Supporting Change in Child Welfare: An Evaluation of Training and Technical Assistance

This report presents findings from an evaluation of the services delivered by 15 training and technical assistance (T/TA) centers funded by the Children’s Bureau, Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Over 5 years, the centers assisted child welfare agencies (from 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and 46 tribes and tribal consortia) with identifying issues in their systems, developing solutions, implementing changes, and designing strategies to sustain those changes to improve child welfare practices.

The centers were primarily responsible for providing T/TA to public child welfare agencies and courts. The report examines the services provided, relationships between service providers and recipients, outcomes, and resulting impact on systems change and capacity building in child welfare agencies. Implications for both T/TA and evaluations are explored.

Key findings address the processes of requesting, preparing for, and delivering T/TA; the facilitators and barriers to accessing services; and the methods for evaluating T/TA.