Hostname: page-component-5c6d5d7d68-7tdvq Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-08-09T16:13:07.990Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Out-of-home care: Building a national research agenda

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 February 2016

Judy Cashmore  and
Frank Ainsworth
Judy Cashmore
Affiliation:
Social Policy Research Centre, University of New South Wales,Sydney, NSW 2031. Email: judycash@nsw.bigpond.net.au
Frank Ainsworth
Affiliation:
Edith Cowan University, School of International Cultural and Community Studies, Joondalup Campus, Perth, WA 6027
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This article presents the argument for the development of a national research agenda for out-of-home care and what is needed to make this agenda work. The need for a commitment to research, adequate funding and access to reliable data, plus the rapid transfer of research findings, into practice, is outlined. It also reports on the outcomes of a research agenda-building workshop sponsored by the National Child and Family Welfare Research Coalition and held in September 2002. This workshop provided an opportunity to generate a list of research question that researchers, service providers and practitioners saw as significant priorities in a national research agenda.

Type
Research Article
Information
Children Australia , Volume 28 , Special Issue 2: Special Issue: Out-of-home care: Building a national research agenda , 2003 , pp. 5 - 13
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2003

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Ainsworth, F. & Hansen, P. (2002) ‘Evidence based social work practice: A reachable goal?’ Social Work and Social Sciences Review, 10, 36–49.Google Scholar
Alexander, G., Curtis, P.A. & Kluger, M.P. (2000) What works in child welfare, Washington, DC: Child Welfare League of America.Google Scholar
Australian Institute for Health and Welfare (2002) Child Protection Australia 2000-2001, Canberra.Google Scholar
Barber, J.G. & Gilbertson, R. (2001) Foster care: The state of the art, Adelaide: Australian Centre for Community Services Research.Google Scholar
Barratt, M. (2003) ‘Organizational support for evidence-based practice: A collaborative study’, Child and Family Social Work, 8, 143–150.Google Scholar
Barth, R.P. (1994) ‘Adoption research: Building blocks for the next decade’, Child Welfare, 73, 625–638.Google Scholar
Cashmore, J., Dolby, R. & Brennan, D. (1994) Systems abuse, Sydney: NSW Child Protection Council.Google Scholar
Cheers, D. (2002) What's in a name? What out-of-home care managers think evidence-based practice really means?. Paper presented at ACWA Conference, What works? Evidence-based Practice in Child and Family Services, Bondi, September.Google Scholar
Courtney, M.E. (2000) Research need to improve the prospects for children in out-of-home placement', Children and Youth Services Review, 22, 743–761.Google Scholar
Department of Human Services (South Australia) (1997) Family and Community Services Research workshop: Report of proceedings, Adelaide, Government of South Australia.Google Scholar
Gain, L. & Young, L. (1998) Outcome measurement in child protection: International literature review and critical analysis of child protection and alternative placement outcome measures, Sydney: Productivity Commission. Available at: http://www.pc.gov.au/gsp/consultancy/childprt/childprt.pdf Google Scholar
Gelles, R. (2000) ‘How evaluation research can help reform and improve the child welfare system’, Journal of Aggression, Maltreatment and Trauma, 4, 7–28.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goerge, R., Wulczyn, F. & Fanshel, D. (1994) ‘A foster care research agenda for the '90s’, Child Welfare, 73, 525–549.Google Scholar
Koch, R. (1998) The 80/20 principle: The secret to success by achieving more with less, New York: Currency Doubleday.Google Scholar
Maluccio, A.N., Ainsworth, F. & Thoburn, J. (2000) Child welfare outcome research in the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia, Washington, DC: Child Welfare League of America Press.Google Scholar
Macdonald, G. (2001) Effective interventions for child abuse and neglect. An evidenced-based approach to planning and evaluating interventions, Chichester: John Wiley.Google Scholar
National Council on Research in Child Welfare (1994) ‘Special issue. A research agenda for child Welfare’. Child Welfare, 73, 355–655.Google Scholar
Newman, T. (undated). Developing evidence based practice in social care: Locating, appraising and using research findings on effectiveness: Guidelines for Practitioners, Barnardos: Available at www.ex.ac.uk/cebss/pages/publications/EvGuide%20latest.doc Google Scholar
Owen, J.M. (1993) Program evaluation, Sydney: Allen and Unwin.Google Scholar
Pecora, P. (2002a) The challenge of achieving evidence-based practice in child and family services, keynote presentation to Workshop, Association of Children's Welfare Agencies (ACWA), Child and Family Welfare Association of Australia (CAFWAA), and the National Association for the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect (NAPCAN) Conference, September 2002, Sydney.Google Scholar
Pecora, P. (2002b) Building a national research agenda: Lessons from some American initiatives, presentation to Workshop, Association of Children's Welfare Agencies (ACWA). Child and Family Welfare Association of Australia (CAFWAA), and the National Association for the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect (NAPCAN) Conference, September 2002, Sydney.Google Scholar
Pecora, P., Seelig, W.R., Zirps, F.A. & Davies, S.M. (1996) Quality improvement and evaluation in child and family services, Washington, DC: Child Welfare League of America.Google Scholar
Pietrzak, J., Ramler, M., Renner, T., Ford, L. & Gilbert, N. (1990) Practical program evaluation: Examples from child abuse prevention, Newbury Park CA: Sage Publications.Google Scholar
Rutter, M. (2000) ‘Children in substitute care: Some conceptual considerations and research implications’, Children and Youth Services Review, 22, 685–703.Google Scholar
Sanson, A., Nicholson, J., Ungerer, J., Zubrick, S. et al. (2002) Introducing the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children: LSAC Discussion Paper 1, Melbourne: Australian Institute of Family Studies. Available at http://www.aifs.gov.au/growingup/pubs/discussionpaper1.pdf Google Scholar
Scott, K.G., Mason, C.A. & Chapman, D.A. (1999) ‘The use of epidemiological methodology as a means of influencing public policy’, Child Development, 70, 1263–1273.Google Scholar
Stevenson, O. (Ed.) (1999) Child Welfare in the UK, Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Testa, M.F., Johnson, M.A. & Wells, S.J. (1999) A child welfare research agenda for the State of Illinois, www.social.uiuc.edu/htmtesta.htm Google Scholar
Tozer, C.L. & Ray, S. (2001) ‘20 questions: the research needs of children and family social workers’, Research Policy and Planning, 17(1). Available on-line at http://www.elsc.org.uk/socialcareresource/rpp/articles/1711999art3.htm Google Scholar
UK Department of Health (1991) Patterns and outcomes in child placement: Messages from current research and their implications, London: HMSO.Google Scholar
Vecchiato, T., Maluccio, A.N. & Canali, C. (2002) Evaluation in child and family services: Comparative client and program perspectives, New York: Aldine de Gruyter.Google Scholar
Wald, M.S., Carlsmith, J.M. & Leiderman, P.H. (1988) Protecting abused and neglected children, Stanford: Stanford University Press.Google Scholar
Waldfogel, J. (2000) ‘Child welfare research: How adequate are the data?’. Children and Youth Services Review, 22, 705–741.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Weyts, A., Morpeth, L. & Bullock, R. (2000) ‘Department of Health Research Overviews - Past, Present and Future: An evaluation of the dissemination of the Blue Book’, Child Protection: Messages from Research, Child and Family Social Work 5, 215–223.Google Scholar
Wulczyn, F.H. (1996) ‘Note on research: A statistical and methodological framework for analysing the foster care experiences of children’, Social Service Review, 70, 318–329.Google Scholar
Wulczyn, F.H. (2001) An evidence base for child welfare policy: The need and a proposed framework, presentation to the Child Welfare League of America, June.Google Scholar