Evidence-Based Practices in Child Protection

Use the following resources to learn more about programs and strategies in child protection supported by scientific research. These resources can help programs choose and implement evidence-based and promising practices that will suit the needs of the families and communities they serve. Resources include State and local examples.

Child Abuse and Neglect Prevention
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Presents evidence-based child abuse prevention strategies implemented by States and communities. Program strategies, planning information, and program reviews are also provided.

Evidence-based Practices in Child Welfare: Information and Resources
National Resource Center for Permanency and Family Connections
Provides overviews of evidence-based practices in child welfare, based on the information available in The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s National Registry of Evidence-based Programs and Practices and The California Evidence-Based Clearinghouse for Child Welfare’s database.

A Framework to Design, Test, Spread, and Sustain Effective Practice in Child Welfare
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Children's Bureau (2014)
Describes a process for exploring problems in child welfare, developing interventions into routine child welfare practice, determining intervention effectiveness, and continually improving on service delivery.

Selecting and Implementing Programs
California Evidence-Based Clearinghouse for Child Welfare
Provides guidance and resources about the common issues for agencies and communities to consider when selecting and implementing evidence-based practices. Tools and implementation examples also are included.

Social Work Policy Institute
Aims to serve as an information broker and create processes to move research into practice and encourage research on critical practice and policy issues that affect the profession and the consumers of social work services.

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State and local examples

Training Days: Illinois is Facing the Challenge of Bringing the Evidence From Child Welfare Research Into Daily Use
Finkel (2011)
SSA Magazine, 18(1)
Discusses the lack of knowledge Illinois child protection investigators have of pediatrics and the implementation of training on bringing the state-of-the-art in child welfare research to the daily work of social workers.

What Is Best Practice? (PDF - 204 KB)
Advocacy, Inc., Corinne Wolfe Children's Law Center, New Mexico CASA Network, New Mexico Children, Youth, and Families Department, New Mexico Citizen Review Board, & New Mexico Children's Court Improvement Commission (2011)
Introduces a series of bulletins that focuses on best practices in the field of child protection that have demonstrated positive outcomes for children and families in New Mexico and nationally.

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