Trends in local public child welfare agencies 1999–2009

Abstract

US public child welfare agencies have faced increasing pressure in the first decade of this century to demonstrate efficiency and accountability, even as the Great Recession increased pressures on millions of families and undermined human service funding. This paper reports on analyses of the two cohorts of local public child welfare agencies from the National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being to identify changes in their structure and practice. Local agency adaptations have included some structural integration and apparently increased use of subcontracting, including investigations. Collectively, these trends appear to be fostering a tighter coupling of local child welfare agencies with other service providers. Some of these connections may improve families’ access to a range of services. However, the increased reliance on private providers may also undermine accountability and flexibility to respond to changing needs.

Cultural inheritance is driving a major transition in human evolution

“…We also predict increased group control of reproduction, childrearing and education. Mechanisms including norms and laws that support and prescribe reproduction, childcare and education, reproductive technology, and increased investment of non-relatives in raising children serve to increase the role of cultural groups in determining individual reproduction (162)(163)(164)(165) 3. Increased importance of cultural group identity.…”

Pobreza y segregación racial en la financiación gubernamental de los servicios asistenciales estadounidenses

“…Los resultados de los estudios realizados hasta el momento, a pesar de que todavía son escasos, confieren cierto apoyo a continuar con este modelo de asociación gobierno-agencias (Hasenfeld y Evans, 2004;Mosley, 2012;Wells et al, 2014, Garrow y Hasenfeld, 2014Salamon y Toepler, 2015). Salamon (1992) encuentra una relación positiva entre la proporción de usuarios que viven por debajo del umbral de la pobreza y la recepción de ayuda federal en un contexto nacional.…”

Serving clients and the community better: A mixed‐methods analysis of benefits experienced when organizations collaborate in child welfare

“…When considering the prevalence of contracted services in child welfare (Wells, Jolles, Chuang, McBeath, & Collins‐Camargo, ) and the extent to which organizations in community practice are interwoven to serve children and families (Colvin, ); it becomes clear that an empirically informed and enhanced understanding of the benefits of interorganizational practice is critical to guide practitioners, administrators, and policymakers in their attempts to navigate the current service landscapes. The purpose of this study was to provide an examination of perceived benefits experienced when organizations interact in a community‐level network to prevent child maltreatment and/or serve children and families.…”