Research to Consider While Effectively Re-Designing Child Welfare Services

Authors

Richard P. Barth, University of Maryland - Baltimore
Jill Duerr Berrick, University of California - Berkeley
Antonio R. Garcia, University of Kentucky
Brett Drake, Washington University in St. Louis
Melissa Jonson-Reid, Washington University in St. Louis
John GyourkoFollow
Johanna K. P. Greeson, University of Pennsylvania

Publication Date

2021

Document Type

Article

Abstract

An intense appetite for reforming and transforming child welfare services in the United States is yielding many new initiatives. Vulnerable children and families who become involved with child welfare clearly deserve higher quality and more effective services. New policies, programs, and practices should be built on sound evidence. Reforms based on misunderstandings about what the current data show may ultimately harm families. This review highlights 10 commonly held misconceptions which we assert are inconsistent with the best available contemporary evidence. Implications for better alignment of evidence and reform are discussed.

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.

Recommended Citation

Barth, R., Berrick, J. D., Garcia, A. R., Drake, B., Jonson-Reid, M., Gyourko, J. R., & Greeson, J. K. P. (2021). Research to consider while effectively re-designing child welfare services. Research on Social Work Practice, 32(5), 483-498. https://doi.org/10.1177/10497315211050000