Center for State Child Welfare Data | Continuous Quality Improvement

Knowledge-based investments and improved outcomes for children and families

Each year, federal, state, and local child welfare agencies spend approximately $26 billion to promote the well-being of vulnerable children and their families. That’s a serious commitment. What are we achieving with those investments? And how can we direct our resources in the future to do better?

Learn more about how the Data Center can help you use knowledge to promote continuous quality improvement.

New on CQIdeas:

July 6, 2017

Webinar recap: How to monitor system performance over time

Watch our recent webinar on how to the Tennessee Department of Children's Services (TNDCS) has been promoting a culture of evidence amongst their workforce, through the implementation of the Data Center's Baselines, Targets, and Actuals (BTA) monitoring tool. ... Read more >

Turn Knowledge into Action

Analytic Tools

The Data Center’s suite of resources and services helps agencies integrate knowledge-driven strategic planning into their standard operating procedures.
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Continuous Quality Improvement

Read about how the Data Center is using analytic infrastructure and decision support to help child welfare agencies improve outcomes from the inside out.
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Education, Training, and Technical Assistance

Read about the Data Center’s online and in-person educational opportunities.
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Learn from The Data Center’s Research

The Project on Research Evidence Use by Child Welfare Agencies

Results of the first wave of analysis from the Project on Research Evidence Use by Child Welfare Agencies show that the more often agency staff use research evidence to learn about children in their care, the faster the agency discharges children in foster care to permanency. Read more about our initial findings, implications for staff development, and avenues for future research >

Within and Between State Variation in the Use of Congregate Care

By Fred Wulczyn, Lily Alpert, Zach Martinez, & Ava Weiss

Despite the mandate to place children in foster care in the least restrictive environment possible, the practice of placing children in congregate care settings persists in most places around the country. The question is why and what can be done, from a policy perspective, to ensure that group care is used for the children and youth who need it most. Answering that question begins with learning how the use of group care varies in different parts of the country and why.
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Promoting Transparency

Because transparency promotes ongoing quality improvement in child welfare, we have launched an initiative encouraging Data Center members to publish a set of Data Center-generated reports that provide aggregate data on statewide trends pertaining to key permanency indicators.
Learn more about this initiative>
Access the publically available reports >