Since its creation, New York State Office of Children and Family Services (OCFS) has used child and family development research to bridge the chasm between child welfare and juvenile justice policy and practice. OCFS's major challenges have been to help the staff and stakeholders of the merged child welfare and juvenile justice agencies develop a common culture and design new financial and prog...

The lack of culturally appropriate health and mental health care has contributed to the large number of African American youth and families involved in the child welfare system. This article reviews the consequences of the insufficient access to culturally sensitive, evidence-supported interventions for African American foster youth. The authors describe a framework for the development of cultu...

This study examines the prevalence and associated factors of New York City public shelter use among young adults with histories of out-of-home care or nonplacement preventive services as teenagers. The study finds that 19 percent of former child welfare service users entered public shelters within 10 years of exit from child welfare. Persons with out-of-home placement histories are twice as lik...

This research brief describes the developmental risks present in a cohort of children coming into contact with the child welfare system between 1999 and 2000, as well as the services the children receive to address these risks. The findings are drawn from the National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-being (NSCAW), a unique study that provides detailed information about the well-being and ex...

In 1996, the David and Lucile Packard Foundation provided additional funding to enable the Health Care Reform Tracking Project to explore more fully: 1) the impact of state managed care reforms on children and families served by the child welfare system who need mental health and substance abuse services, and 2) the impact of managed care reforms in public child welfare systems on children with...

■ The high prevalence of serious and complex behavioral health needs among the children and families served by the child welfare system. Children in the child welfare system tend to be extremely vulnerable and are at high risk for health, mental health, and d e v e l o p m e n t a l problems. For children placed in foster care, the trauma of separation from their families and the experience of ...

In July 2006, the American Humane Association and the Loyola University Chicago School of Social Work facilitated a roundtable to address the emerging issue of immigration and its intersection with child welfare systems. More than 70 participants from 10 states and Mexico joined the roundtable, representing the fields of higher education, child welfare, international immigration, legal practice...

This paper presents results from the first large-scale outcome study of American Family Treatment Drug Courts (FTDCs)—specialised courts designed to work with substance-abusing parents involved with the child welfare system. The paper examines whether court, child welfare and treatment outcomes differed for 301 families served through three FTDCs as compared to a matched sample of 1,220 familie...

Although recent research has highlighted the importance of "bridging the gap" between child welfare and substance abuse treatment delivery systems, few studies examine specific factors that may facilitate such collaboration. This study examined similarities and differences in values and perceived capacity for collaboration between substance abuse and child welfare fields based on survey data fr...