Other
The author of this blog post points out that the focus of child protection social workers is generally much more on mothers than on fathers and explains that even when fathers are included they are often viewed through a “risk lens”. He considers some of the underlying reasons for this disparity, discusses the need to better understand the difficulties that fathers may face, and offers tips to help social workers adjust the way they support fathers.
Brief
The purpose of this brief is to highlight for the child welfare field the evidence-building lessons learned from the evaluation of Success Coach, a post-reunification program developed by Catawba County, North Carolina. This evidence building began in 2013 with an evaluation of the Success Coach program’s process and preliminary outcomes. Child Trends collaborated on a series of briefs highlighting lessons learned from this initial work, and then designed a more rigorous outcome and implementation evaluation of the program. In this brief we describe the background and development of…
Brief
An NRFC team visited the Project Fatherhood program of Children’s Institute, Inc. (CII) in Los Angeles, California on March 20, 21, and 22, 2018. The team had the opportunity to talk with program staff, participants, graduates, and community partners. This NRFC Spotlight highlights aspects of Project Fatherhood that may be of interest to other fatherhood practitioners.
Brief
Low-income families face significant challenges navigating both low-wage employment or education and training programs and also finding good-quality child care. Programs that intentionally combine services for parents and children can help families move toward economic security and create conditions that promote child and family well-being. Although these programs in general are not new (see Background), policymakers and program leaders are now experimenting with innovative approaches to combining services. Yet, most currently operating programs, sometimes called “two-generation” or “dual…
Brief
This brief is a resource for human service professionals on child safety and risk assessments in AI/AN communities. It is informed by the work of the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) with tribal child welfare professionals and by concerns in the field about the effectiveness of standard assessments in tribal communities. A majority of the tribal organizations that received ACF grants in 2011 to coordinate Tribal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) and child welfare services (9 of 14 grantees) used safety and risk assessments in their practice (Ahonen et al., 2016).…
Brief
This mixed-method evaluation examined five community-based initiatives in Washington State intended to prevent child maltreatment and exposure to toxic stress, mitigate their effects, and improve child and youth development outcomes. The study had two phases. During the first phase (2013–2014), the research team assessed operational contexts, strategies used to increase community capacity to prevent ACEs, and impact at the county level. In the second phase (2015–2016), the researchers examined the extent to which sites developed capacity to achieve their goals, and the relationship of select…
Brief
This research brief addresses the impact of intimate partner violence (IPV) on children, approaches to serving children exposed to IPV, and symptoms of exposure to IPV. It explains the dynamics of IPV and explores factors that can influence the level of impact a child experiences. Implications for providers, including “red flags” and resources, are also included.
Brief
When fathers are actively engaged in their children’s lives, their children experience improved mental, emotional, educational, and social outcomes. The Prevention and Early Intervention (PEI) Division of the Texas Department of Family Protective Services (DFPS) launched the Fatherhood EFFECT program in 2015 to encourage and support healthy father engagement through providing evidence-based fatherhood programs in three communities across the state. The Child and Family Research Partnership (CFRP) is evaluating the success of the EFFECT program through a mixed-method approach. One method to…
This fact sheet profiles the Parents as Teachers program, an evidence-based home visiting approach that builds strong families and promotes positive parent-child interaction so children are healthy, safe, and ready to learn. Findings from a 2004 study on the benefits and costs of prevention and early intervention programs are shared and indicate Parents as Teachers had the largest benefit per dollar of cost ($1.23) of all reviewed pre-kindergarten education programs for children up to age 3. Goals of the Parent as Teachers program are explained and include: enhance parent knowledge of child…
Other, Book
This updated edition explains what program evaluation is, why evaluation is important, how to conduct an evaluation and understand the results, how to report evaluation findings, and how to use evaluation results to improve programs that benefit children and families. (Author abstract)
