Cross-Site Evaluation of Child Welfare Implementation Centers and National Resource Centers
The Children’s Bureau embarked on a major initiative in 2008 to support child welfare organizational and systems change to promote child safety, permanency, and well-being.
Five regional Child Welfare Implementation Centers and 10 National Child Welfare Resource Centers were funded to help states and tribes identify issues in their systems, develop and implement solutions, and design strategies to sustain the changes.
As the prime contractor, JBA conducted a cross-site evaluation that examined the Centers’ services and their impact on systems change and capacity building. The mixed-methods evaluation included process, outcome, and cost components over three phases:
- Assessment and design focused on development of a cross-site evaluation plan and a technical assistance tracking system.
- Evaluation implementation and data collection incorporated performance and cost metrics, web-based surveys, a longitudinal national survey, interviews and focus groups, case studies, document reviews, and analyses of administrative and technical assistance tracking data.
- Analysis and dissemination involved the communication of evaluation findings and practical knowledge to stakeholders and the child welfare field
JBA has built on this work through its evaluation of the Child Welfare Capacity Building Collaborative, which the Children’s Bureau created in 2014 to restructure its approach to supporting child welfare systems.
Staff
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James P. DeSantis, Ph.D.
Vice President
James P. DeSantis is a developmental psychologist with more than 30 years of experience in research, program design, evaluation, technical assistance, and project...
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Pirkko Ahonen, Ph.D., M.S.
Senior Research Associate
Pirkko Ahonen has more than 20 years of experience in evaluation studies, technical assistance, and applied research. She currently serves as the project director...
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Chi Connie Park, Ph.D., M.A.
Senior Research Associate
Chi Connie Park has more than 15 years of experience in applied social science research design, program evaluation, and capacity building in the areas of child...
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Amanda Thomson, M.P.P.
Research Associate
Amanda Thomson has nearly 10 years of experience in social science research, program evaluation, and technical assistance. She is trained in public policy...
Partner
ICF