CQIdeas Blog

In this the second installment of a multipart series on care days and Title IV-E waivers, Fred Wulczyn will demonstrate how Chapin Hall's predictive analytics software, OSPEDALE, provides information that can help states plan for, manage, and monitor the use of waiver funds.... Read more >

In this series of CQIdeas we introduced the concept of variation and its role in the CQI process. In particular we looked at how group care as a first placement type varies by county within a given state. This FCDA web tool Recipe will show you how to conduct that analysis for your own state.... Read more >

When we know why an outcome varies, we can use that knowledge to deploy targeted interventions where they have the most potential to create the change we want to see. No scenario highlights the importance of targeting interventions more than the Title IV-E waiver. This post describes how observing and interpreting variation early on in the waiver proposal process can help a state build a strong proposal.... Read more >

Variation not only helps you define the outcome you want to improve, it also creates a springboard for crafting the solution. Once we know that an outcome varies, the next step in the CQI process is to ask: Why? This post provides guidance on how to interpret the variation you observe in your system and explains why that interpretation is vital to strategic planning.... Read more >

Child welfare outcomes can vary on a number of dimensions: by geography or business unit, by child and family characteristics, by service type, and over time. This post describes examples of each.... Read more >

The CQI process starts when we observe a problem that needs solving. The only way to know whether the outcome we observe is, in fact, something that can be improved is to compare it to an outcome that we can identify as "better." This post explains how analyzing variation provides the information needed to make that comparison.... Read more >

A key to success in the waiver context is controlling the use of foster care by either safely preventing placement or reducing time in out of home care. In this webinar, Data Center Director Fred Wulczyn will discuss how to connect knowledge about care day use to the investments states can make to meet the needs of children.... Read more >

No matter the specific issue to which it is applied, improving outcomes for children requires agencies to work through the four basic phases of the CQI cycle: Plan, Do, Study, Act. In this post, we describe the cycle of CQI in a child welfare context and highlight the major activities that take place during each phase of the process.... Read more >

As some of you know, a while back, the Data Center started a blog called Recipes. This blog was located inside the FCDA web tool and focused on how to use that tool to ask and answer system performance questions regarding outcomes for children in foster care. In order to enable a broader audience to access that information—and much more—we’ve moved the blog over to our main website, expanded its scope, and given it a new name: CQIdeas. We’ll still use this forum to post FCDA web tool guidance, but we’ll also be using it to share information about new research coming from the Data Center, resources for building CQI capacity, and how to incorporate the use of research evidence into ongoing CQI activities. You’ll find the link to CQIdeas in the main menu on our homepage (and you’ll still be able to access it from inside the FCDA web… Read more >

This is the last in a 4-part series that shows how to use the web tool to hone in on the needs of infants in foster care. In the last three posts, we used different parts of the web tool to learn how many infants are in our system in the first place, how long they spend in foster care, and what is unique about their placement and exit experience. When we left off, we had just learned that, among other things, infants in our sample county are more likely than older children to be placed in non-relative foster care, to exit to adoption, and when they reunify, to reunify within 90 days. What can we learn about what goes on behind the scenes in these cases that can give us more information about what might expedite permanency for infants in foster care? In this Recipe, I’ll show you how… Read more >