Welfare Reform on the Web - January 2001: Child welfare - overseas
CHILDCARE IMPROVEMENT ON A SHOESTRING: EVALUATING A LOW-COST APPROACH TO IMPROVING THE AVAILABILITY OF QUALITY CHILDCARE
E. A. Jaeger, A. B. Shlay and M. Weinraub
Evaluation Review, vol. 24, 2000, p. 484-515
Article describes the findings of an evaluation of Collaborative, an initiative launched to improve the quality of child care in low- and moderate- income neighbourhoods in the US by increasing coordination among organizations that locally deliver professional resources to child care providers. Child care providers reported gains in their professional knowledge from using Collaborative resources and rated the resources highly. However, no long-term effects on provider behaviour, knowledge or attitudes were observed.
CHILD WELFARE OUTCOMES REVISITED
J. Poertner, T.P. McDonald, and C. Murray
Children and Youth Services Review, vol. 22, 2000, p. 789-810.
Paper seeks to stimulate the development and reporting of outcome measures that can begin to serve as the basis for defining success in the delivery of public child welfare services in the US. Incremental progress has been made over the past decade in the measurement and reporting of outcomes in this field. While some broad agreement is beginning to emerge around certain measures, wide variations continue to exist in both definitions and performance standards.
THE HEALTH DEVELOPMENT ORGANIZATION: AN ORGANIZATIONAL APPROACH TO ACHIEVING CHILD HEALTH DEVELOPMENT
N. Halfon, M. Inkelas and M. Hochstein
Milbank Quarterly, vol. 78, 2000, p.447-497
The health development organization (HDO) is a new approach to the delivery of children's health and social services in the US. The HDO would combine the best features of health maintenance organizations, social services and long-term health promotion strategies. Its mandate would be to develop the health of children in a community. The impetus for creating HDOs is a growing body of evidence that shows that adult health status is determined in childhood. Thus a new kind of healthcare organization is needed to integrate a full range of critical services for promoting children's development.
THE NEED FOR INTERAGENCY COLLABORATION FOR CHILDREN WITH EMOTIONAL AND BEHAVIORAL DISABILITIES AND THEIR FAMILIES
J. A. Anderson
Families in Society, vol. 81, 2000, p.484-493
Paper presents information about commonly used US federal government definitions of emotional and behavioural disabilities and a description of how variance in definitions and eligibility criteria contributes to the inability of agencies to work together to meet the needs of children and families. Additionally, methods for developing community-level, interagency eligibility criteria for serving children whose needs cross agency boundaries are addressed. Finally a recently created multiagency, community-based project located in Marion County, Indiana, is described.
OUTCOMES AFTER CHILD WELFARE SERVICES: IMPLICATIAONS FOR THE DESIGN OF PERFORMANCE MEASURES
R. P. Barth and M. Jonson-Reid
Children and Youth Services Review, vol. 22, 2000, p.763-787
Argues the case for adding long-term outcome information to performance measurement schemes for child welfare services in the US.