Critical Issues in Evaluating Child Welfare Programs

This brief examines critical issues child welfare agencies face when evaluating their programs.

It reviews strategies for addressing these challenges to improve the timeliness, quality, and usefulness of evaluations, including—

• Estimating the size and characteristics of the target population
• Obtaining institutional review board approval and client consent to conduct research
• Identifying appropriate data collection instruments, tests, and protocols
• Training staff in data collection and analysis methods
• Accessing and using child welfare data from state and local information management systems