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Introduction and Study Questions
In the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunities Reconciliation Act of 19961
, Congress directed the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services to conduct
a national study of children who are at risk of abuse or neglect or are in the child welfare
system. Congress directed that the study include a longitudinal component that follows cases
for a period of several years, collect data on the types of abuse or neglect involved, agency
contacts and services, and out-of-home placements, and yield reliable state-level data for as
many states as feasible. In response, the Administration on Children, Youth, and Families has
undertaken the National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being (NSCAW).
The NSCAW will make available for the first time nationally representative longitudinal data
drawn from first-hand reports from children, parents, and other caregivers, as well as reports
from caseworkers, teachers, and data from administrative records. Moreover, this will be the
first national study that examines child and family well-being outcomes in detail and seeks
to relate those outcomes to their experience with the child welfare system and to family characteristics,
community environment, and other factors. The study will describe the child welfare system and
the experiences of children and families who come in contact with the system. It will increase
the knowledge needed to support service, program, and policy planning.
The study will address crucial program, practice, and policy issues in the areas of dynamics
of the child welfare system, and outcomes for children and families. Within these areas, the
major research questions the study will address include:
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Who are the children and families who come into contact with the child welfare
system?
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What are their backgrounds and characteristics? What are their prior histories? What
problems and strengths do they bring?
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How do the characteristics, experiences, and needs of children and families differ by
the ways they come into contact with the system? What effects do State and agency policies
and programs have on the characteristics of those who enter the system?
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What pathways and services do children and families experience while in the child welfare
system?
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What placements and services do they experience while they are in the child welfare system?
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What determines the different pathways, placements, and services they experience?
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How do child welfare services interact with other services and supports for children
and families involved with the child welfare system?
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What are the short- and longer-term effects for these children and families?
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How do the children and families change during the time they are in contact with the
child welfare system and after they leave the system?
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How do system, child, family, community and other factors affect child and family functioning?
How do these factors affect subsequent welfare system involvement?
In the short term, the study will (1) describe the children and families who come into contact
with the child welfare system, and (2) examine child and family risk factors, service needs,
and services received. In the longer term, the study will (1) describe the child welfare system
and the experience of children and families involved in the system; (2) examine outcomes for
these children and families; and (3) describe the interaction of the child welfare system and
services with other service systems.
1 Personal Responsibility
and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996, Sec. 429A, National Random Sample Study of
Child Welfare (PL No.104-193). (back)
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Thursday, 21 Oct 2004 04:19:56 EDT
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