The context of child welfare performance measures

Area of Science:

• Public Administration
• Social Policy
• Program Evaluation

Background:

• Public agencies increasingly use performance measurement to enhance outcomes.
• Federal child welfare policy has evolved since the 1980s, with a mandated performance measurement system.
• The Child and Family Services Review is a key federal mechanism for evaluating child welfare systems.

Purpose of the Study:

• To review literature on public sector performance measurement and management.
• To develop a conceptual framework for analyzing the federal child welfare performance measurement system.
• To guide an analysis of the debate surrounding the current system and inform future reforms.

Main Methods:

• Literature review of performance measurement and management in the public sector.
• Development of a conceptual framework.
• Analysis of the debate on the federal child welfare performance measurement system.

Main Results:

• The evolution of federal child welfare performance measurement policy is summarized.
• A conceptual framework is presented for examining the federal system.
• The analysis identifies key aspects of the debate surrounding the current system.

Conclusions:

• The conceptual framework provides a basis for understanding the federal child welfare performance measurement system.
• Recommendations are offered for future reform efforts in child welfare performance measurement.
• The study highlights the importance of performance measurement in improving public agency outcomes.