Introduction
Child welfare agencies need data about fathers and paternal relatives at every stage of a case to understand whether and how child welfare staff fully engage fathers and paternal relatives in all aspects of delivering child welfare services. To do this, agencies must systematically collect data about fathers and paternal relatives from the beginning to the end of a case. However, current data systems do not focus on storing data in a way that makes it easy for agencies to measure whether and how child welfare agencies engage fathers and paternal relatives. For example, many do not include structured data elements about fathers and paternal relatives (JBS International 2020).
Much of the data available, such as case notes, is qualitative and difficult to analyze. Without such data, child welfare agencies cannot assess whether their staff engage fathers and paternal relatives at every stage of a family’s involvement with the agency.
The Fathers and Continuous Learning in Child Welfare (FCL) project was initiated to improve father and paternal relative engagement. Engaging in this work highlighted the challenges in data collection and the lack of data about father and paternal relative engagement. Sites representing five child welfare agencies that participated in FCL realized that child welfare data systems often could not capture information about engaging fathers and paternal relatives. FCL sites found new ways and adapted existing methods to collect data about father and paternal relative engagement for performance evaluation and continuous quality improvement.
Purpose
This brief highlights examples of short-term strategies sites implemented to collect, analyze, and report data outside their own data systems.
Key Findings and Highlights
Sites shared that they are collecting new data, including data about the service referrals that program staff make to fathers and paternal relatives. Sites are also updating and developing new protocols to capture better data on father and paternal relative engagement, such as expanding data collection during investigation and tracking initial contacts with fathers and paternal relatives throughout investigation. Strategies included the following:
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Developing a tracker to assess father engagement: Connecticut Department of Children and Families staff in the Hartford office developed a SharePoint site with an online form to assess father engagement.
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Using documentation and reviews to increase engagement efforts: Staff in the Hartford office also developed a strategy to document caseworkers’ efforts to engage fathers and paternal relatives before meetings that occur when the agency is considering the removal of a child. A meeting facilitator confirms these efforts have been completed, encourages staff to continue when efforts are not yet complete, and documents father participation in meetings.
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Aggregating and visualizing data to inform decision making: Wake County Department of Human Services staff aggregated Child Protective Services and Permanency Planning and Prevention services data on a weekly and monthly basis. They developed 20 data visualization dashboards and used the dashboards to inform decision making.
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Developing code to create new data reports on father and paternal relative engagement: Because its data system did not report data about fathers and paternal relatives initially, Denver Human Services staff had difficulty assessing its father and paternal relative engagement. Denver staff developed programming code to create and add new reports specifically about father and paternal relative engagement.
Methods
This brief draws from conversations with sites beginning in summer 2021 and site visit interviews with agency staff in late summer 2022.
Citation
Fung, Nickie. “Promising Strategies for Collecting, Analyzing, and Reporting Data on Father and Paternal Relative Engagement in Child Welfare.” OPRE Report #2023-147. Washington, DC: Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation, Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2023.
JBS International. “Child and Family Services Reviews Aggregate Report: Round 3: Fiscal Years 2015—2018.” U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2020. https://www.acf.hhs.gov/cb/report/child-and-family-services-reviews-aggregate-report-round-3-fiscal-years-2015-2018.
Glossary
- FCL:
- Fathers and Continuous Learning in Child Welfare