Research Evidence Use and the Process of Improvement in Child Welfare

Research Evidence Use and the Process of Improvement in Child Welfare: An Introductory Guide is an essential text for all child and family serving agencies engaged in the ongoing cycle of improvement. The book provides a framework for structuring the improvement process and teaches users how to craft actionable questions about system outcomes. Chapters demonstrate analytic methods for answering those questions, grounded in foundational principles of longitudinal research. Readers will learn how to make meaning of scientifically defensible performance indicators and how to avoid common pitfalls that lead to unrepresentative findings, and reorient the process of improvement from a focuson compliance to a focus on learning. The skills covered in this book will improve the ability of child welfare administrators to observe agency outcomes, develop theories of change, and, in turn, make organizational investments that advance the safety, permanence, and well-being of the children and families they serve. For agency leaders and practitioners, the book serves as a desk guide for how to conduct an evidence-based process of improvement. For academics and students in the field of social work and human services administration, the book provides foundational skills that future professionals will need in order to study and improve the effectiveness of service programs.