Child Welfare Information Gateway
Skip to main content
  • U.S. Department of Health & Human Services
  • Administration for Children & Families
  • Children's Bureau
Child Welfare Information Gateway
REPORT ABUSE OR
NEGLECT
FIND HELP WITH A
PERSONAL SITUATION   

Home Topics Publications Library State Resources More Tools & Resources News & Events
REPORT ABUSE OR
NEGLECT
FIND HELP WITH A
PERSONAL SITUATION   
  • About Us
  • Contact
  • Chat
  • Free Subscriptions
  • Resources in Spanish
  • About Us
  • Contact
  • Chat
  • Resources in Spanish
  • Shopping Cart
  • Home
  • Topics
    • Family-Centered Practice
      • Philosophy and Key Elements of Family-Centered Practice
      • Family-Centered Practice Across the Service Continuum
      • Engaging Families
      • Family-Centered Casework Practice
      • Family Group Decision-Making
      • Engaging Communities to Support Families
      • Creating a Family-Centered Agency Culture
    • Child Abuse & Neglect
      • Definitions of Child Abuse & Neglect
      • Identification of Child Abuse & Neglect
      • Risk Factors That Contribute to Child Abuse and Neglect
      • People Who Engage in Child Abuse or Neglect
      • Impact of Child Abuse & Neglect
      • Child Abuse & Neglect Fatalities
    • Preventing Child Abuse & Neglect
      • National Child Abuse Prevention Month
      • Overview: Preventing Child Abuse & Neglect
      • Promoting Child & Family Well-Being
      • Public Awareness & Creating Supportive Communities
      • Child Abuse and Neglect Prevention Programs
      • Developing & Sustaining Prevention Programs
      • Evidence-Based Practice for Child Abuse Prevention
      • Evaluating Prevention Programs
    • Responding to Child Abuse & Neglect
      • Introduction to Responding to Child Abuse & Neglect
      • Reporting Child Abuse and Neglect
      • Assessment in Child Protection
      • Differential Response in Child Protective Services
      • Child Protection Casework Practice
      • Responding to Child Maltreatment Near Fatalities and Fatalities
      • Trauma-Informed Practice in Child Welfare
      • Collaborative Responses to Child Abuse & Neglect
    • Supporting & Preserving Families
      • Supporting Families With Mental Health and Substance Use Disorders
      • Introduction to Family Support and Preservation
      • In-Home Services Involved With Child Protection
      • Family Support Services
      • Resources for Managers of Family Support and Preservation Services
      • Family Preservation Services
    • Out-of-Home Care
      • National Foster Care Month
      • Overview: Out-of-Home Care
      • Foster Care
      • Group and Residential Care
      • Kinship Care
      • Casework Practice in Out-of-Home Care
      • Transition to Adulthood and Independent Living
      • Placement Decisions
      • Resources for Foster Families
    • Achieving & Maintaining Permanency
      • Overview: Achieving & Maintaining Permanency
      • Reunifying Families
      • Recruiting and Retaining Resource Families
      • Permanency With Relatives and Kin
      • Guardianship
      • Permanency for Specific Youth Populations
      • Legal and Court Issues in Permanency
      • Interjurisdictional Placements
      • Working With Children, Youth, and Families in Permanency Planning
      • Working With Children, Youth, and Families After Permanency
      • Resources for Administrators and Managers About Permanency
      • Resources for Families About Permanency
    • Adoption
      • National Adoption Month
      • All-In Foster Adoption Challenge
      • Children's Bureau Adoption Call to Action
      • Adoption and Guardianship Assistance by State
      • Introduction to Adoption
      • Ethical Issues in Adoption
      • For Adopted People
      • For Adoption Program Managers & Administrators
      • For Expectant Parents Considering Adoption and Birth Parents
      • How to Adopt
      • Laws Related to Adoption
      • Parenting After Adoption
      • Preplacement Adoption Casework Practice
      • Postplacement Adoption Casework Practice
      • Search & Reunion in Adoption
    • Management & Supervision
      • Administering & Managing Child Welfare Agencies & Programs
      • Child Welfare Practice Improvement
      • Disaster Preparedness & Response
      • Ethical Practice & Client Rights
      • Evaluating Program and Practice Effectiveness
      • Funding
      • Information Systems & Data
      • Supervising Child Welfare Services
      • System Reform
      • Training
      • Workforce
    • Systemwide
      • Assessment
      • Behavioral Health & Wellness
      • Courts
      • Cultural Responsiveness
      • Diverse Populations and Communities
      • Domestic Violence
      • Human Trafficking
      • Laws & Policies
      • Service Array
      • Statistics
      • Well-Being
      • Youth
  • Publications
    • Publications Series
    • Browse by Topic
    • Browse by Title
    • índice de Títulos en Español (Spanish Title Index)
  • Library
    • Library Services
    • Library Search Help
  • State Resources
    • State Statutes
    • National Foster Care & Adoption Directory
    • State Guides & Manuals Search
    • State-Related Organizations Lists
    • Adoption and Guardianship Assistance by State
  • More Tools & Resources
    • Related Organizations
    • Learning Center
    • Resources From the Children's Bureau
      • Children's Bureau Discretionary Grants
      • The Story of the Children's Bureau
      • Children's Bureau Video Series
    • Child Welfare Information Gateway Podcast Series
    • Multimedia
      • Videos
      • Webinars
    • Family Engagement Inventory
  • News & Events
    • Free Subscriptions
    • Adoption Triad
    • Children's Bureau Express (CBX)
    • The Grantee Connection
    • New on Information Gateway
    • New From the Children's Bureau
    • Event Calendar
  • Home
  • Topics
  • Management & Supervision
  • System Reform
  • Building and Sustaining System Reform Efforts
  • The Role of Evidence-Based Practice in System Reform

The Role of Evidence-Based Practice in System Reform

Evidence-based practice plays a role in system reform as child welfare practitioners work to develop interventions, build evidence about their effectiveness, integrate effective interventions into child welfare practice, and continue to improve programs and service delivery. 

The following resources identify evidence-based strategies used in child welfare reform efforts, including State and local examples.

The practices included below have been identified by their developers or an outside group as "evidence-based." Child Welfare Information Gateway and the Children's Bureau do not endorse individual practices or programs or make any claims about the effectiveness of the approaches described. This information is provided as a resource.

Assembling the Pieces: Research, Policy, and Practice in Child Welfare (PDF - 257 KB)
Casey Family Programs (2016)
Explores using research evidence in child welfare, which results in more informed decision-making; increased use of evidence-based practices; and ongoing evaluation for accountability, client satisfaction, and program improvement purposes. Research evidence is critical for ensuring a high functioning system of policies and programs serving children and families.

The Evolution of Child Welfare Reform (PDF - 261 KB) 
Collins-Camargo (2016)
CW360 Child Welfare Reform 
Presents an overview and in-depth discussion of child welfare reform, including a description of the evolution of evidence-based practice under "Practice Techniques and Models" on page 5.  

A Historic Opportunity to Reform the Child Welfare System: Youth & Alumni Priorities on Preventing Unnecessary Removal of Children From Their Families (PDF - 134 KB) 
National Foster Care Youth & Alumni Policy Council (2019)
Provides recommendations from youth and foster care alumni on ways to improve child welfare policy and practice and highlights new opportunities for the use of evidence-based practices presented by the Family First Prevention Services Act.

Implementing the Family First Prevention Services Act
Children's Defense Fund (2020) 
Presents a guide to the Family First Prevention Services Act, which is designed to provide a starting point for the implementation efforts of child welfare agencies, policymakers, and other stakeholders. The guide contains a section devoted to evidence-based programs starting on page 18 that reviews how the law promotes evidence-based programs, how the evidence-based standards were developed, what the quality improvement requirements for evidence-based services are, and more.

Research Evidence Use by Child Welfare Agencies (PDF - 195 KB)
Wulczyn, Alpert, & Monahan-Price (2016)
CW360 Child Welfare Reform
Examines the use of child welfare research by policymakers, agency directors, and frontline staff to improve child welfare programs and how evidence-based practices could be better implemented for reform.

Towards Creating Synergy Among Policy, Procedures, and Implementation of Evidence-Based Models in Child Welfare Systems: Two Case Examples (PDF - 76 KB) 
Chamberlain (2017) 
Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review, 20(1) 
Describes how child welfare systems have been slow (compared to other systems) to adopt evidence-based interventions and offers two policy-based studies in child welfare that show success in scaling up research-based parenting skills into routine services delivered by child welfare practitioners. 

(Back to Top)

State and local examples

How the Missouri Practice Model Transformed the State's Child Welfare System
Ellis (2018) 
American Bar Association 
Explores how an evidence-based child- and family-centered practice model has successfully kept families involved in the system while changing organizational culture and sustaining change. 

Implementing Evidence-Based Child Welfare: The New York City Experience
Clara, Garcia, & Metz (2017)
Casey Family Programs 
Describes an effort in New York City to introduce 11 evidence-based and evidence-informed practices into child welfare services and the results that showcase how to successfully integrate evidence-based models into practice. 

New Jersey Taps Implementation Science to Improve Child Welfare Practices 
Annie E. Casey Foundation (2017) 
Describes an effort in New Jersey that used implementation science to launch evidence-based approaches to improve child welfare outcomes. 

What Works Wisconsin: Effective Programs and Resources for Children, Youth and Families
University of Wisconsin-Madison’s School of Human Ecology & University of Wisconsin-Extension’s Family Living Programs
Highlights a project in the State of Wisconsin that focuses on the latest scientific knowledge on effective policies, practices, and programs for youth, their families, schools, and communities. What Works Wisconsin also provides links to information on topics such as evidence-informed program improvement processes and materials, evidence-based program registries, and evaluation resources.

(Back to Top)

Spotlight On

California Evidence-Based Clearinghouse for Child Welfare

Related Content

Evidence-Based Practice

Children's Bureau - An office of the Administration for Children and Families

Child Welfare Information Gateway is a service of the

  • Children’s Bureau
  • Administration for Children and Families
  • U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
↑ Back to top
  • HOME
  • TOPICS
    • Family-Centered Practice
    • Child Abuse & Neglect
    • Preventing Child Abuse & Neglect
    • Responding to Child Abuse & Neglect
    • Supporting & Preserving Families
    • Out-of-Home Care
    • Achieving & Maintaining Permanency
    • Adoption
    • Management & Supervision
    • Systemwide
  • National Initiatives
    • National Adoption Month
    • National Child Abuse Prevention Month
    • National Foster Care Month
  • Publications
    • Publications Series
    • Browse by Title
    • Browse by Topic
    • Índice de Títulos en Español
  • Library
    • Search the Library
  • State Resources
    • State Statutes
    • National Foster Care & Adoption Directory
    • State Guides & Manuals
    • State Related Organizations Lists
    • Adoption Assistance by State
  • More Tools & Resources
    • Related Organizations
    • Learning Center
    • Children's Bureau Resources
    • Information Gateway Podcast
    • Multimedia
    • Family Engagement Inventory
  • NEWS AND EVENTS
    • New on Information Gateway
    • New From the Children's Bureau
    • Event Calendar
  • ABOUT US
    • How to Report Child Abuse or Neglect
    • Find Help With a Personal Situation
    • Frequently Asked Questions
    • Glossary
    • Search A to Z
  • Contact Us
    • 1-800-394-3366
    • info@childwelfare.gov
    • Subscribe to Free Updates
    • Chat With Us
  • Follow us on Facebook
  • Follow us on Twitter
  • Follow us on YouTube
  • POLICIES & HELPFUL LINKS
    • Disclaimer and Policies
    • Privacy Policy
    • Accessibility
    • FOIA requests
    • No FEAR Act data
    • Office of the Inspector General
    • Performance reports
    • Vulnerability Disclosure Policy
    • USA.gov
    • Download Acrobat Reader
  • ↑ Back to top