlanta the Atlanta Housing Authority (AHA) was able to move from the threat of receivership in 1994 to become a model for mixed income, redeveloped public housing communities and because the Villages at East Lake has become a model for community redevelopment, New Orleans decided to come to Atlanta to learn from their experiences.

Progress of the New Jersey Department of Children and Families, Monitoring Report for
Charlie and Nadine H v. Corzine, January 1 – June 30, 2007( Press Release 2pgs, 10/07; Full Report 99pgs, 10/07)

Engaging Youth in Community Decision Making (90 pgs, 30 MB, 09/07)

In November 2004, the Center for the Study of Social Policy and the International Initiative for Children, Youth and Families organized an International Youth and Young Adults Learning Exchange to encourage policy makers to explore the benefits of, and strategies for effectively engaging youth and young adults. This publication underscores the need to engage youth and young adults in planning and decision-making that is designed to improve youth and young adult related outcomes. Young people and policy makers from eight countries participated in the Learning Exchange. This toolkit is a direct product of the exchange and attempts to consolidate the learnings from this incredible experience into a tool that may be shared more broadly.

Customer Satisfaction: Improving Quality and Access to Services and Supports in Vulnerable Neighborhoods
( 38 pgs, 533 kb, 09/07) and a companion literature review document, Customer Satisfaction-What the Research Tells Us. ( 42pgs, 496 kb, 09/07)

The success of for profit companies depends on the satisfaction of their customers and thus strategies to monitor and improve customer satisfaction are a core element of most business operations. The Customer Satisfaction framework paper explores the use of consumer driven
strategies that are more common in the private sector as a means to improving public and private sector services in low-income communities and vulnerable neighborhoods. The
framework and companion review of the research suggest ways of developing and implementing
customer satisfaction approaches which have the power to improve access to and the
quality of local goods and services.

The job of the frontline child welfare supervisor is critically important -- perhaps the most demanding and

difficult in the entire agency. There is a direct connection between the quality of supervision and important employee measures such as staff turnover rates, morale, and job performance and commitment. This issue of Hired for Good offers an example of a competency model for frontline supervisors and suggested steps for creating a model that fits your agency. Other articles provide supporting insights on the supervisor role from research and professional reflections.

In 2005 the Center for Community Partnerships in Child Welfare commissioned the Family Violence Prevention Fund to assess the lessons learned from CPPC efforts in Louisville, Jacksonville, St Louis, and Cedar Rapids, IO, aimed at building partnerships between domestic violence, child welfare and neighboring communities. The report identifies site accomplishments and challenges. The lessons, while specific to integration between child welfare and domestic violence, have broader implications for all efforts geared toward building networks between and among a range of agencies.

Written by Westat researcher, Robert B. Hill, PHD, the Synthesis of Research on Disproportionality in Child Welfare: An Update, explores the reasons and the data behind the disproportionality of children of color within the child welfare system. The report explores patterns of disproportionality, the role race plays at various decision points within the system, the degree of racially disparate treatment in child welfare and the ways in which other social systems contribute to this disproportionality.