BUILDING CAPACITY TO EVALUATE COMMUNITY COLLABORATIONS TO STRENGTHEN AND PRESERVE FAMILIES

Abt Associates, Bethesda MD

Investigators

Abstract

This project will support the Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation (OPRE) in the Administration for Children and Families (ACF), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, in its work to advance the evidence around collaborative approaches to preventing child abuse and neglect. In 2018, the Children?s Bureau funded grants to states, communities, and Tribes to develop, implement, and evaluate proactive strategies that build on the strengths of families, including those at high risk for child maltreatment. The initiative supports community-level mobilization around the development of multi-system collaboratives that provide a continuum of activities and services designed to prevent child abuse and neglect. The project has two primary components: 1. Evaluation-related technical assistance to strengthen evaluation capacity in the four grantees to conduct site-specific outcome evaluations. 2. A cross-site process evaluation to better understand how communities came together to develop and implement integrated approaches to preventing child maltreatment, including documenting project and organizational leadership approaches, integration and alignment strategies, and recruitment and assessment methods to identify and serve at-risk families.