Transcript Slide 1

Overview of California’s
Child Welfare Indicator Data
Barbara Needell, MSW, PhD
Center for Social Services Research
School of Social Welfare
University of California, Berkeley
The California Child Welfare Indicators Project (CCWIP) is a collaboration of the
California Department of Social Services and the School of Social Welfare, University of
California at Berkeley, and is supported by the California Department of Social Services
and the Stuart Foundation
Tracking Child Welfare Outcomes
rate of allegations/
substantiated allegations
home-based services
vs.
out of home care
reentry to care
permanency
through reunification,
adoption, or
guardianship
counterbalanced
indicators of system
performance
length
of stay
stability
of care
use of least
restrictive
form of care
positive attachments to
family, friends, and neighbors
Source: Usher, C.L., Wildfire, J.B., Gogan, H.C. & Brown, E.L. (2002). Measuring
Outcomes in Child Welfare. Chapel Hill: Jordan Institute for Families
Thinking about Prevention
Birth Record Linkages:
Selected Findings
• 14% of children in birth cohort were reported to CPS by age 5
– lower bound estimate…could not match 16% of CPS records
– 25% of these children were reported within the first 3 days of life
– 35% of all reported children were reported as infants
• 11 of 12 variables were significantly associated with CPS contact
– crude risk ratios >2 were observed for 7 variables
• Contact with CPS is hardly a rare event for certain groups
– 30% of black children reported
– 25% of children born to teen mothers
Birth Record Variables
sex
birth weight
prenatal care
birth
abnormality
maternal
birth place
race
• female
• male
maternal age
• 2500g+
• <2500g
• 1st trimester
• 2nd trimester
• 3rd trimester
• no care
• present
• none
• US born
• non-US born
• native american
• black
• Hispanic
• white
• asian/pacific islander
maternal
education
pregnancy
termination hx
named father
• <=19
• 20-24
• 25-29
• 30+
• <high school
• high school
• some college
• college+
• prior termination
• none reported
• missing
• named father
# of children in
the family
• one
• two
• three+
birth payment
method
• public/med-cal
• other
Assessing Risk at Birth?
Full Birth Cohort
15%
Children Reported to CPS
50%
Recognizing the Risk Associated with the
Presence Of Multiple Risk Factors…
High Risk on Every
Modifiable Risk
Factor: 89%
probability of CPS
report
Low Risk on Every
Modifiable Risk
Factor: 3%
probability of CPS
report
Questions? Comments?
Barbara Needell
510 290 6334
[email protected]
http://cssr.berkeley.edu/ucb_childwelfare