Child welfare outcomes revisited

The use of outcome measures in child welfare has been part of agency and academic discussions for at least two decades. In 1989, McDonald, Lieberman, Poertner and Hornby contributed to the implementation of an outcome focus through the publication of "Child Welfare Standards for Success." That paper presented the results of a comprehensive review of published and unpublished research that reported on outcomes of the major public child welfare programs: protective services, substitute care and adoption. The purpose of this paper is to revisit the field to gather additional outcome studies and to determine if broader agreement can be reached on both the definitions of outcome measures and standards for evaluating success. Discussion is included on issues of the use of outcome data for management decision-making, court monitoring, and community involvement.