About Us
The State Child Welfare Policy Database is developed and managed by Child Trends. Child Trends is a nonprofit, nonpartisan research center that studies children at all stages of development, which seeks to improve the lives of children and youth by conducting high-quality research and sharing it with the people and institutions whose decisions and actions affect children.
The State Child Welfare Policy Database is sponsored by Casey Family Programs. Casey Family Programs is the nation's largest operating foundation focused entirely on foster care and improving the child welfare system. Casey Family Programs works to provide and improve - and ultimately prevent the need for - foster care in the United States.
Purpose & Goals
The website aims to centralize and make publicly available an array of state child welfare policies so that policy makers, practitioners, and other stakeholders can stay abreast of the policies that protect our nation's most vulnerable children.
Rationale for making State Child Welfare Policy Information More Widely Available
According to recent federal data, approximately 702,000 children were found to be victims of child abuse or neglect in FFY2009, and approximately 3.8 million children received supports or services to strengthen families and prevent entry into foster care. (Source: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Children's Bureau (2010). Child Maltreatment 2009. Government Printing Office).
Federal funding and federal laws offer support and guidance, and in some cases requirements, about how states must respond to and care for abused and neglected children as well as children at risk of maltreatment. However, states have flexibility in the way they develop and manage their child welfare systems. As the data presented on this site show, there is great variation in state child welfare policies and financing of services.
Sharing information about these policies enables state and federal policy makers and other interested parties to better understand the policies that support the nation's safety net for vulnerable children. We hope that this website leads to the sharing of best practices among state agencies and also serves to raise awareness about areas that may benefit from greater attention by policy makers.
How it Works
To navigate the site, begin by using either the "Data by Topic" or "Data by State" sections of the Home page.
Data by Topic: Opening each accordion box under the "Data by Topic" section of the page will show you the list of currently available topics and subtopics. Select a policy topic by clicking on a title. A "+" symbol next to a topic or subtopic indicates that the subject can be expanded again to reveal further layers of information. Once you have clicked through to an area of interest, click on the topic and you will be shown the national information for this topic, with policies categorized for each state.
Data by State: Selecting a state from either the U.S. map image on the Home page, or the drop-down box above the map, will take you to that state's page. Once in the state page, you will be directed to select a topic/subtopic from the accordion list, per the instructions above for the "Data by Topic" section. Once you have clicked through to an area of interest, click on the topic and you will be shown the information only for that particular state. To move to another state, simply select a different state from the drop-down box at the top of the page.
Related Websites and Organizations
A number of other sources offer reliable and useful child welfare policy information. We provide contact information for many of these sources in the Resources section of this website.
Contacting Us
For more information, or to suggest new topics to incorporate or share comments about the site, please contact us at policydatabase@childtrends.org.
Acknowledgements
Child Trends is grateful to many individuals and organizations for their vision, support, and assistance in the development of the State Child Welfare Policy Database: Casey Family Programs for its generous support; Trilogy Interactive for providing the artistic design and development of the database; and many colleagues and organizations in the child welfare field who were early supporters and contributors to the project, including Rob Geen (formerly with Child Trends and presently with the Annie E. Casey Foundation) who led the early planning stages of the project.
In addition, Child Trends extends a special thanks to organizations who have participated in a data-sharing partnership with the State Child Welfare Policy Database:
- Chapin Hall for sharing data from a national survey on older foster youth. Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago is a research and policy center focused on a mission of improving the well-being of children and youth, families, and their communities. For more information on Chapin Hall's survey on transitioning foster youth, please visit: http://www.chapinhall.org/sites/default/files/Review_State_Policies_02_09.pdf
- Child Welfare Information Gateway for sharing data from their State Statute Series. Child Welfare Information Gateway is a service of the Children's Bureau, Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. For additional information on state statutes related a variety of child welfare topics, please visit: http://www.childwelfare.gov/systemwide/laws_policies/state
- National Quality Improvement Center (QIC) on Differential Response in Child Protective Services, operated by the American Humane for national data from a survey on differential response. The National QIC is operated under a grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Children's Bureau. The data from a 2009 survey of states were summarized in the report, "Online Survey of State Differential Response Policies and Practices Findings Report" (June 2009). For additional information on state policies related to differential response, please access the report at: http://www.differentialresponseqic.org/assets/docs/qic-dr-findings-report-jun09.pdf
