ENGAGING FATHERS AND PATERNAL RELATIVES: A CONTINUOUS QUALITY IMPROVEMENT APPROACH IN THE CHILD WELFARE SYSTEM

Mathematica Inc., Princeton NJ

Investigators

Abstract

Evidence suggests that fathers play an important role in children's development and that they can serve as a key source of emotional and financial support. In many social services, however, fathers are overlooked. This is the case in the child welfare system, where data from the Child and Family Service Reviews indicate that fathers and paternal relatives are minimally engaged and may be untapped resources. The purpose of this project is to bridge the gap between what we know about the importance of fathers and practices in the child welfare system that may contribute to low levels of father and paternal relative engagement. First, the project will review and synthesize what we already know about a) efforts to engage fathers and paternal relatives of children involved in the child welfare system, and b) Continuous Quality Improvement approaches within the child welfare system. The next step is to map ?touch points? within a child welfare case where fathers and/or paternal relatives could be more fully engaged and identify potential strategies and interventions that could be used at the touch points to increase their engagement. We will then select a collaborative Continuous Quality Improvement approach and use it to work intensively with a few sites to implement and test these father and paternal relative engagement strategies and interventions. The project includes a pilot study to examine the feasibility and implementation of the Continuous Quality Improvement approach and the engagement strategies and interventions. The pilot study will utilize data from site visits, focus groups, semi-structured interviews, and administrative data.