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.
The Data Center’s suite of resources and services helps agencies integrate knowledge-driven strategic planning into their standard operating procedures.
Learn more >
Read about how the Data Center is using analytic infrastructure and decision support to help child welfare agencies improve outcomes from the inside out.
Learn more >
Read about the Data Center’s online and in-person educational opportunities.
Learn more >
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.
Download the PDF >
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 >