Marc A. Winokur

Matched Comparison of Children in Kinship Care and Foster Care on Child Welfare Outcomes

The documented growth of kinship care has boldly thrust this topic into the forefront of child welfare practice. This study compares the permanency, safety, and stability outcomes for a matched group of children placed in kinship care and foster care. After controlling for demographic and placement characteristics, children in kinship care had significantly fewer placements than did children in foster care, and they were less likely to still be in care, have a new allegation of institutional abuse or neglect, be involved with the juvenile justice system, and achieve reunification. These findings call for a greater commitment by child welfare professionals, policy makers, and researchers to make kinship care a viable out-of-home placement option for children and families.

Comparing Longitudinal Academic Achievement of Full-Day and Half-Day Kindergarten Students

ABSTRACT The authors compared the achievement of children who were enrolled in full-day kindergarten (FDK) to a matched sample of students who were enrolled in half-day kindergarten (HDK) on mathematics and reading achievement in Grades 2, 3, and 4, several years after they left kindergarten. Results showed that FDK students demonstrated significantly higher achievement at the end of kindergarten than did their HDK counterparts, but that advantage disappeared quickly by the end of first grade. Interpretations and implications are given for that finding.

The Effects of Block Scheduling on High School Academic Achievement

The effect of block scheduling on high school student achievement in mathematics and reading was investigated in this study through the use of an ex postfacto, longitudinal research design. Specifically, student scores from 9thand 11th-grade standardized tests were matched and sorted by junior high and high school attended. Outcome measures consisted of Levels tests and ACT exams in mathematics and reading. Statistical analyses of student gain scores included main effects of scheduling type, gender, and ethnicity as well as interaction effects for these independent variables. Results indicate that students in 4 X 4 block scheduling had greater gain scores in reading and mathematics than did students in both traditional scheduling and A/B block scheduling.

Systematic Review of Kinship Care Effects on Safety, Permanency, and Well-Being Outcomes

Objective: Children in out-of-home placements typically display more educational, behavioral, and psychological problems than do their peers. This systematic review evaluated the effect of kinship care placement compared to foster care placement on the safety, permanency, and well-being of children removed from the home for maltreatment. Methods: Review authors independently read titles and abstracts identified in the searches, selected appropriate studies, assessed the eligibility of each study, evaluated the methodological quality, and extracted outcome data for meta-analysis. Results: Outcome data from the 102 included quasi-experimental studies suggest that, as compared to children in foster care, children in kinship care experience fewer behavioral problems and mental health disorders, better well-being, less placement disruption, fewer mental health services, and similar reunification rates. Conclusions: This review supports the practice of treating kinship care as a viable out-of-home placement option. This conclusion is tempered by methodological and design weaknesses of the included studies.

A Critical Appraisal of Issues in Differential Response: Moving the Field Forward

This reaction article highlights areas of agreement and disagreement with the study conducted by Hughes, Rycus, Saunders-Adams, Hughes, and Hughes on the current state of research and practice in differential response (DR). Overall, we agree with several of the arguments put forth by Hughes et al. regarding the limitations of DR research and the lack of a consistently defined and implemented DR practice model. These areas of agreement offer common ground on which to work together to move the field forward. However, we have concerns about the methodological rigor of the Hughes et al. study and questions about some of their findings and conclusions. We draw upon our current evaluation of a five-county DR research and demonstration project in Colorado to provide recommendations for enhancing the design and implementation of research on DR.

The Social Work Research Center at Colorado State University.

The Social Work Research Center is an innovative university-community partnership within the School of Social Work in the College of Applied Human Sciences at Colorado State University. The center is focused on working with county and state child welfare agencies to generate applied research that translates into evidence-based practice for serving children and families. The history, structure, resources, and funding of the center are described, as are the ongoing and current research projects, lessons learned, and future plans. This article is the latest in a series of reports of social work research centers published in Research on Social Work Practice.

Who’s Been Served and How? Permanency Outcomes for Children and Youth Involved in Child Welfare and Youth Corrections

Child welfare systems were created to protect maltreated children. However, adolescents today can be involved with child welfare for reasons other than maltreatment, including behavior issues. Such youth are also commonly involved in the youth corrections system. This study examines youth characteristics and risk factors which predict attaining permanency at case closure for youth involved in child welfare primarily for behavioral reasons. The sample consists of 5,691 youth aged 10–17 served in Colorado between 2007 and 2013. A multinomial logit model identified predictors of nonpermanent outcomes and of placement with return home, compared to remaining home throughout case involvement. Results show that the following characteristics and risks have a positive relationship with nonpermanent outcomes: longer case duration, prior child welfare placement, felony involvement, crimes against persons or property, truancy, running away, and gang membership. Services provided by the child welfare system are negatively related to nonpermanent outcomes.

Answering the big questions about differential response in Colorado: Safety and cost outcomes from a randomized controlled trial☆☆☆

Over the past 20 years, jurisdictions across the United States have implemented differential response (DR), which provides child protective services with the flexibility to tailor their response to reports of child abuse or neglect based on the level of risk. Given the widespread adoption of DR, there has been an increasing demand from policymakers, practitioners, and community stakeholders to build the evidence base for this innovative child welfare approach. This study was designed to answer the big questions regarding the effect of differential response on child welfare outcomes and costs using a randomized controlled trial in five Colorado counties. Specifically, the study examined the safety outcomes and costs of families who were randomly assigned to either a family assessment response (FAR) or an investigation response (IR). According to the regression results, there were no differences between the tracks on measures of system re-involvement. However, survival analysis findings indicate that FAR families were 18% less likely, over time, to have a high risk assessment after their initial accepted referral than were IR families. The cost study revealed no differences between the tracks on initial costs for caseworker contacts, services, and out-of-home placements. However, the results suggest that follow-up costs for IR cases were significantly higher (p<0.001) than for FAR cases. The authors discuss policy and practice implications for jurisdictions considering DR.