Connecticut's Case Management Protocol: involving a pre-hearing conference of professionals held early in the dependency court process coupled with expanded parent representation
Delaware's Systemic Reform: including one judge/one case assignment practice where one judge presides over all legal stages of a dependency case; a defined sequence of hearings and reviews that significantly increases the number of hearings and oversight role of the courts; and representation for indigent parents in dependency proceedings
Texas' Child Protection (or Cluster) Courts: a specially trained traveling judge hears dependency cases within a cluster of primarily rural counties.
The analysis within these sites will focus on two domains:
Qualitative Analysis: Within each site, the qualitative analysis documents and analyzes the development of the focal intervention, the planning and implementation process and lessons learned along the way, and other contextual factors that continue to impact implementation.
Quantitative Analysis: Within each site, the quantitative analysis documents the intervention's immediate, intermediate, and long-term impact on outcomes.
Conceptually, CIP sits at the nexus of child welfare and the courts, given its unique history, focus, and context. Surrounding this nexus are the families and communities served by these institutions. Given its unique position, CIP is impacted by contextual considerations within each of these domains.
The primary sources of information for the qualitative analysis were document reviews and structured interviews/focus groups, composed of a broad range of individuals from the child welfare agency and courts at both the state and local levels. In addition, a variety of court proceedings were observed in each study site to provide the study team with an understanding of how child abuse and neglect court hearings are conducted in specific locations.
For each of the three study sites, the following themes are being examined:
Primary components of the reform;
Reasons the reform was implemented;
Planning and implementation of the reform, including challenges, program supports, and lessons learned;
Court-related issues, including the structure of the judiciary, calendaring, and courtroom protocols;
Judicial specialization in child welfare and assignment practices;
Attorney and non-attorney representation of parties;
Child welfare agency-related contextual issues, including agency structure, caseworker specialization, and caseloads;
Availability of community-based services;
Demographics, including population density, poverty and unemployment rates, and ethnic representation.
Quantitative Analysis
Quantitative analyses within the three study sites (Connecticut's case management protocol, Delaware's systemic reform, and Texas' child protection courts) are governed by the logic models developed for each site. The logic models depict linkages between:
Inputs: Resources relied upon by the focal intervention, such as training and staff support.
Outputs: Concrete, direct products of the intervention.
Outcomes: Initial, intermediate, and long-term benefits or changes resulting from the reform process.
Reflecting The Adoption and Safe Families Act of 1997, the long-term outcomes of interest are consistent across sites and include the timely achievement of permanency while keeping children safe. At the time in which these reforms were undertaken, the study sites did not feel that their reforms significantly impacted child well-being, the third outcome specified in the 1997 legislation. Within each study site, quantitative analyses related to the outcomes of interest are being conducted on data collected from administrative files and/or case record reviews.
