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Changing the Outcome: Achieving and Sustaining a Safe Reduction in Foster Care: A Policy Institute November 4-6, 2009 Tampa, FL Setting the Course: Unpacking the Data (Ramblings from the Left Coast) Barbara Needell, MSW, PhD Center for Social Services Research University of California at Berkeley The Performance Indicators Project is a collaboration of the California Department of Social Services and the University of California at Berkeley, and is supported by the California Department of Social Services and the Stuart Foundation CENTER FOR SOCIAL SERVICES RESEARCH School of Social Welfare, UC Berkeley tracking child welfare outcomes rate of referrals/ substantiated referrals 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 CENTER FOR SOCIAL SERVICES RESEARCH School of Social Welfare, UC Berkeley 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, three data views entry cohorts data point in time CENTER FOR SOCIAL SERVICES RESEARCH School of Social Welfare, UC Berkeley exit cohorts the view matters… How long do children stay in foster care? January 1, 2008 July 1, 2008 Source: Aron Shlonsky, University of Toronto (formerly at CSSR) CENTER FOR SOCIAL SERVICES RESEARCH School of Social Welfare, UC Berkeley December 31, 2008 CENTER FOR SOCIAL SERVICES RESEARCH School of Social Welfare, UC Berkeley CENTER FOR SOCIAL SERVICES RESEARCH School of Social Welfare, UC Berkeley The California Experience • • • • • • • • • University/Agency collaboration Publicly available reports since 1994, online since 2000 Nationally mandated measures (CFSR) State mandated measures (California Outcomes and Accountability System—AB636 law since 2001) Enhancements and additional measures Dynamic, user defined drill down and breakout functionality All tables refreshed quarterly Data over time, for California and each of the 58 counties Presentations, tools, etc. CENTER FOR SOCIAL SERVICES RESEARCH School of Social Welfare, UC Berkeley public data: putting it all out there pros: greater performance accountability community awareness and involvement, encourages public-private partnerships ability to track improvement over time, identify areas where programmatic adjustments are needed County/County and County/State collaboration cons: o o o o potential for misuse, misinterpretation, and misrepresentation available to those with agendas or looking to create a sensational headline misunderstood data can lead to the wrong policy decisions “Torture numbers, and they’ll confess to anything” Gregg Easterbrook CENTER FOR SOCIAL SERVICES RESEARCH School of Social Welfare, UC Berkeley how’s it working for us? • Publicly available data for child welfare has become business as usual • State, county, and UCB are able to respond quickly and thoroughly to data abuse/number torturing • Most outcome measures are improving over time CENTER FOR SOCIAL SERVICES RESEARCH School of Social Welfare, UC Berkeley CENTER FOR SOCIAL SERVICES RESEARCH School of Social Welfare, UC Berkeley CENTER FOR SOCIAL SERVICES RESEARCH School of Social Welfare, UC Berkeley Barbara Needell [email protected] 510 290 6334 CSSR.BERKELEY.EDU/UCB_CHILDWELFARE Needell, B., Webster, D., Armijo, M., Lee, S., Dawson, W., Magruder, J., Exel, M., Glasser, T., Williams, D., Zimmerman, K., Simon, V., Putnam-Hornstein, E., Frerer, K., Cuccaro-Alamin, S., Winn, A., Lou, C., & Peng, C. (2009). Child Welfare Services Reports for California. Retrieved July 1, 2009, from University of California at Berkeley Center for Social Services Research website. URL: <http://cssr.berkeley.edu/ucb_childwelfare> Presentation Developed by Emily Putnam-Hornstein and Christine Wei-Mien Lou CENTER FOR SOCIAL SERVICES RESEARCH School of Social Welfare, UC Berkeley