Child Welfare Privatization Quantitative Indicators and Policy Issues

• Published in: Evaluation review Vol. 28; no. 2; pp. 87 - 103
• Main Authors: Yampolskaya, Svetlana, Paulson, Robert I., Armstrong, Mary, Jordan, Neil, Vargo, Amy C.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States SAGE Publications 01.04.2004; Sage Publications; SAGE PUBLICATIONS, INC
• Subjects: Child Safety; Child Welfare; Child Welfare - statistics & numerical data; Child Welfare Services; Child, Preschool; Children; Community Programs; Counties; Data Collection; Evaluation; Florida; Foster Care; Health Care Services; Health Policy; Health Services Research; Health technology assessment; Humans; Indicators; Measurement; Performance evaluation; Policy analysis; Privatization; Privatization - statistics & numerical data; Program Effectiveness; Program Evaluation; Quality Control; Quantitative analysis; Social Indicators; Social science research; State Programs; Well Being; Florida; evaluation; child welfare; indicators; privatization
• ISSN: 0193-841X; 1552-3926
• DOI: 10.1177/0193841X03258359

The purpose of this study was to demonstrate the development of safety, permanency, and child well-being indicators by using administrative data sets as well as by using these indicators as tools for evaluating Florida’s Community-Based Care (CBC) initiative. Longitudinal data from 37 counties including 4 counties that implemented community-based care were examined in this study. The results of the study indicated that the overall performance of CBC counties is at least as good as the performance of their comparison run by the state counties. The findings that emerged from this study may provide important lessons for developing a performance measurement system in the child welfare field.