Evidence for Child Welfare Practice

This book provides a "work-in-progress" that seeks to capture the micro (direct service) and macro (managerial) perspectives related to identifying evidence for practice within the practice domain of public child welfare. It is divided into two categories; namely, evidence for direct practice and evidence for management practice. In Part I, the articles are categorized in the areas of child welfare assessment and child welfare outcomes. Expanded versions of the chapters can be accessed at www.bassc.net.
In Part II, the focus is on organizational issues that relate to evidence for management practice. This section includes an overview of evidence-based practice from an organizational perspective along with evidence related to the experiences of others in implementing evidence-based practice.

This book pushes the discussion of evidence-based practice in several new directions regarding: 1) the use of structured reviews to complement the systematic reviews of the Cochrane and Campbell Collaboratives, 2) the process of viewing the call for evidence-based practice as a goal or future vision of practice and evidence for practice provides a more immediate approach to promote evidence-informed practice, and 3) a recognition that evidence-informed practice is part of building agency-based knowledge sharing systems that involve the tacit and explicit knowledge needed to improve the outcomes of social services.
This book was published as a special issue of the Journal Of Evidence-Based Social Work.

Michael J. Austin is the Milton and Florence Krenz Mack Professor of Nonprofit Management at the School of Social Welfare, University of California, Berkeley. He is the former dean of the University of Pennsylvania School of Social Work, and teaches graduate students in the area of non-profit management, community planning and the social environment dimensions of human behavior and the social environment.

1. Introduction Michael J. Austin PART I: EVIDENCE FOR DIRECT PRACTICE ASSESSMENT IN CHILD WELFARE 2. Understanding and Addressing Racial/Ethnic Disproportionality in the Front End of the Child Welfare System Kathy Lemon Osterling, Amy D’Andrade, Michael J. Austin 3. Risk and Safety Assessment in Child Welfare: Instrument Comparisons Amy D’Andrade, Michael J. Austin, Amy Benton 4. Family Assessment in Child Welfare Services: Instrument Comparisons Michelle A. Johnson, Susan Stone, Christine Lou, Catherine M. Vu, Jennifer Ling, Paola Mizrahi, Michael J. Austin 5. Assessing Child and Youth Well-Being: Implications for Child Welfare Practice Christine Lou, Elizabeth K. Anthony, Susan Stone, Catherine M. Vu, Michael J. Austin CHILD WELFARE OUTCOMES 6. Understanding and Measuring Child Welfare Outcomes Amy D’Andrade, Kathy Lemon Osterling, Michael J. Austin 7. Substance Abuse Interventions for Parents Involved in the Child Welfare System: Evidence and Implications Kathy Lemon Osterling, Michael J. Austin 8. Assessing Parent Education Programs for Families Involved with Child Welfare Services: Evidence and Implications Michelle A. Johnson, Susan Stone, Christine Lou, Jennifer Ling, Jennette Claassen, Michael J. Austin PART II: EVIDENCE FOR MANAGEMENT PRACTICE 9. Evidence-Based Practice in the Social Services: Implications for Organizational Change Michelle Johnson, Michael J. Austin 10. Implementing Evidence-Based Practice in Human Service Organizations: Preliminary Lessons from the Frontlines Michael J. Austin, Jennette Claassen 11. The Dissemination and Utilization of Research for Promoting Evidence-Based Practice Kathy Lemon Osterling, Michael J. Austin 12. Impact of Organizational Change on Organizational Culture: Implications for Introducing Evidence-Based Practice Michael J. Austin, Jennette Claassen 13. Knowledge Management: Implications for Human Service Organizations Michael J. Austin, Jennette Claassen, Catherine M. Vu, Paola Mizrahi