THE CENTER FOR STATE FOSTER CARE AND ADOPTION DATA

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THE CENTER FOR STATE FOSTER CARE AND
ADOPTION DATA

• Improving how information is used in the
  management of child welfare programs

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Organizational structure

• Established in January 2004
• A partnership of
• APHSA/NAPCWA
• Chapin Hall Center for Children at the University
  of Chicago
• Jordan Institute for Families at the University
  of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
• Center for Social Services Research at the
  University of California at Berkeley

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Organizational structure

• State Advisory Board responsible for guiding
  the work of the Center and setting policy on
• Use of the Centers data
• Research agenda
• Types of Technical Assistance provided
• Data model enhancements

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The Centers mission

• Improve state capacity to organize and use
  longitudinal data to
• analyze performance
• compare performance across jurisdictions
• support expanded and relevant research
• Support agency decision making
• Measure child welfare agency capacity
• Use on-line web based software tool for viewing
  data in different ways

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Critical Needs

• Improve management of child welfare systems
• Provides quick, efficient and low cost methods of
  creating reports to
• develop policy
• plan programs
• monitor outcomes
• Promotes the study of a childs service career
  longitudinally, change over time

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Importance of longitudinal data?

• Study of change over time
• Provides a different way to talk about the
  pattern(s) of that change
• Provides best opportunity for understanding
  whether outcomes change
• Used to understand whether programs and policies
  are having their intended effects

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How the Center supports this work

• State child welfare database for each member
  state
• Training on how to use and interpret data
• Multi-state foster care and adoption data archive
• allows deeper research on an unprecedented scale
  to foster a better understanding of child welfare
  nationwide

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With the web based longitudinal database, you can

• Create customized queries and construct reports
  to monitor performance
• Better understand foster care placement outcomes
  in your state or across regions
• Compare your states performance with other
  counties and states
• Communicate your agencys story to legislators,
  media, and the courts

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Center subscribers get

• Sophisticated longitudinal database
• 5 hours of technical assistance
• 2 semi-annual technical assistance sessions
• Annual Administrative Data Institute
• Access to multi-state longitudinal data
• Ongoing support from leaders in the child welfare
  research field

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Current Center Members
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How do I get more information?

• Attend Sunday, March 16th Technical Assistance
  Session
• Register for monthly web demos of the tool
• Submit Business Card to Christina Crayton, APHSA
  Center Liaison
• Visit Centers website at www.fcda.chapinhall.org

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For more information, contact

• Christina Crayton
• APHSA / NAPCWA
• [phone] ext. 257
• ccrayton_at_aphsa.org
• http//csfcad.chapinhall.org