Federal legislation requires that cases of children in out-of-home care be reviewed at least every 6 months, either by a court or through administrative review. An administrative review may be conducted by a variety of individuals, but at least one should not have responsibility for case management or service delivery to the child or his/her parents. These reviews may examine an individual case for purposes of permanency planning or may be part of a wider process examining the effectiveness of the system as a whole. Resources in this section describe the various types of administrative reviews used in child welfare cases, particularly as they are used to examine programs and practices as part of an overall systems improvement effort.