Supporting Lifelong Families: Ensuring Long-Lasting Permanency and Well-Being
This research brief addresses re-entries into foster care, relevant programs and services, and recommendations for supporting long-term permanency.
Research reports
Casey Family Programs produces an extensive range of research papers on child welfare topics.
Strategies for Successfully Recruiting and Retaining Preferred-Placement Foster Homes for American Indian Children
This brief highlights strategies used by tribal and state teams working to increase the number of foster parents for American Indian children.
Addressing Unaddressed Needs: Helping Agencies Target Services to Children and Caregivers in Child Welfare
Children and caregivers in the child welfare system have a high degree of unmet service needs.
Assembling the Pieces: Research, Policy, and Practice in Child Welfare
This research brief was developed to advance discussions of what it takes to make valuable research use commonplace and offer concrete strategies for doing so.
Washington communities reduce trauma effects through public-private partnerships
Several communities have created innovative approaches to decrease problems linked to trauma.
Community-Based Family Support: Exemplars with Implementation and Evaluation Strategies
This brief examines the need for community-based initiatives, lessons learned on implementation, and promising evaluation strategies.
Signs of Safety® Supervisor Practice Fidelity Assessment: Field Test and Evaluation Report
This report describes the development of a fidelity measurement tool for Signs of Safety® — an approach to assessing safety and risk in child protective services.
Geography Matters
This two-page overview explains the utility of using geographic analysis techniques and mapping in child welfare.
Elements of Effective Practice for Children and Youth Served by Therapeutic Residential Care
This brief summarizes research on effective practices for children and youth referred to therapeutic residential care.
Indian Child Welfare Act Snapshot: A Pilot Review of ICWA Practice in Oklahoma
The Oklahoma Department of Human Services (DHS), in partnership with Casey Family Programs, conducted this pilot project to identify practice trends related to compliance with the federal and Oklahoma Indian Child Welfare acts. The Indian Child Welfare Act Snapshot report describes a review of cases involving American Indian children in foster care performed by a […]
Research Evidence and Benefit-Cost Data for Title IV-E Waiver Interventions
States with Title IV-E demonstrations are using evidence-based practices, but more cost-benefit analyses are needed.
Placement Patterns for American Indian Children Involved with Child Welfare
American Indian children are disproportionately more likely to be victims of maltreatment and to be in foster care than the general population of children, according to 2012 data. Despite Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) guidelines, only 17 percent of American Indian children not living with a biological parent reside with an American Indian caregiver. This […]
Addressing Child Sex Trafficking from a Child Welfare Perspective
This report presents the results of a national survey gathering child welfare leaders’ insights into child sex trafficking and what they need to combat it.
Prioritizing Early Childhood to Safely Reduce the Need for Foster Care: A National Scan of Interventions
This research brief highlights practice elements that contribute to effective programs for parents and young children involved with child welfare systems.
Measuring Compliance with the Indian Child Welfare Act: A Research and Practice Brief
This research and practice brief is a useful resource for states that seek to document compliance with the Indian Child Welfare Act.
The Well-Being of Children in the Child Welfare System: An Analysis of the Second National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being (NSCAW II)
Children involved in the child welfare system have more developmental challenges than the general population, according to this report.
The Potential for Cost Savings from Home Visiting Due to Reductions in Child Maltreatment
Evidence-based home visiting shows potential to prevent maltreatment, which has significant societal costs.
SafeCare: Evidence-based Neglect Prevention Model Shows Effectiveness with American Indians
This study evaluates SafeCare, a home-visiting model that addresses child neglect, the most common form of maltreatment.
Timely Permanency through Reunification: Breakthrough Series Collaborative
This report describes the Timely Permanency through Reunification Breakthrough Series Collaborative process. It highlights promising practices and outcomes.
Making the Case for Early Childhood Intervention in Child Welfare: A Research and Practice Brief
The number of youth in foster care nationally has declined over the past decade, but similar declines have not occurred for children under 6.