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National Study of Protective, Preventive and Reunification Services Delivered to Children and Their Families: Final Report

NCJ Number
169024
Date Published
1994
Length
156 pages
Annotation
The delivery of child welfare services in 1994 was examined by means of telephone interviews with a national sample caseworkers in child welfare agencies in 50 counties or clusters of counties covering the entire country.
Abstract
The 2,109 telephone interviews gathered information on a national random sample of children and families who received services between March 1993 and February 1994. The research examined factors related to case duration and service delivery and made comparisons with 1977, the date of the last such study. Results revealed that the number of children receiving child welfare services has declined significantly between 1977 and 1994. This decline reflects a child welfare system that has evolved into a system that mainly serves abused and neglected children and their families. However, the intent of Federal legislation to shift child welfare from a foster care system to an in-home, family-based system has not been realized. Thus, comparable numbers of children were in foster care placement in 1977 and 1994. In addition, foster care drift remains a problem. Furthermore, minority children are more likely to be in foster care placement than to receive in-home services, even when they have the same characteristics as white children. Finally, kinship care does not explain the dramatically longer stays in foster care for minority children. Finally, the recent policy initiatives suggest that the system will become more complex and indicate the need for research on service delivery and outcomes. Figures, tables, appended additional results, and 35 references