Tamara Fuller, Satomi Wakita, Kyle Adams, Martin Nieto, Stacey Shipe, Shufen Wang, and Yu-Ling Chiu

HB2914 requires the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services to submit an annual report regarding racial disproportionality for children involved in the Illinois child welfare system. The report, which is due on December 31 of each year, must examine the following indicators: children and families involved in a safety plan, protective custodies, investigations and indicated investigations of each type of abuse and neglect, court filings for each allegation type, substitute care entries, placement settings, lengths of stay in foster care, and permanency outcomes. This first report includes data on racial disproportionalities in the Illinois child welfare system during FY2022 (July 1, 2021 – June 30, 2022).

Tamara Fuller, Cady Landa, Satomi Wakita, and Kyle Adams III

Serious concerns about the over-representation of Black children in the Illinois child welfare system have led to urgent calls to action to address the issue. In order to develop effective interventions, reliable and ongoing data about racial disproportionality are needed that provide administrators and policymakers with information about which segments of the system are most critically impacted. As part of our ongoing work of monitoring the performance of the Illinois Department of Children and Families Services under the B.H. Consent Decree, the Children and Family Research Center produces an annual report that measures racial disproportionality over time at both the regional and state level. This brief highlights key findings from the FY2022 report related to the disproportionality among Black children in the Illinois child welfare system and suggests some areas where additional study and intervention are needed.

Tamara Fuller, Martin Nieto, Kyle Adams, Yu-Ling Chiu, Cady Landa, Steve Tran, Satomi Wakita, and Shufen Wang

Since its inception in 1996, the Children and Family Research Center (CFRC) has produced an annual report that monitors the performance of the Illinois child welfare system in achieving its stated goals of child safety, permanency, and well-being. The FY2022 monitoring report uses child welfare administrative data through December 31, 2021 to describe the conditions of children in or at risk of foster care in Illinois. Following an introductory chapter, the results are presented in four chapters that examine critical child welfare outcomes, including child safety, continuity and stability in care, legal permanence, and racial disproportionality.

Tamara Fuller, Cady Landa, Satomi Wakita, and Kyle Adams

Child welfare systems across the nation share the concern that children from some racial and ethnic groups may be disproportionately represented in the child welfare system compared to their representation in the general population. This report examines racial disproportionality in the Illinois child welfare system at six critical decision points during 2015–2021, including: 1) screened-in maltreatment reports/investigations, 2) protective custodies, 3) indicated maltreatment reports, 4) child welfare case openings (intact family services), 5) substitute care entries, and 6) timely exits from substitute care. The results are presented for the entire state as well as by region.

Ted Cross, Cady Landa, Heather Fox, Robin LaSota, Magdelene Thebaud, Diamond Hines, Tachauna Parsons, Eunjee (Isu) Song, Sharva Hampton-Campbell, Soonhyung Kwon, and Mary Jane Steiner

When children are removed from their home because of maltreatment, the goal of the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) is to return them to a loving, safe, stable, and permanent home as soon as possible. Unfortunately, the most recent statistics show that 47.3% of children and youth who entered substitute care from DCFS in 2018 were not placed in a permanent home within three years, and the permanency rate is worse for Black children. This symposium presentation reports on research on subsidized guardianship, one rarely used but promising permanency option that might help both increase permanency rates and reduce racial disparity. In subsidized guardianship, a family member such as a grandmother or aunt typically becomes the child’s permanent caregiver, but the child’s birthparents retain many of their parental rights. This research was supported by the Office of the Vice-Chancellor for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, through its Call to Action to Address Racism & Social Injustice Research Program. A companion poster about the study is also available on this website.

Ted Cross, Cady Landa, Heather Fox, Robin LaSota, Magdelene Thebaud, Diamond Hines, Tachauna Parsons, Eunjee (Isu) Song, Sharva Hampton-Campbell, Soonhyung Kwon, and Mary Jane Steiner

When children are removed from their home because of maltreatment, the goal of the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) is to return them to a loving, safe, stable, and permanent home as soon as possible. Unfortunately, the most recent statistics show that 47.3% of children and youth who entered substitute care from DCFS in 2018 were not placed in a permanent home within three years, and the permanency rate is worse for Black children. This symposium presentation reports on research on subsidized guardianship, one rarely used but promising permanency option that might help both increase permanency rates and reduce racial disparity. In subsidized guardianship, a family member such as a grandmother or aunt typically becomes the child’s permanent caregiver, but the child’s birthparents retain many of their parental rights. This research was supported by the Office of the Vice-Chancellor for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, through its Call to Action to Address Racism & Social Injustice Research Program. A companion oral presentation about the study is also available on this website.

Tamara Fuller

CFRC Director Tamara Fuller presented highlights from the FY2022 Racial Disproportionality in the Illinois Child Welfare System Report to the Advisory Commission on Reducing the Disproportionate Representation of African-American Children in Foster Care. Four key findings include: 1) Black children are over represented at every decision point in the Illinois child welfare system when compared to their representation in the Illinois child population; 2) There are large regional differences in the degree to which Black children are over represented in the Illinois child welfare system; 3) Most, but not all, of the over representation of Black children in the Illinois child welfare system is introduced at the hotline, and 4) The amount of over representation of Black children in child welfare has been decreasing over the past few years at some decision points.

Tamara Fuller, Steve Tran, Yu-Ling Chiu, Kirsten Havig, and Cady Landa

This report presents the results of the 2022 annual stakeholder survey that was administered to system of care stakeholders in the five CMHI 3.0 communities. The stakeholder survey assesses the degree to which various implementation supports and activities have been implemented and fidelity to the systems of care principles in the service delivery system, including the extent to which services are individualized, family-driven, youth-guided, coordinated, culturally and linguistically competent, based on evidence-informed and promising practices, least restrictive, and comprehensive. In addition, the survey measures several system-level outcomes, including availability of specific services, coordination among various child- and family-serving systems (child welfare, education, public health, juvenile justice, primary health, substance abuse, and mental and behavioral health); and commitment to the SOC philosophy and approach.

Tamara Fuller, Kirsten Havig, Cady Landa, Theodore Cross, and Yu-Ling Chiu

This report provides information from the second round of site visits that were conducted in each of the five CMHI 2.0 communities at the end of the second year of their implementation grants. During the site visits, qualitative data were collected through interviews and focus groups with project staff, service providers, parents, and youth who were involved in the implementation efforts in each community. The following topics were examined in the report:

• Participants’ understandings of their sites’ major goals, objectives, and interventions for changing or improving the children’s mental health system of care
• Progress made in implementing children’s mental health systems of care during the first two years of implementation
• The implementation infrastructure and processes that guided and supported implementation, such as leadership, planning and decision-making, and communication within the implementation teams and to the wider community
• The role of parents and youth in the implementation process
• Barriers and facilitators of implementation

Tamara Fuller, Steve Tran, Yu-Ling Chiu, and Kirsten Havig

This report presents the results of the 2022 annual stakeholder survey that was administered to system of care stakeholders in the five CMHI 2.0 communities. The stakeholder survey assesses the degree to which various implementation supports and activities have been implemented and fidelity to the systems of care principles in the service delivery system, including the extent to which services are individualized, family-driven, youth-guided, coordinated, culturally and linguistically competent, based on evidence-informed and promising practices, least restrictive, and comprehensive. In addition, the survey measures several system-level outcomes, including availability of specific services, coordination among various child- and family-serving systems (child welfare, education, public health, juvenile justice, primary health, substance abuse, and mental and behavioral health); and commitment to the SOC philosophy and approach.

Ted Cross, Yu-Ling Chiu, Kirsten Havig, and Steve Tran

This year, the Children and Family Research Center’s (CFRC) evaluation team again used multiple sub-studies to examine the implementation and outcomes of FY2022 simulation training for new child protection investigators in the Illinois Department of Children and Family Service. FY2022 has been a fiscal year of transition for the Child Protection Training Academy (CPTA). Northern Illinois University became a partner in FY2022. The Chicago and Springfield training laboratories began FY2022 providing simulation training virtually but the simulation training was transitioned back in person in March 2022 at the laboratory of University of Illinois at Springfield (UIS) and in May 2022 at the Chicago laboratory. At the end of fiscal year, the University of Illinois at Springfield (UIS), the creator of the CPTA model and the founding university for the simulation training partnership with DCFS, ended its involvement in the program. Chapter 1 highlights the important development in the simulation training and evaluation activities in FY2022 and provides an overview of previous program evaluation results. Chapter 2 presents results from the Daily Experience of Simulation Training (DEST) measure of change in trainees’ confidence over the course of simulation training. Chapter 3 presents a new study that used a meta-competence framework to analyze open-ended responses on the DEST, looking at how simulation training assists in the development of skills that enable trainees to use their classroom training effectively. Chapter 4 analyzes data on simulation training from the FY2022 post-training survey to assess trainees’ experience of simulation training. Chapter 5 presents a historical analysis examining consistency and change in trainee satisfaction from FY2016 to FY2022.

Ted Cross and Yu-Ling Chiu

Child Advocacy Studies Training (CAST) is a national program responding to the deficit in education in child maltreatment. Colleges and universities throughout the United States provide CAST courses and certificate or minor programs to educate undergraduate and graduate students in child maltreatment and help prepare many for careers in child-serving professions. Through the effort of Children's Advocacy Centers of MississippiTM (CACM), Mississippi implemented CAST across a wide range of the state’s institutions of higher education. This presentation presents highlights from CFRC's evaluation of the Mississippi's CAST Initiative.

Theodore P. Cross, Debra Whitcomb, and Emi Maren

Children’s Advocacy Centers (CACs) are central to the response to child sexual abuse and other child maltreatment in the United States. CACs coordinate the investigative and service response to child victimization, and support child survivors and their families to reduce the stress that follows a child maltreatment allegation. Multidisciplinary teams (MDTs) are the mechanism CACs use to coordinate investigation and service delivery in a centralized, child-friendly setting. CACs use forensic interviewers specially trained to work with children; and offer children and families medical, therapeutic, advocacy services, and other services. Presenting results from a U.S. survey of CAC directors, this research brief focuses on the composition of MDTs and the forms of assistance CACs provide. Compared to previous studies, this brief provides more detailed information on the kinds of help that CACs provide and the range of agencies that participate in CACs

Theodore Cross, Steve Tran, Eliza Betteridge, Robert Hjertquist, Tawny Spinelli, Jennifer Prior Neil Jordan, and Soonhyung Kwon

Screening children who are entering out-of-home care is widely implemented but not thoroughly studied. Using a sample from the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services, we examined whether emotional and behavioral needs identified by an Integrated Assessment (IA) at entry predict needs and services while in care. This research brief is reproduced from Chapter 5 of the 2021 Monitoring Report for the B.H. Consent Decree and adapted from a journal article by the authors. Data from the Child and Adolescent Needs and Strengths (CANS) measure completed in the IA were combined with data from a point-in-time study of the well-being of children in out-of-home care. Having a behavioral or emotional need identified at entry predicted having a similar need and receiving mental health services during out-of-home c are. The relationship did not diminish with length of time in care; IA CANS predicted needs and services even for children in substitute care for an extended period. These results provide evidence for the validity of the IA CANS for screening for children’s needs in out-of-home care. The persistence of problems suggests the value of baseline screening as a guide for service delivery throughout children’s stay in care, and the need for more effective mental health services specially tailored for children in substitute care.

Ted Cross and Yu-Ling Chiu

Child Advocacy Studies Training (CAST) of the Zero Abuse Project is a national program responding to the deficit in education in child maltreatment. Colleges and universities throughout the United States provide CAST courses and certificate or minor programs to educate undergraduate and graduate students in child maltreatment and help prepare many for careers in child-serving professions. Through the effort of Children’s Advocacy Centers of MississippiTM (CACM), Mississippi implemented CAST across a wide range of the state’s institutions of higher education. CFRC has completed a final report from a mixed methods program evaluation of Mississippi’s CAST Initiative. The program evaluation features multiple components. It included a study of the implementation, development, and student and faculty experiences of CAST programs based on interviews with faculty and CAST graduates. The program evaluation also included an outcome study assessing students’ experience of their CAST courses, and comparing CAST and non-CAST students on their knowledge and judgment about child maltreatment. CAST is firmly established and highly valued in a range of different colleges and universities in Mississippi. Most CAST students rated their CAST courses highly on multiple dimensions. Mississippi CAST students had knowledge and skills that were superior to non-CAST students. CAST students’ knowledge and skills positions them to respond more effectively to child maltreatment in their young careers.

Ted Cross and Yu-Ling Chiu

Child Advocacy Studies Training (CAST) of the Zero Abuse Project is a national program responding to the deficit in education in child maltreatment. Colleges and universities throughout the United States provide CAST courses and certificate or minor programs to educate undergraduate and graduate students in child maltreatment and help prepare many for careers in child-serving professions. Through the effort of Children’s Advocacy Centers of MississippiTM (CACM), Mississippi implemented CAST across a wide range of the state’s institutions of higher education. This presentation at Mississippi’s annual One Loud Voice conference provides highlights from a two-year mixed methods program evaluation of Mississippi’s CAST Initiative that CFRC conducted.

Tamara Fuller, Cady Landa, Satomi Wakita, and Kyle Adams

Child welfare systems across the nation share the concern that children from some racial and ethnic groups may be disproportionately represented in the child welfare system compared to their representation in the general population. This report examines racial disproportionality in the Illinois child welfare system at five critical decision points during 2014–2020, including: 1) screened-in maltreatment reports/investigations, 2) protective custodies, 3) indicated maltreatment reports, 4) child welfare case openings (intact family services), 5) substitute care entries, and 6) timely exits from substitute care. The results are presented for the entire state as well as by region.

Tamara Fuller, Martin Nieto, Kyle Adams, Yu-Ling Chiu, Theodore Cross, Cady Landa, Laura Lee, Steve Tran, Satomi Wakita, and Shufen Wang

Since its inception in 1996, the Children and Family Research Center (CFRC) has produced an annual report that monitors the performance of the Illinois child welfare system in achieving its stated goals of child safety, permanency, and well-being. The FY2021 monitoring report uses child welfare administrative data through December 31, 2020 to describe the conditions of children in or at risk of foster care in Illinois. Following an introductory chapter, the results are presented in five chapters that examine critical child welfare outcomes, including child safety, continuity and stability in care, legal permanence, racial disproportionality, and child well-being.

Ted Cross, Yu-Ling Chiu, Shufen Wang, Laura Lee, Steve Tran, and Kirsten Havig

In FY2021, the Children and Family Research Center’s (CFRC) evaluation team again used multiple sub-studies to examine the implementation and outcomes of simulation training for new child protection investigators in the Illinois Department of Children and Family Service. This is an important time historically to study simulation training because of the effect of COVID-19 on trainees, their work and the training itself. Chapter 1 summarizes CTPA’s implementation in 2021: adapting to the COVID-19 pandemic through virtual methods, training supervisors in problem-based learning, and re-formatting investigator training. Chapter 2 presents results from the Daily Experience of Simulation Training (DEST) measure. The measure was designed to examine change in trainees’ confidence over the course of simulation training. This is an important time to assess DEST results, because of changes in simulation training during FY2021, as discussed in the Introduction. Chapter 3 offers updated results from a post-training satisfaction survey. The chapter reports trainees’ satisfaction ratings for simulation training over this time period. It also provides qualitative results from the analysis of open-ended items in the post-training satisfaction survey. Chapter 4 examines whether simulation training is related to employee turnover. Using two different analytic methods, it asks whether investigators trained using simulation training have stayed in their jobs longer than investigators who were not provided simulation training. Chapter 5 examines the relationship of simulation training to child safety. We compared sim-trained and non-sim-trained investigators on the likelihood that children in their investigations were involved in re-reports to DCFS. The last chapter provides the conclusion of this year’s evaluation and recommendations for improving the program.

Tamara Fuller, Theodore Cross, Yu-ling Chiu, Cady Landa, Kirsten Havig, and Steven Tran

This report presents the results of the first annual stakeholder survey that was administered to system of care stakeholders in the five CMHI 3.0 communities. The stakeholder survey is an important component of the evaluation of the Children's Mental Health Initiative that assesses the degree to which various implementation supports and activities have been implemented, such as a strategic plan that guides implementation and a steering committee that meets frequently. The survey also assesses fidelity to the systems of care principles in the service delivery system, including the extent to which services are individualized, family-driven, youth-guided, coordinated, culturally and linguistically competent, based on evidence-informed and promising practices, least restrictive, and comprehensive. Finally, the Stakeholder Survey includes sections that measure several system-level outcomes, including availability of specific home- and community-based services, residential and non-residential treatment services, and evidence-based mental health interventions; coordination among various child- and family-serving systems (child welfare, education, public health, juvenile justice, primary health, substance abuse, and mental and behavioral health); and commitment to the SOC philosophy and approach.

Steve Tran and Tamara Fuller

This research brief highlights the findings from the most recent CDRT annual report on child deaths that occurred in Illinois in 2019. The brief presents summary information about child deaths in Illinois by age, race, and by the category and manner of death, as well as examples of CDRT recommendations to prevent child deaths.

Steve Tran and Tamara Fuller

This research brief uses data from the annual CDRT reports to examine trends in child deaths between 2010 and 2019. The brief describes trends in total child deaths by child age, manner and category of death, as well as programs and initiatives in the state to prevent and reduce child deaths.

Steve Tran and Bernadette Emery

Many of the reviews conducted by the Illinois Child Death Review Teams (CDRTs) involve unsafe sleep, and for the past several years they have has sought to bring increased attention to infant deaths due to unsafe sleep. The Illinois Child Death Review conducted a detailed examination of these deaths by child race/ethnicity, gender, age, sleeping position, and the locations and environments of the deaths. This brief highlights the findings of these analyses.

Tamara Fuller, Steve Tran, Theodore Cross, Yu-ling Chiu, Cady Landa, and Kirsten Havig

This report presents the results of the 2021 annual stakeholder survey that was administered to system of care stakeholders in the five CMHI 2.0 communities. The stakeholder survey is an important component of the evaluation of the Children's Mental Health Initiative that assesses the degree to which various implementation supports and activities have been implemented, such as a strategic plan that guides implementation and a steering committee that meets frequently. The survey also assesses fidelity to the systems of care principles in the service delivery system, including the extent to which services are individualized, family-driven, youth-guided, coordinated, culturally and linguistically competent, based on evidence-informed and promising practices, least restrictive, and comprehensive. Finally, the Stakeholder Survey includes sections that measure several system-level outcomes, including availability of specific home- and community-based services, residential and non-residential treatment services, and evidence-based mental health interventions; coordination among various child- and family-serving systems (child welfare, education, public health, juvenile justice, primary health, substance abuse, and mental and behavioral health); and commitment to the SOC philosophy and approach.

Steve Tran, Soonhyung Kwon, and Theodore Cross

The 2017 Illinois Child Well-Being Study found that many children and youth in out-of-home care in the state have significant developmental, physical, emotional, behavioral and/or educational challenges. However, some children in the study are capable of functioning well at home and school, despite the trauma of abuse and neglect and the difficulties of living in out-of-home care. We used measures from the study to examine how frequently children and youth functioned well across multiple measures. We found that many Illinois children and youth in out-of-home care demonstrated behavioral, emotional and educational resilience across multiple measures of functioning. Child welfare practice needs to take into account children and youth’s resilience and build on their strengths.

Laura Lee, Steve Tran, Michael Braun, Robin LaSota, and Tamara Fuller

Public Act 100-0879, enacted in August 2018, created a bi-partisan task force to: 1) study the compensation and workload of child welfare workers, 2) determine the role that these factors play in the recruitment and retention of the child welfare workers, and 3) determine the role that staff turnover plays in achieving safety and timely permanence for children. The Children and Family Research Center assisted the task force by conducting a literature review of the factors that impact child welfare worker retention and implementing a survey of all child welfare employers within Illinois to examine the role that compensation and other factors have on retention. This report contains the findings of the literature review and survey, as well as the recommendations that the task force made to improve child welfare retention.

Ted Cross, Steve Tran, and Soonhyung Kwon

Considerable research has shown that early childhood education can contribute to children’s school readiness and later academic achievement and well-being. Early childhood education is particularly important for children in out-of-home care. Many young Illinois children in out-of-home care through the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services lag in development and many older children in out-of-home care have problems succeeding at school. This brief examines how frequently children in this age group in IDCFS care receive early childhood education, using data from the 2017 Illinois Child Well-Being Study.

Tamara Fuller, Michael Braun, Satomi Wakita, and Kyle Adams

Child welfare systems across the nation share the concern that children from some racial minority groups may be disproportionately represented in the child welfare system compared to their representation in the general population. One of the goals in the Department’s Child Welfare Transformation Strategic Plan is to track racial equity at critical decision points to help inform planning and decision-making. This report provides information relevant to that goal by examining racial disproportionality in the Illinois child welfare system at five critical decision points (see Figure 1) during 2013–2019, including: 1) investigated/screened-in maltreatment reports, 2) protective custodies, 3) indicated maltreatment reports, 4) post-investigation service provision, including substitute care and intact family services, and 5) timely exits from substitute care.

Theodore Cross, Soonhyung Kwon, and Steve Tran

Studies have found that a substantial proportion of youth in out-of-home care have been the victims of sexual violence, and that troubling percentages of these youth engage in risky sexual behaviors. This brief uses data from the 2017 Illinois Study of Child Well-Being to examine the sexual experiences of Illinois youth in out-of-home care. In this brief, we focus on the following variables: having sexual intercourse, having non-consensual sexual intercourse (and age at first intercourse), using protection while having sex, becoming pregnant (for girls) or getting someone pregnant (for boys), having children, and receiving family planning services. The results underlines the need for foster parents and child welfare workers to be aware of youths’ sexual behavior and make sure that youth have the knowledge to deal with their sexuality responsibly.

Theodore Cross and Yu-Ling Chiu

This report presents interim results from the program evaluation of Mississippi’s Child Advocacy Studies Training (CAST) initiative, the first statewide effort to increase undergraduate and graduate students’ knowledge and skills for responding to child maltreatment. Colleges and universities throughout Mississippi provide CAST courses and certificate or minor programs to educate undergraduate and graduate students about child maltreatment and help prepare many for careers in child-serving professions, especially child protection. CFRC is conducting a mixed methods evaluation that includes both an implementation study based on interviews with faculty and an outcome study using surveys assessing CAST students’ experience, knowledge and judgment.

Steve Tran and Bernadette Emery

Sudden Unexpected Infant Deaths were the 3rd leading cause of death of children in Illinois in 2018, and many of the deaths reviewed by the CDRTs were sleep related. The CDRT Executive Council and CDRTs therefore requested additional information on these deaths in the 2018 Child Death Review Teams annual report. This brief highlights findings from the special chapter on Sudden Unexpected Infant Deaths During Sleep from the 2018 annual report.

Tamara Fuller and Steve Tran

This research brief, the third in a series that highlights the important work of the CDRTs in Illinois, uses data from the annual CDRT reports to examine trends in child deaths over the past decade. The brief describes trends in total child deaths and trends in the number of deaths by child age, manner of death, and category and death.

Steve Tran and Tamara Fuller

This research brief, the second in a series that highlights the important work of the Illinois Child Death Review Teams (CDRTs) in Illinois, highlights the findings from the most recent CDRT annual report on child deaths that occurred in Illinois in 2018. The brief presents summary information about child deaths in Illinois by age, race, and by the manner and category of death, as well as examples of CDRT recommendations to prevent child deaths.

Tamara Fuller and Steve Tran

This research brief, the first in a series that highlights the important work of the Illinois Child Death Review Teams (CDRTs), provides an introduction and overview of the CDRT process in Illinois. The brief discusses the circumstances in which the CDRTs will review a child’s death, the review process, and the impact of child death reviews.

Tamara Fuller, Satomi Wakita, Martin Nieto, and Laura Lee

The FY2020 CERAP evaluation uses the most recently available administrative data to re-examine the predictive validity of the CERAP by analyzing the relationship between CERAP completion at the conclusion of the investigation and a future criterion measure of child safety (i.e., short-term maltreatment recurrence). The analyses examined the relationship between indicated investigations that did and did not have a safety assessment at the conclusion of the investigation and the rates of maltreatment recurrence within 30, 60, and 90 days of the investigation close date for each fiscal year between 2014 and 2019. The results are inconsistent across the years and therefore difficult to interpret.

Ted Cross, Steve Tran, and Soonhyung Kwon

Research has shown that youth in out-of-home care have high rates of alcohol and illegal substance use. It is important then to track alcohol and substance use as part of monitoring the well-being of Illinois children and youth in out-of-home care. The 2017 Illinois Child Well-Being Study provided the first estimates of alcohol and substance use for these children and youth in a decade. This research brief provides results on alcohol and substance use from this study, including results not included in the main study report. The results suggest that most Illinois youth age 15 to 17 in out-of-home care have used alcohol and illegal substances in their life. Over a third in this age group had used alcohol or illegal substances in the last 30 days. Few caregivers reported that their child had an alcohol or substance abuse problem, and small numbers of youth reported using alcohol or illegal substances frequently in the past month. Nevertheless, we cannot be certain what proportion of these youth have a problem with alcohol and/or substance abuse, because caregivers may not know the extent of their child’s alcohol and substance use, and youth may be under-reporting their use.

Ted Cross, Steve Tran, and Soonhyung Kwon

Several studies nationally and in Illinois have found that children in out-of-home care are at increased risk for delinquency. This brief uses data from the 2017 Illinois study of Child Well-Being to examine the frequency of delinquent behaviors among Illinois youth in out-of-home care—the first such analysis in a decade. Overall 40.3% of youth aged 11 to 17 reported engaging in at least one delinquent act in the last six months. This proportion increased to two-thirds when we focused on older adolescents aged 15 to 17. The rate of delinquent behavior is lower than the 52% found in a 2005 study of Illinois youth in out-of-home care. More research is needed to assess the severity of delinquency. Nevertheless, these results suggest that there is an ongoing need to monitor these youth’s behavior and take steps to prevent delinquency.

Ted Cross, Steve Tran, and Soonhyung Kwon

A substantial proportion of children in out-of-home care through the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services (IDCFS) have emotional and behavioral problems. Given this substantial need, it is especially important to track whether children in out-of-home care are receiving the behavioral health services they need. Through interviews with caregivers, the 2017 Illinois Child Well-Being Study of Illinois children in out-of-home care examined what behavioral health services children and youth were currently receiving and had ever received. This brief presents results on the frequency of receiving different behavioral health services. Most children and youth with emotional or behavioral problems were receiving a behavioral health service, though much remains unknown about the type and quality of behavioral health services they receive.

Steve Tran, Theodore Cross, and Soonhyung Kwon

Decades of research have shown that many children and adolescents in out-of-home care through child protective services have emotional and behavioral problems. This research brief reports on the emotional and behavioral health among children in out-of-home care through the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS), using data from the 2017 Illinois Child Well-Being Study. Both caregiver and child reports suggest that large percentages of children and youth in out-of-home care have emotional and behavioral problems, with especially high rates among children and youth in specialized foster care, group homes, and residential treatment; even children in traditional and kinship foster care had rates of emotional and behavioral problems that exceed those of children and youth in general.

Yu-Ling Chiu, Laura Lee, and Theodore P. Cross

The FY2020 evaluation report of the Child Protection Training Academy presents an array of data on implementation and impacts. Chapter 1 focuses on the implementation of a second simulation laboratory for new investigators that opened in Chicago in April 2019. The results suggest that the Chicago laboratory is a modest re-invention of the Springfield laboratory, using Rogers’ terminology on diffusion of innovations. The combined work of DCFS, UIUC and UIS aimed at producing programs that were comparable clearly had an effect, and the extra work and travel of UIS trainers to help make this happen are noteworthy. Chapter 2 presents results from the Daily Experience of Simulation Training (DEST) measure. As in previous years, the DEST in FY2020 shows that the confidence that trainees report increased substantially from the beginning to the end of the simulation training week. Chapter 3 offers new quantitative results from a post-training satisfaction survey. Results corroborate the satisfaction that trainees reported on the DEST. Across eight satisfaction items, trainees gave simulation training positive to very positive ratings. Chapter 4 presents a content analysis of responses on the post-training satisfaction survey in which trainees describe their simulation training experience and offer suggestions for program improvement. The survey respondents reported that the training provided realistic simulation and increased their knowledge about what they will face in the field. They described positive emotional effects on increasing confidence and decreasing self-doubt. Chapter 5 discusses the implications for understanding and developing the simulation training program and recommendations for program improvement.

Children and Family Research Center

The Illinois Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) is responsible for assuring the safety, family permanence, and well-being of the children who have been investigated for abuse or neglect or who have been removed from their homes and placed into substitute care. For over two decades, the Children and Family Research Center (CFRC) has produced an annual monitoring report that tracks the performance of the Illinois child welfare system on over 40 measures of child safety, family continuity, placement stability, permanence, as well as new indicators involving racial disproportionality. The full report, which is available on the CFRC website, examines each measure over the past seven years and provides detailed tables and figures that examine differences among child age and racial groups. This brief highlights five noteworthy findings from the most recent report, which tracks performance through FY2019.

Theodore P. Cross, Soonhyung Kwon, and Steve Tran

Many children in out-of-home care have emotional and behavioral problems, so it is not surprising that many receive psychiatric medication. This research brief reports on the use of psychiatric medication among children in out-of-home care through the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS), using data from the 2017 Illinois Child Well-Being Study. This is a new analysis with findings that are not available in the study final report. Based on data from caregivers about their child, just over one-fifth of children and youth were receiving psychiatric medication, but rates were much higher among youth age 15 to 17 and youth in specialized foster care, group homes and residential treatment.

Tamara Fuller, Martin Nieto, Kyle A. Adams III, Michael Braun, Yu-Ling Chiu, Laura Lee, Steve Tran, Satomi Wakita, Shufen Wang

Since its inception in 1996, the Children and Family Research Center (CFRC) has produced an annual report that monitors the performance of the Illinois child welfare system in achieving its stated goals of child safety, permanency, and well-being. The FY2020 monitoring report uses child welfare administrative data through December 31, 2019 to describe the conditions of children in or at risk of foster care in Illinois. Following an introductory chapter, the results are presented in four chapters that examine critical child welfare outcomes, including child safety, continuity and stability in care, legal permanence, and racial disproportionality.

Betsy Goulet , Ted Cross , Yu-Ling Chiu, and Susan Evans

In FY 2015 the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services partnered with the University of Illinois Springfield to develop the Child Protection Training Academy in order to redesign the six-week classroom training for new investigators and create an experiential component. This paper chronicles the goals of the partnership and the planning and implementation of the Academy.

Betsy P. Goulet , Theodore P. Cross , Yu-Ling Chiu & Susan Evans (2020): Moving from procedure to practice: a statewide child protection simulation training model. Journal of Public Child Welfare, 15(5), 597-616. https://doi.org/10.1080/15548732.2020.1777247

Ted Cross, Steve Tran, and Aide Hernandez

Most children in out-of-home care because of child maltreatment remain attached to their birth parents despite the abuse or neglect they have suffered from them. This research brief reports on relationships with birth parents for children in out-of- home care through the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS), using data from the 2017 Illinois Child Well-Being Study. Contact with birth parents was a positive experience for many children in out-of-home care, but not enough children had the positive contact with birth parents they needed.

Ted Cross, Aide Hernandez, and Steve Tran

Disproportionate percentages of children in out-of-home care have poor outcomes on child development, health, behavioral health, and education. Yet some children in out-of-home care are resilient and do well even if they have been placed out of home because they were maltreated. In this brief, we use data from the 2017 Illinois Child Well-Being Study to learn about the resilience of Illinois children in out-of-home care. Most children and youth reported positive relationships with adults and positive activities such as sports and hobbies. Most had positive expectations for their future. These results suggest that many children and youth have strengths to count on to deal with the stresses and difficulties of experiencing child maltreatment, being removed from their home, and not yet having a permanent home to return to.

Ted Cross, Megan Alderden, Alex Wagner, Lisa Sampson, Brittany Peters, and Kaitlin Lounsbury

This study examined the timing of the crime laboratory report relative to arrests in sexual assault cases and explored the relationship between biological evidence and arrest in those cases in which the crime laboratory report came first and thus could have influenced the arrest decision. A random sample (N = 528) of cases that occurred between 2008 and 2010 and included a report to police was drawn from a Massachusetts statewide database of medical reports on sexual assault cases. Data from medical providers were merged with data abstracted from crime laboratory reports and with data requested from police departments. The vast majority (91.5%) of arrests took place before crime laboratory analysis could be conducted. The crime laboratory report was available before or near in time to the arrest in 11 cases. These cases were significantly more likely than other cases to have DNA profiles of the assailant, DNA matches to the suspect, and a match to another investigation in the FBI’s CODIS DNA database. Given that the probable cause needed to make an arrest in these cases was presumably established only after crime laboratory analysis was available, DNA may have helped lead to the arrest in these cases. However, these results should be interpreted very cautiously, because statistically significant results in early, small studies can have inflated effect sizes and often do not replicate in future studies. Because most arrests occur well before biological evidence is available, improvements in recovering biological evidence may have modest effects on arrest rates, though they may impact arrest rates by identifying more serial offenders. Future research on the relationship of biological evidence to arrest should use methods to increase sample size of relevant cases, such as oversampling cases with later arrests and using case control study designs. Future studies should also use case abstraction and interview methods to explore how police use biological evidence to make arrests.

Cross, T.P., Alderden, M.A, Wagner, A., Sampson, L., Peters, B. & Lounsbury, K. (2020). Biological evidence in adult and adolescent sexual assault cases: Timing and relationship to arrest. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 7/8, 1828-1939.

Victor Vieth, Betsy Goulet, Michele Knox, Jennifer Parker, Lisa Johnson, and Ted Cross

This article documents the growth of the Child Advocacy Studies (CAST) movement to improve education on child abuse for undergraduates and graduates training in child-serving professions. CAST programs provide instruction on a range of topics on child maltreatment and experiential learning using simulations of child protection professional encounters with families. CAST courses and programs have been implemented in 73 institutions of higher education in twenty states. CAST is a promising approach to improving the skills of child-serving professionals across the country in dealing with child abuse and neglect.

Vieth, Victor I.; Goulet, Betsy; Knox, Michele; Parker, Jennifer; Johnson, Lisa B.; Tye, Karla Steckler; and Cross, Theodore P. (2019) "Child Advocacy Studies (CAST): A National Movement to Improve the Undergraduate and Graduate Training of Child Protection Professionals," Mitchell Hamline Law Review: Vol. 45 : Iss. 4 , Article 5.

Aide Hernandez, Steve Tran, and Ted Cross

Considerable research shows that many children in out-of-home care have serious health problems. This research brief profiles the health of Illinois children in out-of-home care, using data from the 2017 Illinois Child Well-Being Study. Caregivers’ responses suggested that nearly half of children had a serious or chronic health condition, and almost a third of youths interviewed reported a serious or chronic health problem. More than a quarter of youth reported that they had seen a doctor or nurse for an injury in the previous year. The good news is that high rates of children were receiving preventative health and dental services, according to caseworkers. The high rates of health problems and injuries among children in out-of-home care means that we need to be vigilant about understanding and responding to their health care needs.

Michael Braun, Yu-ling Chiu, Theodore Cross, Tamara Fuller, and Steve Tran

This report provides information from the first round of site visits conducted in each of the five sites at the end of the 13-month planning period. During the planning period, sites were expected to “build the local infrastructure necessary to fully implement their CMHI 2.0 plan.” They were expected to develop an organizational structure and project leadership, and engage a community planning team in which 25% of its members were self-identified consumers (parents and youth). They also needed to conduct an analysis of the community’s strengths (assets) and weaknesses (gaps in services), and of the current system of care in the community. Finally, they had to develop a strategic plan to implement a CMHI 2.0 project that is consistent with CASSP principles and address each of the 11 outcome goals. Given these expectations for the planning period, this report provides information to address the following topics and questions:

1. What is the current status of the system of care in each community?
2. Describe the leadership that was in place during the planning period. What activities or strategies did the leaders use? Did the participants feel that the leadership was effective?
3. Describe the community planning team. How were people recruited? How did meetings work? What was accomplished during them? What role did the community planning team have in developing the strategic plan?
4. What role did parents and youth play on the community planning team? How were parents and youth recruited? How were they kept engaged? How was their participation shaped?
5. How were activities in the strategic plan selected? What did this process look like? Did the community planning team or executive team play a role in this?
6. What are the next steps for implementing systems of care in the sites? Are they ready to begin implementing now that the funding has arrived, or is there more planning to do?

Ted Cross, Aide Hernandez, and Steve Tran

Having a good relationship with a foster caregiver contributes substantially to children’s well-being in foster care. Assessing this relationship for Illinois children helps us understand and potentially help improve their quality of life. This research brief updates the assessment of Illinois children’s relationship with their foster caregivers using data collected in 2017-2018. This brief is one in a series that presents capsule summaries of results from the 2017 Illinois Child-Well-Being Study in different domains of well-being.

Tamara Fuller, Laura Lee, and Robin LaSota

The Illinois Department of Children and Family Services released CFRC's findings after their five-month review of the agency's Child Abuse and Neglect Hotline. The DCFS announced that it will adopt all recommendations from the Center's report, and has already started efforts to address key recommendations, particularly increasing staffing and upgrading technology.

Children and Family Research Center

The Illinois Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) is responsible for assuring the safety, family permanency, and well-being of the children who have been investigated for abuse or neglect or who have been removed from their homes and placed into substitute care. For over two decades, the Children and Family Research Center (CFRC) has produced an annual monitoring report that tracks the performance of the Illinois child welfare system on over 40 different measures of safety, placement restrictiveness, placement stability, and timely, stable, and permanent family relationships. The full report, which is available on the CFRC website, examines each measure over the past seven years and provides detailed tables and figures that examine differences among child age and racial groups. This brief highlights five noteworthy findings from the most recent report, which tracks performance through June 2018.

J. Helton, M. Vaughn, J. Carbone, and Ted Cross

For children who have been sexually abused, emergency department (ED) professionals provide immediate medical care, including testing and treatment for sexually transmitted infections, prophylaxis for potential HIV exposure, and emergency contraception.¹ In some cases, ED clinicians conduct forensic examinations to assist with child protection and criminal investigations.² Physicians and nurses in EDs are among the first to recognize the signs of sexual abuse and identify patients who are currently being abused, such as children being exploited in sex trafficking.³ Despite the medical, criminal justice, and protective roles that ED professionals serve in caring for vulnerable children, few data are available regarding the frequency with which children are admitted to the ED for sexual abuse. Therefore, this analysis observed patterns among children admitted to the ED for sexual abuse across the United States and examined important subgroup characteristics based on demographic and primary payer data.

Helton, J., Vaughn, M., Carbone, J. & Cross T.P. (2019). Emergency department admissions of child sexual abuse: Recent national trends and correlates. JAMA Pediatrics. Nov 04, 1-3

Ted Cross, Aide Hernandez, and Steve Tran

Children’s relationships with their siblings may be the one source of familial love that they can count on when they are placed in out-of-home care. Yet, placement in out-of-home care can separate children from their siblings. Illinois state law requires siblings who are in out-of-home care to be placed together whenever it is in their best interest and not in violation of other rules of the Department of Children and Family Services. This brief presents findings from the 2017 Illinois Child Well-Being Study on siblings of children in out-of-home care.. The study conducted interviews with caseworker, caregivers and children themselves to assess the well-being of a sample of 700 children in out-of-home care in the state. Many children in out-of-home care were placed with siblings, but a number of children had siblings in other placements, especially if there were three or more siblings in the family. Often children had limited contact with their siblings and wished for more interaction with them. These findings suggest the need for more progress to enable siblings in out-of-home care to live together and to strengthen the connections between siblings who must live apart.

Steve Tran, Ted Cross, and Aide Hernandez

National research indicates that children in out-of-home care because of abuse or neglect are at significant risk for developmental difficulties, but to date we have limited information on the development of children in out-of-home care in Illinois. This brief presents findings on child development from the 2017 Illinois Child Well-Being Study. The study conducted interviews with caseworker, caregivers and children themselves to assess the well-being of a sample of 700 children in out-of-home care in the state. On a caregiver checklist, more than one-fifth of young children had scores on a caregiver checklist that indicated possible developmental delay or a level of developmental risk that needed to be monitored, but many of these children were not receiving a developmental intervention. Children’s likelihood of receiving a development intervention they needed differed by type of placement and by region. These finding indicate the need to develop a better understanding of what developmental interventions children in out-of-home care receive and the obstacles that keep children from receiving the help they need.

Aide Hernandez, Ted Cross, and Steve Tran

An infographic presenting some of the major findings from the 2017 Illinois Child Well-Being Study.

Tamara Fuller, Martin Nieto, Shufen Wang, Kyle A. Adams III, Satomi Wakita, Steve Tran, Yu-Ling Chiu, Michael Braun, Theodore P. Cross, Laura Lee, Aaron Burnett, Heidi Meyer

Since its inception in 1996, the Children and Family Research Center (CFRC) has produced an annual report that monitors the performance of the Illinois child welfare system in achieving its stated goals of child safety, permanency, and well-being. The FY2019 monitoring report uses child welfare administrative data through December 31, 2018 to describe the conditions of children in or at risk of foster care in Illinois. Following an introductory chapter, the results are presented in five chapters that examine critical child welfare outcomes, including child safety, continuity and stability in care, legal permanence, racial disproportionality, and child well-being.

Ted Cross, Aide Hernandez, and Steve Tran

Children are placed in out-of-home care through the Illinois Department of Children and Family services to protect their safety, so it especially important to assess their safety while in substitute care. This brief presents findings on child safety from the 2017 Illinois Child Well-Being Study. The study conducted interviews with caseworker, caregivers and children themselves to assess the well-being of a sample of 700 children in out-of-home care in the state. Substantial proportions of children in out-of-home care have witnessed and/or experienced violence in their life, but children and youth were much less likely to experience threats to their safety in their current placement. Substantial proportion of older adolescents and youth in group homes and residential treatment reported by physically hurt by someone in the past year. Overall, these findings suggest that placement in out-of-home care leads to greater safety. But continued vigilance about children’s safety is still needed, particularly for older adolescents and youth in group homes and residential treatment.

Aide Hernandez, Steve Tran, and Ted Cross

Children placed in out-of-home care because of abuse or neglect often have cognitive, emotional, behavioral, and health problems that can make it difficult to succeed at school. But we have limited data on the educational well-being of Illinois children in out-of-home care through the Department of Children and Family Services. This brief presents findings on education from the 2017 Illinois Child Well-Being Study. The study conducted interviews with caseworker, caregivers and children themselves to assess the well-being of a sample of 700 children in out-of-home care in the state. Most children and youth were was performing adequately or better in school, but many children faced obstacles to school success. The brief presents an overview of results and discusses the need for increased efforts to help children in out-of-home care with their education.

Yu-Ling Chiu and Theodore P. Cross

The FY2019 evaluation report of CPTA's simulation training included the following sections: 1) description of CPTA's updated training model; 2) daily experience of simulation training (DEST) that measured trainees’ daily changes in confidence on thirteen child protection work skills over the course of the simulation training week; 3) post-training satisfaction survey regarding trainees’ experience of the certificate training ; 4) simulation training and investigator turnover using DCFS employment data. The findings show that the positive results over three years of the program evaluation support the value of CPTA and suggest the potential of its current expansion. It is encouraging that investigators hired since February 2016 are staying on the job longer than investigators hired prior to that date. Data can be used both to advocate for the value of CPTA and to inform efforts at program improvement.

Tamara L. Fuller, Satomi Wakita, Yu-Ling Chiu, Martin Nieto, and Laura Lee

CERAP procedures specify when a safety assessment is supposed to be completed during investigations, prevention services cases, intact family service cases, and placement cases. Recent CERAP evaluations have focused on caseworker completion at each of the milestones for intact family cases, with the exception of milestone three, which specifies that the a safety assessment should be completed “whenever evidence or circumstances suggest that a child’s safety may be in jeopardy.” The FY2019 CERAP evaluation focused on CERAP safety assessments that were completed for this milestone three among intact family cases that were opened during 2014-2018. The main findings revealed that between 8-10% of the intact family cases opened each year had a CERAP completed for this milestone (MS3). When a MS3 CERAP was completed, about 36% did not have any safety threats identified, about 40-45% had one safety threat identified, and 16-17% had two safety threats identified. Additional analyses are included in the report.

Yu-Ling Chiu, Theodore P. Cross, Betsy P. Goulet, Susan Oppegard Evans, and Monico Whittington-Eskridge

The CFRC evaluation team collaborated with the CPTA at the University of Illinois Springfield and the DCFS Office of Learning & Professional Development on a presentation at the 2019 National Child Welfare Evaluation Summit on August 20th. The presentation included discussion of the CPTA simulation training model, the main evaluation findings between 2017 and 2019, and the simulation training expansion at the Chicago site.

Ted Cross, Steve Tran, Aide Hernandez, and Emily Rhodes

The 2017 Illinois Child Well-Being Study provides a snapshot of the well-being of children and youth in out-of-home care in Illinois in 2017. The Children and Family Research Center (CFRC) drew a stratified random sample of 700 children and youth from the population of children and youth in the care of the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) in October 2017. The Survey Research Laboratory of the University of Illinois at Chicago conducted interviews with caseworkers, foster care providers, and children age seven and older between December 2017 and July 2018. Interviews included questions developed for the study as well as a number of standardized scales measuring child functioning and well-being.

The report documents the progress many children and youth are making, but also the disproportionate number of children who lag in development, deal with physical and behavioral health challenges, struggle in school, or face threats to their safety. The well-being data can be used to advocate for children’s needs, inform the development of DCFS policy and practice, and guide in-depth well-being research.

Martin Nieto, Satomi Wakita, Tamara Fuller, and Shufen Wang

In 2017, media attention in Illinois focused on a perceived increase in the number of child deaths following the “privatization” of Intact Family Services (IFS), meaning that cases were being served by private child welfare agencies through contractual relationships with the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) rather than through DCFS itself. Following a request by the B.H. Expert Panel, the CFRC conducted an independent analysis to examine if the privatization of intact family services (IFS) was associated with an increase in child deaths due to maltreatment. The results suggest that Intact Family Services have been provided by both DCFS and private child welfare agencies since 2000, and that complete privatization of IFS did not occur, even after 2014. In addition, when all maltreatment reports involving child deaths are examined, only a small percentage (between 10-15%) have been involved with IFS within the past year or at the time of the reported death. When the child deaths that were involved with IFS were examined, there were no differences in the risk of either investigated child deaths or indicated child deaths among children served by DCFS and those served by private child welfare agencies.

CFRC

Child welfare systems across the nation share the concern that children from some racial minority groups may be disproportionately represented in the child welfare system compared to their representation in the general population. One of the goals in the Department’s Child Welfare Transformation Strategic Plan is to track racial equity at critical decision points to help inform planning and decision making. With special concerns about children age 0 to 5, the Children and Family Research Center per a request from Illinois DCFS prepared this report by examining racial disproportionality specifically for this population in the Illinois child welfare system at critical decision points during 2012-2018.

Ted Cross and Thaddeus Schmitt

In sexual assault cases, little research has examined differences in forensic medical findings and law enforcement response by victim age across the entire age range. This study addressed this gap by comparing four victim age groups: adults, adolescents over the age of consent, adolescents under the age of consent, and children under 12. Cases were randomly sampled from a statewide database of medical reports on sexual assault examinations conducted in hospital emergency departments, including only cases reported to law enforcement.

Cross, T. & Schmitt, T. (2019). Forensic medical results and law enforcement Actions following sexual assault: a comparison of child, adolescent and adult cases. Child Abuse & Neglect, 93, 103-110

Betsy Goulet, Theodore Cross, Yu-Ling Chiu

Presentation at the One Loud Voice Conference in Biloxi Mississippi, April 16, 2019

Ted Cross and Megan Alderden

Presented in Urbana at the Carle Hospital SANE Seminar, March 11, 2019.

Wendy Walsh, Ted Cross, and Kaitlin Lounsbury

Presented at the 34th Annual San Diego International Conference on Child and Family Maltreatment, January 29, 2019.

Ted Cross and Wendy Walsh

Presented at the 34th Annual San Diego International Conference on Child and Family Maltreatment, January 29, 2019.

Yu-Ling Chiu, Theodore Cross, Betsy Goulet, Susan Oppegard Evans, Monico Whittington-Eskridge, and Amy Wheeler

The investigator survey results in the second year evaluation of the Child Protection Training Academy’s Simulation Program were presented on January 20th, 2019 at the Society for Social Work and Research (SSWR) Annual Conference in San Francisco.

Tamara Fuller, Steve Tran, Yu-Ling Chiu, and Michael Braun

The highlights of each chapter from the FY2018 Monitoring Report of the B.H. Consent Decree.

Tamara Fuller, Yu-Ling Chiu, Michael Braun, Martin Nieto, and Kyle Adams

Child welfare systems across the nation share the concern that children from some racial minority groups may be disproportionately represented in the child welfare system compared to their representation in the general population.One of the goals in the Department’s Child Welfare Transformation Strategic Plan is to track racial equity and disparity at critical decision points to help inform planning and decision making.This report provides information relevant to that goal by examining racial disproportionality and disparity in the Illinois child welfare system at five critical decision points over the past seven years.

Laura Siller, Ted Cross, and Megan Alderden

Presented November, 2018 at the American Society of Criminology Meeting in Atlanta.

Ted Cross, Thaddeus Schmitt, and Megan Alderden

Presented November, 2018 at the American Society of Criminology Meeting in Atlanta.

Ted Cross and Yu-Ling Chiu

The current report presents results from program evaluation activities conducted in FY2018. We used interviews and focus groups to explore the processes through which CPTA has an impact. In addition, we assessed the impact of CPTA on the experience of working DCFS investigators. We surveyed DCFS investigators and compared those investigators who have received simulation training with a group of investigators who had not received simulation training.

Tamara Fuller, Martin Nieto, Satomi Wakita, Shufen Wang, Kyle Adams, Steve Tran, Yu-Ling Chiu, and Michael Braun

Since its inception in 1996, the Children and Family Research Center (CFRC) has produced an annual report that monitors the performance of the Illinois child welfare system in achieving its stated goals of child safety, permanency, and well-being. This year’s report contains several major changes that makes the results non-comparable to those in previous reports. The data source was switched from the Chapin Hall Integrated Database (IDB) to data contained in the DCFS data warehouse (Legacy Golden Copy/LGC). At the Department’s request, the Round 3 CFSR statewide data indicators were added to the report. The FY2018 monitoring report uses child welfare administrative data through March 2018 to describe the conditions of children in or at risk of foster care in Illinois. Following an introductory chapter, the results are presented in three chapters that examine critical child welfare outcomes of child safety, continuity and stability in care, and legal permanence.

Ted Cross, Wendy Walsh, Elizabeth Cross

This final report presents results from a program evaluation of the National TeleNursing  Center, a pilot project funded by the federal Office for Victims of Crime that uses telemedicine to support clinicians doing forensic medical examinations following sexual assault. Experienced Sexual Assault Nurse Examiners (SANEs) are linked by video technology to nurses in underserved communities who lack the training and experience to do effective exams. SANEs participate virtually in the examination to guide clinicians to provide quality medical care while also collecting biological evidence that may help identify and prosecute the offender.

Yu-Ling Chiu and Tamara L. Fuller

The Child Endangerment Risk Assessment Protocol (CERAP) is a safety assessment protocol used in child protection investigations and child welfare services in Illinois. It is designed to provide workers with a mechanism for quickly assessing the potential for moderate to severe harm to a child in the immediate or near future and for taking quick action to protect children. Workers utilize the protocol at specified time frames throughout the life of a case, from child protection investigation to substitute care exit, to help focus their decision-making to determine whether a child is safe or unsafe with their family, and if unsafe, decide what actions must be taken to assure the child’s safety. This brief provides an overview of the CERAP, including its historical background and the specific procedures required to complete the assessments.

Tamara L. Fuller, Yu-Ling Chiu, Satomi Wakita, and Martin Nieto

The Child Endangerment Risk Assessment Protocol (CERAP) is a safety assessment protocol used in child protection investigations and child welfare service cases in Illinois. It is designed to provide workers with a mechanism for quickly assessing the potential for moderate to severe harm to a child in the immediate or near future and for taking quick action to protect children. Workers utilize the protocol at specified time frames, referred to as “milestones,” throughout the life of a case to help focus their decision-making to determine whether a child is safe or unsafe with their family, and if unsafe, decide what actions must be taken to assure the child’s safety. In FY2018, due to increased scrutiny of the safety of children served in intact family cases, the CFRC completed an analysis of caseworker compliance with safety assessment procedures among intact family cases. This research brief describes the major findings of the FY2018 CERAP annual evaluation.

Steve Tran and Tamara Fuller

This research brief, the second in a series that highlights the important work of the Illinois Child Death Review Teams (CDRTs) in Illinois, highlights the findings from the most recent CDRT annual report on child deaths that occurred in Illinois in 2016, which is written by the CFRC. The brief presents summary information about child deaths in Illinois by age, manner of death, and category of death, as well as examples of CDRT recommendations to prevent child deaths.

Tamara Fuller and Steve Tran

This research brief, the third in a series that highlights the important work of the CDRTs in Illinois, uses data from the annual CDRT reports to examine trends in child deaths over the past decade. The brief describes trends in total child deaths and trends in the number of deaths by child age, manner of death, and category and death.

Tamara Fuller, Satomi Wakita, Martin Nieto, and Yu-Ling Chiu

The current report examined CERAP completion by caseworkers during an intact family case between FY2014 and FY2017. Using the most stringent criteria, meaning that the caseworker not only completed a CERAP safety assessment but also checked the correct milestone, completion rates varied substantially for the different intact family case milestones: 1) between 67% and 76% of intact family cases each year had a CERAP assessment within 15 days of case opening, and the percentage has been increasing over time. 2) between 17-18% of intact family cases had a CERAP completed every 90 days during the time that the case was open. 3) between 56% and 65% of the intact family cases with an unsafe safety decision had another CERAP completed within 5 working days, and the percentage has been increasing over time. 4) between 64% and 71% of intact family cases had a CERAP completed within 30 days prior to the case close date or within 5 days after it, and the percentage has been increasing over time.

Megan Alderden, Theodore Cross, Maja Vlajnic, and Laura Siller

Little prior research has explored how prosecutors perceive and utilize biological and injury evidences in sexual assault cases. In this qualitative study, semistructured interviews were conducted with assistant district attorneys (ADAs) working in an urban district attorney’s office in the northeastern United States. ADAs were asked to describe how biological and injury evidences could be probative and their strategies for using this evidence. The interviews suggest that prosecutors perceive the probative value of biological and injury evidences on a continuum, varying based on case characteristics. Prosecutors felt that undergoing a forensic medical examination in itself supported victims’ credibility. Biological evidence bolstered victims’ credibility if it matched the victim’s account better than the defendant’s. They perceived DNA evidence as helpful when it identified unknown suspects, confirmed identification of suspects by other means, or rebutted defendants’ denial of sexual contact. DNA evidence was also helpful when victims were incapacitated, too traumatized to recall or talk about the assault, or too young to identify assailants, and when police used the information in interrogating suspects. The biggest limitation to biological evidence prosecutors cited was overcoming the consent defense. The ADAs reported they used DNA evidence even when it was not particularly probative, because it confirms the correct person is being prosecuted, it communicates the victim’s and prosecution’s seriousness, and it meets jury expectations in trials. Prosecutors found injury evidence useful because it corroborated victims’ accounts and helped refute defendant claims of consensual sex. The findings may assist in educating others about biological and injury evidences in these cases, and could inspire professionals and advocates to work to develop and support a broad range of investigative methods.

Alderden, M., Cross, T., Vlajnic, M., & Siller, L. (2018). Prosecutors’ perspectives on biological evidence and injury evidence in sexual assault cases. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 1–23

Yu-Ling Chiu and Ted Cross

Since 2016, the Child Protection Training Academy (CPTA) at the University of Illinois at Springfield (UIS) has collaborated with the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) to implement the Child Protection Training Academy, which adds an innovative experiential component to the training of new DCFS investigators. This brief reports results of a preliminary program evaluation that the Children and Family Research Center has conducted of the program. We describe what simulation training is, why it could be valuable, what simulation training has been implemented, and what the preliminary data on its implementation and impact suggests about its value for enhancing worker preparation to serve children and families.

Ted Cross, Gail Tittle, and Yu-Ling Chiu

Investigating child abuse and neglect is a difficult job and investigators need all the preparation they can get. Given the demands of working with families in child protections, transferring theory to practice is particularly essential. Ideally, the initial training that new child protection workers receive should give them opportunities to practice the skills they need such as engaging families and assessment and critical thinking skills for protecting child safety. The Child Protection Training Academy at the University of Illinois at Springfield (UIS) has collaborated with the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) to add an innovative experiential component to the training of new DCFS investigators. All new investigators come to Child Protection Training Academy at UIS for a week at the end of their initial training to participate in simulations of real life situations that every DCFS investigator encounters. This program evaluation is consistent with the formative state of knowledge in the field and the fact that the Child Protection Training Academy is in a comparatively early stage of development. At this early stage, the program evaluation has focused on gathering data to describe the program’s objectives, methods and training theory, and examining trainees’ and other stakeholders perception of the impact of the simulation training. The goal is to inform program development and improvement, provide evidence of the program’s immediate impact on trainees, and help prepare for more rigorous program evaluation of the CPTA’s simulation training in the future.

Tamara Fuller, Martin Nieto, Satomi Wakita, Shufen Wang, Kyle Adams, Saijun Zhang, Yu-Ling Chiu, and Michael Braun

This annual report provides information on the performance of the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services with regard to the outcomes for children who are in or at risk of substitute care. This monitoring report, required as part of the B.H. Consent Decree, examines measures of child safety, family and placement stability, continuity, and permanence. In addition, this year's report adds a fourth chapter that examines racial disproportionality and disparity in the Illinois child welfare system.

Children and Family Research Center

The Children and Family Research Center (CFRC) produces the annual monitoring report of the B.H. Consent Decree, which tracks the performance of the Illinois child welfare system in achieving its stated goals of child safety, permanency, and well-being for children in or at risk of entering foster care. The full report, available on the CFRC website, contains information about Illinois performance on more than 40 measures over the past seven years. This brief highlights five key findings from the latest report, which tracks performance through the end of FY2016.

Wendy Walsh and Ted Cross

Ted Cross of CFRC is leading a research team conducting a program evaluation of the National TeleNursing Center, a pilot project funded by the federal Office for Victims of Crime that uses telemedicine to support clinicians doing forensic medical examinations following sexual assault. Experienced Sexual Assault Nurse Examiners (SANEs) are linked by video technology to nurses in underserved communities who lack the training and experience to do effective exams. SANEs participate virtually in the examination to guide clinicians to provide quality medical care while also collecting biological evidence that may help identify and prosecute the offender. Drs. Cross and Walsh presented interim results gathered from interviews with the teleSANEs and the clinicians they support. This was a presentation at the conference of the International Association of Forensic Nurses in Toronto in October 2017 and was reprised in November 2017 at the New England Rural Health Conference in Bartlett, NH.

Michael T. Braun and Yu-Ling Chiu

Disproportionality in the child welfare system refers to the over- or underrepresentation of a group involved with the system compared to that group’s representation in a base population (Child Welfare Information Gateway, 2016). This research brief defines racial disproportionality in the child welfare system, including how it is measured and how disproportionality rates should be interpreted. It is the first brief in a series exploring disproportionality in the child welfare system.

Michael T. Braun and Yu-Ling Chiu

Disproportionality in the child welfare system refers to the over- or underrepresentation of a group (usually a racial/ethnic group) compared to that group’s representation in a base population. This research brief explores rates of racial disproportionality in the Illinois child welfare system. It is the second brief in a series exploring disproportionality.

Michael T. Braun and Satomi Wakita

Cost analysis is an important consideration when deciding whether a new program or practice is sustainable. This presentation explores practical considerations of conducting cost analyses to help produce meaningful results that are useful to decision-makers and stakeholders. It was originally presented at the third annual Continuous Quality Improvement conference in Champaign, IL.

Alex Wagner, Ted Cross, Rosa Mazzeo and Dan Bibel

This presentation at the annual American Society of Criminology meeting reports final results on a study of the quality of data on arrests in the FBI’s National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS). NIBRS is one of the prime sources for research on arrests in the United States, but this study of data on four crimes suggests that NIBRS may be undercounting arrests, particularly for sexual assault cases. This an update of a May 2017 presentation (i.e., Bibel, et al., The Importance of the Quality of Arrest Data in NIBRS) also listed in CFRC’s publication webpages. These findings suggest ways to improve the recording of arrest data that may increase the accuracy of crime data and research on arrests.

Michael T. Braun, Yu-Ling Chiu, Stacy Lake, Tamara Fuller, and Julie Murphy

Child welfare agencies that adopt evidence-supported interventions (ESIs) such as Differential Response (DR) may use concepts from implementation science to guide translation of ESIs into worker practice. The success of these efforts depends in part on worker support for the intervention. This presentation explores the Oregon Department of Human Services (DHS) staged rollout of DR and associated staff support for the program. It includes description of Oregon’s efforts to build support for DR, as well as quantitative and qualitative data collected from the Children and Family Research Center’s evaluation of Oregon’s DR implementation. The presentation aims to expand our understanding of the factors that promote or inhibit individual-level acceptance of an organizational-level effort to implement DR, and how worker attitudes affect practice change.

Ted Cross, Betsy Goulet, Susan Evans, Gail Tittle, and Yu-Ling Chiu

Given the demands of investigating child abuse and neglect, transferring knowledge gained in training into practice to bolster child protection investigators’ skills and confidence is essential. Yet studies of transfer of learning across different domains of employment have shown that only 10 to 15% of training content is transferred to the workplace. Simulation Training Laboratories at the University of Illinois at Springfield is helping to change that with an experiential training program it provides to all new child protection investigators hired by the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS). New investigators are trained at a Residential Simulation Laboratory in a mock house designed to simulate a family environment and a Courtroom Simulation Laboratory designed to resemble family court. This Children and Family Research Center is conducting the program evaluation of simulation training. This presentation at an international conference gives a brief overview of the program and presents initial program evaluation results.

Tamara Fuller and Yu-Ling Chiu

The results of the previous evaluations indicated that rates of CERAP completion at the two milestones immediately before and after reunification were lower than expected. The low compliance with required safety practice raised questions about how judges, attorneys, and placement workers use the information contained within the CERAP to inform their recommendations and decisions about whether to return a child home from substitute care. To gather this information, CFRC designed and administered surveys to juvenile court attorneys and child welfare placement workers; 185 placement workers and 20 attorneys completed the surveys. The results of the surveys indicate that the CERAP is rarely included in the court reports that are shared with attorneys prior to making decisions regarding returning a child home. Additionally, placement workers had mixed views regarding the usefulness of the CERAP for informing decision-making about returning a child home from substitute care: 45% felt that the CERAP was very important, 37% felt that it was somewhat important, and 18% felt that it was not at all important. Responses to the open-ended questions revealed that many placement workers felt that the information included in the CERAP was redundant with information available in other documents they completed at reunification, which may explain why the CERAP is not completed by about a third of the workers either before or after reunification.

John Fluke, Nico Trocme, Jesse Helton, Theodore Cross, Barbara Fallon & Kate Schumaker

This presentation reports results of collaboration between Canadian and American researchers to explore a new method of classifying child maltreatment cases that holds promise for improving child welfare services. Canadian researchers have previously classified child maltreatment cases into two categories: urgent cases characterized by acute harm include cases of physical abuse, sexual abuse, and neglect of very young children, and chroniccases in which harm is thought to develop over the long-term through exposure to neglect, emotional maltreatment, and less severe forms of physical abuse. The urgent vs. chronic distinction has predicted important outcomes in Canadian data, and has important implications for providing a child protection response tailored to children’s needs. The research reported in this presentation applied the urgent vs. chronic classification to the American child welfare system for the first time. The analysis classified cases with American children into the urgent and chronic categories, using data from the National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being, a national probability study of children involved in child protection investigations. One-fifth of American cases were classified as urgent, very similar to the 24% found in a Canadian sample. Urgent cases were more likely to be substantiated and lead to out-of-home placements. Chronic cases, on the other hand, were more likely to include children with special needs. The research provides preliminary evidence that the urgent-chronic dichotomy may apply to North American cases generally and suggests the value of further research on this distinction.

Tamara Fuller, Michael T. Braun, Yu-ling Chiu, Theodore P. Cross, Martin Nieto, Gail Tittle, and Satomi Wakita

Following a lengthy and thorough exploration and planning process, the Oregon Department of Human Services began implementing Differential Response (DR) in May 2014 as part of a broader reform effort aimed at safely and equitably reducing the number of children in foster care and more effectively addressing the needs of families being referred to Child Protective Services (CPS) for neglect. Through the implementation of DR, DHS hoped to enhance the partnerships between families reported for abuse and neglect, DHS staff, and community partners; increase the number of children who remain safely at home with their families; and reduce the disproportionate representation of children of color in the child welfare system. DHS hired the Children and Family Research Center (CFRC) at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign to design and conduct a rigorous and comprehensive evaluation that would accomplish multiple goals, including carefully documenting the DR implementation process, examining the DR model that was being practiced in the districts, testing DHS workers’ fidelity to the Oregon Safety Model (OSM), comparing the outcomes of children and families involved in DR assessments with those who received traditional CPS assessments, and examining the costs associated with practicing DR. This Oregon Differential Response Final Evaluation Report contains thorough descriptions of the methodologies used and the results of the evaluation components, including the implementation, process, outcome, and cost evaluations.

Theodore Cross, Wendy Walsh

Research has made significant contributions to the development of the CAC model, but much remains to be learned and stronger empirical support is needed to develop the model further. This workshop first reviews CAC research to date, including an assessment of previous published CAC research reviews. The workshop then discusses significant research gaps in areas such as criminal investigation and prosecution, victim advocacy, service delivery and MDT functioning. The workshop concludes by discussing steps for moving CAC research forward, and reviews the development of a new NCA Research Advisory Committee formed in 2016.

Cross, T., Goulet, B., Evans, S. & Tittle, G.

The Child Protection Training Academy at the University of Illinois at Springfield (UIS) is collaborating with the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) to add an innovative experiential component to the training of new DCFS investigators. The program supplements the classroom-based Foundations Training that every new investigator receives with experiential training days in a Residential Simulation Laboratory and a Courtroom Simulation Laboratory. The Children and Family Research at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is conducting the program evaluation for simulation training. This presentation describes the program, discusses its first year of development, and presents preliminary program evaluation results.

Daniel Bibel, Alex Wagner, Theodore Cross, Rosa Mazzeo

This presentation explores the quality of data on arrests in the FBI’s National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS). Hundreds of police departments across the United States contribute data on crime incidents to the NIBRS system, which is one of the chief tools nationally for monitoring and researching crime. Over one quarter of studies published using NIBRS focus on arrest issues, but recent research suggests reasons to be concerned about the reliability of arrest data in NIBRS. Ted Cross of the CFRC led a research team studying the quality of NIBRS arrest data. NIBRS arrest data were compared to data from local law enforcement agencies for a sample of 348 crime incidents that occurred in Massachusetts between 2011 and 2013. The sample focused on four crimes: sexual assault, simple assault, aggravated assault, and intimidation. A preliminary analysis suggests that NIBRS may “undercount” arrests, since 24.9% of incidents that should have been counted as arrests in NIBRS were not recorded as arrests in NIBRS data files. Additional analysis not reported in this presentation suggest two reasons for this: 1) law enforcement agencies do not always update NIBRS data files if an arrest was made after initial data were entered, and 2) contrary to instructions in the NIBRS manual, law enforcement agencies did not always record one method of apprehending suspects (issuing a summons) as an arrest. These findings have implications for crime data specialist entering NIBRS data and for researchers using NIBRS data files. A final analysis of these data will be conducted in the summer of 2017.

Michael T. Braun and Yu-Ling Chiu

The Oregon Safety Model (OSM) is a safety assessment practice model that was developed and implemented by the Oregon Department of Human Services (DHS) in collaboration with the National Resource Center for Child Protective Services (NRCCPS) in 2007. In 2013, DHS collaborated with NRCCPS to implement an OSM “refresh” initiative aimed toward enhancing understanding and practice application of the OSM. As part of the evaluation of Oregon’s implementation of Differential Response (DR), the Children and Family Research Center (CFRC) was asked to provide an updated assessment of staff fidelity to the OSM. Fidelity assessments are designed to examine if a program or intervention is delivered or implemented as designed. CFRC relied on the procedure manual to develop the fidelity indicators used in the fidelity assessment. This OSM Fidelity Report contains thorough description of methods and results.

Yu-ling Chiu, Martin Nieto and Tamara Fuller

The Child Endangerment Risk Assessment Protocol (CERAP) is a safety assessment protocol used in child protection investigations and child welfare case in Illinois. This “life-of- the case” protocol is designed to provide staff with a mechanism for quickly assessing the potential for moderate to severe harm to children in the immediate or near future and for taking quick action to protect them. Staff utilize the protocol at specified milestones throughout an investigation or child welfare case to help them determine whether a child is safe or unsafe, and if unsafe, decide what actions must be taken to assure their safety. When immediate risk to a child’s safety is identified, the protocol requires that action be taken, such as the implementation of a safety plan or protective custody.

Ted Cross

A presentation by Dr. Ted Cross from the eighth annual Conference of Upstate Child Advocacy Studies held on March 31, 2017.

Theodore P. Cross and Debra Whitcomb

Despite efforts by advocates, practitioners, and legislators to alleviate the burden on child maltreatment victims in the criminal justice system, many challenges remain for prosecutors as they seek to hold offenders accountable while minimizing the emotional impact on children. More than 200 state and local prosecutors in 37 states responded to an online survey to share their perspectives on current challenges, procedures to support children in the adjudication process, and the impact of the U.S. Supreme Court opinion in Crawford v. Washington (2004), sex offender registries, and "Safe Harbor" legislation to protect child sexual exploitation victims. Respondents' most pressing challenges were obtaining evidence to corroborate children's statements and the difficulties of working with child victims. Child testimony was ranked as more frequent than any other type of evidence, and least frequent were DNA, photos or videos of criminal acts, and other physical evidence. Prosecutors rely primarily on victim/witness assistants and courtroom tours to prepare children for testimony; technological alternatives are seldom used. Results suggest a real but limited impact of the Crawford opinion on the need for child testimony and on the decision to prosecute. Survey findings indicate a need for greater attention to thorough investigations with particular attention to corroboration. Doing so may strengthen the child's credibility, which is especially critical in cases lacking physical or medical evidence of maltreatment.

Cross, T.P & Whitcomb, D. (2017). The practice of prosecuting child maltreatment: Results of an online survey of prosecutors. Child Abuse & Neglect. Advance online publication. doi: 10.1016/j.chiabu.2017.04.007

Tamara Fuller, Martin Nieto, Xinrong Lei, Satomi Wakita, Saijun Zhang, Yu-Ling Chiu, Michael Braun, Theodore P. Cross

This annual report provides information on the performance of the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services with regard to the outcomes for children who are in or at risk of substitute care. This monitoring report, required as part of the B.H. Consent Decree, examines measures of child safety, family and placement stability, continuity, and permanence. Detailed break-downs of each indicator by child gender, race, age, and geographic region are provided in the appendix.

CFRC

This research brief describes highlights from the most recent monitoring report of the B.H. Consent Decree. Highlights include details on the use of emergency shelters, a look at the increase in maltreatment of children in care, and a comparison of runaway rates in Cook County and statewide.

Tamara Fuller, Michael T. Braun, Yu-ling Chiu, Theodore P. Cross, Martin Nieto, Gail Tittle, and Satomi Wakita

The Oregon Department of Human Services (DHS) began implementing Differential Response (DR) in 2014, using a carefully planned and staged roll-out strategy that began with implementation in two districts (D5 and D11) in May 2014 and two additional districts (D4 and D16) in April 2015. The Children and Family Research Center (CFRC) conducted comprehensive process, outcome, and cost evaluations in order to answer a lengthy series of research questions related to the DR implementation process, CPS practice throughout the state, fidelity to the DR model, fidelity to the Oregon Safety Model (OSM), and the impact of DR on a variety of child, family, and child welfare system outcomes, including costs. This report describes the findings of the process and outcome evaluations as of December 2016, including chapters on CPS practice in DR and non-DR districts, fidelity to the DR model, and preliminary comparisons of the short-term and intermediate outcomes experienced by families in the two treatment groups (AR and TR) with matched comparison families in non-DR districts.

Tamara Fuller, Michael T. Braun, Yu-ling Chiu, Theodore P. Cross, Martin Nieto, Gail Tittle, and Satomi Wakita

As part of the larger evaluation of Differential Response (DR) in Oregon, the CFRC conducted a statewide survey of Oregon DHS staff in February-March, 2016. The staff survey was designed to assess staff attitudes and practices related to DR and the Oregon Safety Model (OSM). The survey included measures of training and coaching effectiveness, supervisory support, job satisfaction, organizational culture, CPS practices, attitudes about DR, the OSM, and the Family Strengths and Needs Assessment (FSNA), service availability, and service coordination. The results of the survey were described for the state as a whole, and comparisons were made between districts that had and had not implemented DR.

Theodore P. Cross, Betsy Goulet, Jesse J. Helton, Emily Lux, Tamara Fuller, and Michael T. Braun

All 50 states have systems for reporting suspected abuse and neglect to child protective services (CPS), and reports are made on thousands of children every year. Outcomes of reporting vary widely, ranging from screening out with no further action at one end to out-of-home placement at the other. Someone making a report to CPS might naturally wonder: What are the chances the child will be visited by child protective services workers, offered services, or even removed from his or her home? But there has been little systematic analysis of the outcomes of reporting to CPS. This brief, adapted from the authors’ chapter in a book on child maltreatment reporting, helps answer these questions using published results and new data analysis from two national data sets on children involved in reports to CPS.

Tamara Fuller, Michael T. Braun, and Saijun Zhang

This research brief, the first in a series that highlights the important work of the Illinois Child Death Review Teams (CDRTs), provides an introduction to child death review in Illinois. The brief discusses the circumstances in which the CDRTs will review a child’s death, the review process, and the impact of child death reviews.

Saijun Zhang, Tamara Fuller, and Michael T. Braun

This research brief, the second in a series that highlights the important work of the Illinois Child Death Review Teams (CDRTs), highlights key findings from the most recent CDRT annual report, which is written by the CFRC. It presents summary information about child deaths in Illinois examined by demographic characteristics such as age and race, as well as by manner and category of death.

Tamara Fuller, Michael T. Braun, and Saijun Zhang

This research brief, the third in a series that highlights the important work of the Illinois Child Death Review Teams (CDRTs), uses historical data to describe trends in child deaths in Illinois from 2004 to 2013. The brief describes trends in total child deaths and trends in the number of deaths by child age, race, manner of death, and category of death.

Ted Cross, Alane Shanks, Lisa Duffy, Mark Gorman, Susana Camposano, Tanuja Chitnis, David Rintell

This report presents findings from a study of families with a child who has pediatric multiple sclerosis (MS). Multiple sclerosis is a disease of the central nervous system that impairs communication within the brain and between the brain and body, leading to a range of unpredictable and often disabling symptoms. Once thought to affect adults exclusively, pediatric-onset MS has increasingly been diagnosed in recent years. MS can cause children considerable pain and distress and impair their movement, vision, speech, and thinking. It can be extraordinarily stressful for children and their families, and cause considerable stress as children adapt to the effect of MS on learning, functioning at school, peer relationships and life in the family. Parents of children with MS were interviewed to assess the impact of the disease on the child and family, to understand families’ experience with the health care system, and to profile the ways that children and families cope. The families affected by pediatric multiple sclerosis whom we interviewed face significant challenges, but in the course of meeting these challenges, have demonstrated notable resilience.

Ted Cross

This presentation provided useful findings on forensic evidence and on sexual assault to both unit leaders and first responders in the United States Air Force, drawing from Dr. Ted Cross’ National Institute of Justices-funded research. Results from an initial study suggest that crime laboratory evidence plays a role in only a small number of arrests in sexual assault cases, because the vast majority of arrests take place soon after the reported incident, well before crime laboratory analysis. But DNA evidence was significantly more likely in the small number of arrests that took place later, after the crime laboratory analysis was completed. This suggests the potential impact of DNA in making arrests that occur well after the incident. In the second study, DNA matches were significantly related to obtaining convictions in sexual assault cases, though the DNA match could be both a cause and effect. A DNA match can identify an unknown suspect and strengthen the evidence against a known offender. But DNA matches can also be an effect of pursuing convictions, since prosecutors who were interviewed reported that, to be thorough, they always try to introduce DNA evidence in cases they carry forward, even if the case rests mostly on other evidence. Juries expect it. (Read more about Dr. Cross’ presentation in a news release here.)

Theodore P. Cross, Saijun Zhang, and Xinrong Lei

Significant percentages of youth in substitute care run away at some point during their stay. Running away can be a signal of distress or of difficulties adjusting to a placement. For these reasons alone it deserves attention. It could also disrupt foster care placements, place youth in risky environments, and decrease the chances that youth in care will find a permanent home. This brief reports on the frequency of running away from substitute care in Illinois and compares rates of running away by type of placement. It also explores the case characteristics that are associated with running away, and examines the types of placements that youth are placed in after returning to substitute care. Finally, it breaks new ground by analyzing how often runaway youth who return to the same type of setting nevertheless change specific caregivers and change institutions or group homes.

CFRC

This annual report provides information on the performance of the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services with regard to the outcomes for children who are in or at risk of substitute care. This monitoring report, required as part of the B.H. Consent Decree, examines measures of child safety, family and placement stability, continuity, permanence, and child and family well-being. Detailed break-downs of each indicator by child gender, race, age, and geographic region are provided in the appendix.

Tamara Fuller, Michael T. Braun, Yuling Chiu, Theodore P. Cross, Martin Nieto, Gail Tittle, and Satomi Wakita

Following a lengthy and thorough planning process, the Oregon Department of Human Services (DHS) began implementing Differential Response (DR) in two districts (District 5 and District 11) in May 2014, with statewide implementation expected to occur in 2017. In order to evaluate the effectiveness of their Differential Response Initiative, DHS selected the Children and Family Research Center (CFRC) to design and conduct a rigorous and comprehensive evaluation with three major components: 1) a process evaluation, 2) an outcome evaluation, and 3) a cost analysis. The 2015 Annual Evaluation Report describes the results of the evaluation as of December 2015 and includes findings from the first round of implementation site visits and the DR fidelity assessment.

Debra Whitcomb and Theodore Cross

Prosecution of child abuse often depends on the ability of children to testify in court, but this places enormous demands on children and risks exacerbating the effects of the abuse. This presentation provides an overview of research and legal and practice development on child abuse victims in the courtroom in recent decades, and presents new survey data from prosecutors and Children's Advocacy Centers about current challenges of prosecuting child abuse and what steps professionals are taking to protect and support children in court. It was originally presented at annual conference of the Institute of Violence, Abuse and Trauma in San Diego, CA in September 2015.

Ted Cross

This presentation compares child, adolescent and adult cases receiving forensic medical examinations following sexual assault. Data come from a National Institute of Justice-funded study of 563 medical examinations conducted across Massachusetts from 2008 to 2010, which included data from medical, crime laboratory and police reports. Results suggest that adolescent victims present severe challenges that are different from those of younger victims, challenges similar to those faced by adults. Adolescents were at higher risk for injury than younger children, and for cases being dropped by police. Biological evidence was more prevalent too, which can enhance opportunities for pursuing justice but also places a premium on adolescents undergoing medical examination. The needs of the adolescents, who were as young as 12, are different from both younger children and adults, and systems and practice models have not been developed that are specifically tailored to this age group. These results could help inspire the development of enhanced models of care specifically aimed at adolescent victims of sexual assault.

Theodore Cross and Wendy Walsh

Children’s Advocacy Centers (CACs) are multidisciplinary centers designed to coordinate all professionals involved in the investigative and service response to child abuse. They provide forensic child interviews with interviewers trained in best practice and a multidisciplinary team to coordinate the work of child protection, law enforcement, prosecution, health, mental health and other professionals. Over 700 CACs are providing services across all 50 states and in several foreign countries. This presentation presents an overview of research involving CACs. Several studies suggest the efficacy of CACs for improving several aspects of the response to children, and a number of important studies expanding knowledge on child maltreatment have been conducted in CACs. Several opportunities and challenges of doing research in CACs are discussed, and new results from a survey of CAC directors on Center practice are presented. This presentation was originally given at the One Child, Many Hands Multidisciplinary Conference on Child Welfare in Philadelphia in June 2015.

Yu-ling Chiu, Martin Nieto, Satomi Wakita, and Tamara Fuller

The Child Endangerment Risk Assessment Protocol (CERAP) is a safety assessment protocol used in child protection investigations and child welfare services in Illinois. Workers utilize the protocol at specified milestones throughout the life of an investigation or child welfare case to help focus their decision-making to determine whether a child is safe or unsafe, and if unsafe, decide what actions must be taken to assure their safety. The current report examines CERAP use among placement cases in order to answer the following questions:

1. What is the compliance rate of CERAP assessment at each of the following milestones for placement cases:
• Within 5 working days after a worker receives a new or transferred case, when there are other children in the home of origin?
• Every 90 calendar days from the case opening date?
• Within 24 hours prior to return a child home?
• Within 5 working days after a child is returned home and every month thereafter until the family case is closed?
2. Do compliance rates vary by region?
3. What is the relationship between the safety decision of the CERAP completed every 90 calendar days from the case opening date and reunification date?

Yu-Ling Chiu

Most trajectory research related to crime focuses on males and studies the offending behaviors from childhood to adulthood. Only very few studies focus on developmental trajectories of female delinquency during adolescence. Given that increasing girls appear in the juvenile justice system, given that the offending behaviors of females and males are not identical, and given that insufficient empirical studies provides good foundation to design effective interventions for delinquent girls, it is important to understand girls' offending trajectories. In order to address the needs of different types of girls in the juvenile justice system and provide suggestions of informing practice, the current study aims to answer the questions concerning how girls' offending behaviors develop over time during adolescence.

CFRC

This annual report provides information on the performance of the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services with regard to the outcomes for children who are in or at risk of substitute care. This monitoring report, required as part of the B.H. Consent Decree, examines measures of child safety, family and placement stability, continuity, permanence, and child and family well-being. Detailed break-downs of each indicator by child gender, race, age, and geographic region are provided in the appendix.

Theodore P. Cross, Emmeline Chuang, Jesse J. Helton, and Emily A. Lux

This study analyzed the frequency and correlates of criminal investigation of child maltreatment in cases investigated by child protective service (CPS), using national probability data from the National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being. Criminal investigations were conducted in slightly more than 25% of cases. Communities varied substantially in percentage criminally investigated. Sexual abuse was the most frequent type of maltreatment criminally investigated followed by physical abuse. Logistic regression results indicated that criminal investigations were more likely when caseworkers perceived greater harm and more evidence; when CPS conducted an investigation rather than an assessment; when a parent or a legal guardian reported themaltreatment; and when cases were located in communities in which CPS and police had a memorandum of understanding (MOU) governing coordination. Most variation between communities in criminal investigation remained unexplained. The findings suggest the potential of MOUs for communities wanting to increase criminal investigation.

Cross, T.P., Chuang, E., Helton, J.J. & Lux, E.A. (2015). Criminal investigation in child protective services cases: An empirical analysis. Child Maltreatment, 20, 104-114.

Theodore Cross, Megan Alderden, Alex Wagner, Lisa Sampson, Brittany Peters, Kaitlin Lounsbury, Laura Siller

The use of forensic evidence in sexual assault cases is prominent in TV crime dramas, but no studies have examined how prosecutors actually use forensic evidence in these cases and what impact it has in trials. This presentation provides preliminary qualitative results from a mixed methods study of the role of forensic evidence in sexual assault cases in an urban district attorney's office. Assistant district attorneys were interviewed about their experience in using forensic evidence on sexual assault and their observations about when and how it can be employed to effectively prosecute these crimes. They reported that forensic evidence can be effective in a variety of ways as part of a prosecution strategy with multiple forms of evidence.

Saijun Zhang, Hui Huang, and Meirong Liu

Substance abuse has been a serious problem among families involved in child welfare systems. Much effort has been devoted to improve caregivers' engagement and retention in substance abuse treatment programs for better child welfare outcomes, but there is a lack of systematic review to synthesize the effects of these programs. The current study identifies 7 studies and applies meta-analysis technique to examine, compare, and synthesize the program effects. The pooled sample consists of 2,876 subjects in the experimental groups, and 1,711 subjects in the control groups. The analysis generates a synthesized odds ratio of 2.29 (z=4.77. p<.0001), suggesting that on average, the odds for experimental groups to have the favorable outcome is 2.29 times as that for the control groups. This paper was presented at the 60th Annual Program Meeting of Council on Social Work Education in Tampa, FL.

Theodore P. Cross, Megan Alderden, Alexander Wagner, Lisa Sampson, Brittany Peters, Meredith Spencer, and Kaitlin Lounsbury

Biological evidence like DNA can be central to the investigation and prosecution of sexual assault, as can evaluation and documentation of injuries. But data are lacking on the actual impact of these forms of forensic evidence on the criminal justice system. Through a grant from the National Institute of Justice (NIJ), CFRC researcher Theodore Cross headed a team that examined the frequency and timing of forensic evidence and its relationship to arrest in a statewide sample of cases. Most arrests took place well before crime laboratory analysis could be conducted, but DNA profiles and matches to suspects were prominent in a small set of cases in which police had access to crime laboratory results prior to arrest. The final report to NIJ that we link to here highlights these results and many others on how often and when forensic evidence is available is a wide array of different types of sexual assault cases.

Alexander Wagner, Theodore Cross, Megan Alderden, Lisa Sampson, Brittany Peters, and Meredith Spencer

Promising methods have emerged in the last tweny years for using DNA and other biological evidence in the investigation and prosecution of sexual assault, but there is little research on how often this type of evidence is available and what role it plays in the criminal justice response to sexual research. This presentation to the Massachusetts Association of Crime Analysts is one of a series reporting findings from of a National Institute Justice-funded study on the frequeny, use and impact of forensic evidence in criminal investigations of sexual assault. Results suggests that biological evidence and DNA does not play a role in the vast majority of arrests, which are typically made soon after the incident. But DNA is very prominent in a small number of cases in which arrests are made later, after crime laboratory analysis has been conducted.

Theodore Cross, Betsy Goulet, Jesse Helton, Emily Lux, and Tamara Fuller

Individuals considering reporting child maltreatment to protective services would naturally consider what would result from the report for the child and family. This could affect both their opinion about the value of reporting and their decision to report. This presentation profiles outcomes of reporting and considers the implications for understanding and improving the reporting situation. It briefly reviews research on the frequency and predictors of five different decisions: screening out, substantiation, CPS service delivery, child placement and providing differential response Then, using new analysis of national data, we profile the different decisions that are likely to be made for a hypothetical 100 cases. Findings suggest how modest the protective service response is in most cases, how much communities differ in outcomes of reporting, how much of a difference case factors like child age make, and how resources affect the profile of outcomes. Finally, this presentation discusses how understanding what outcomes of reporting are likely and what factors affect these outcomes could influence policy, practice and training regarding reporting.

John Fluke, Lisa Merkel-Holguin, Ying-ying Yuan, and Tamara Fuller

Presented at the 16th annual child welfare waiver demonstration project meeting in July 2014, this presentation highlights the status of Differential Response (DR) implementation in the U.S.; summarizes the results of the "first generation" of DR evaluation research on key indicators including parent engagement with CPS, child safety, and program costs; and suggests areas for the next generation of DR research.

Tamara Fuller, Theodore Cross, Vaughn Brandt, and Colleen McGroarty

As part of their Title IV-E waiver demonstration project, the Wisconsin Department of Children and Families (DCF) was interested in developing a way to target post-reunification services to those families that were at highest risk of re-entry into substitute care. The CFRC used historical data to develop a predictive risk model, known as the Re-entry Prevention Model (RPM) that was implemented in each county that was part of the waiver demonstration project. The CFRC and DCF gave an overview of the RPM development and implementation process at the 16th annual child welfare waiver demonstration projects meeting, including a discussion of the lessons learned.

Tamara Fuller and Martin Nieto

The Child Endangerment Risk Assessment Protocol (CERAP) is a safety assessment protocol used in child protection investigations and child welfare services in Illinois. It is designed to provide workers with a mechanism for quickly assessing the potential for moderate to severe harm to a child in the immediate or near future and for taking quick action to protect children. Workers utilize the protocol at specified milestones throughout the life of an investigation or child welfare case to help focus their decision-making to determine whether a child is safe or unsafe, and if unsafe, decide what actions must be taken to assure their safety.

Tamara Fuller, Raquel Ellis, and Julie Murphy

Jurisdictions across the country have adopted dual-track systems and there has been increasing focus on building the evidence base around this innovative approach to CPS services. In 2009, Colorado, Illinois and Ohio were selected by the National Quality Improvement Center on Differential Response in Child Protective Services (QIC-DR) to implement Differential Response and conduct rigorous, multi-year evaluations of their DR approaches. During this panel, evaluators from the three sites will discuss highlights from the outcome evaluations, focusing on outcomes related to parent perceptions of CPS and child safety. An interactive discussion of the implications of the findings for practice and future research will follow.

Eun Koh, Nancy Rolock, Theodore P. Cross & Jennifer Eblen-Manning

This study investigates what characteristics explain placement instability for children in foster care. Using a matched sample of children experiencing stable and unstable placements, bivariate and logistic regression analyses were conducted to identify factors for placement instability. The study also examines specific reasons for placement changes for a group of children who experienced multiple placements. Findings from this study highlight the following three components that contribute to placement stability for children in foster care: a) a caregiver's commitment to a child's legal permanence; b) the absence of a child's mental health diagnosis; and c) placements with a relative caregiver. The findings of the study also illustrate that while system- or policy-related reasons explain the largest proportion of placement changes for children's earlier stay in foster care, a majority of placement changes are attributed to either foster family-related or child behavior-related reasons over time. This is a companion article to Cross and colleagues (2013) publication, Why Do Children Experience Multiple Placement Changes in Foster Care? A Content Analysis on Reasons for Instability, which is cited elsewhere in this listing of publications.

Koh, E., Rolock, N., Cross, T.P., & Eblen-Manning, J. (2014). What explains instability in foster care? Comparison of a matched sample of children with stable and unstable placements. Children and Youth Services Review, 37, 36-45.

Judy Havlicek

Little is known about the maltreatment experiences of youth who age out of substitute care. Their late age at entry and failed attempts at reunification may nevertheless mean prolonged exposure to child maltreatment. This study involves a secondary data analysis of state child welfare administrative data. A latent variable modeling approach is used to generate profiles of maltreatment experiences based on maltreatment reports (McCutcheon, 1987). A cohort of foster youth who reached the age of majority is selected from state administrative data based upon the following criteria: 1) In out-of-home care at age 17; 2) In care for at least 1-year; 3) Turned 18-years in out-of-home care; and 4) Entered due to child abuse/neglect. There are 801 foster youth that meet sample selection criteria, and the observation period is from FY1989-2011. All unduplicated maltreatment records are included in the analysis, including substantiated and unsubstantiated findings, and records occurring prior to and during any placement spell. Four categorical indicators of maltreatment are included in the LCA: # of different maltreatment types (1-7); Predominant type (1-3); Chronicity (1-5 developmental periods); and Number of different perpetrators (1-9). Classes are differentiated on variables not used in the classification process. Analysis of the model fit statistics and visual inspection identify a 4-class model as the best fitting solution. Study findings highlight the heterogeneity of maltreatment experiences in the lives of foster youth emancipating to adulthood from one state child welfare system. Study findings draw attention to the need to raise awareness among service providers about childhood maltreatment in older youth; to enhance research on the multiple dimensionality of maltreatment; and to develop best practices for promoting the safety of older adolescents who are without permanence. This study will be published in Child Maltreatment's upcoming special issue on emerging adulthood.

Judy Havlicek and Clark Peters

Three decades of research indicates that foster youth aging out of care are poorly prepared to make the transition to adulthood (Courtney et al., 2001; Courtney et al., 2003). They are twice as likely to be ?disconnected? from employment and education (Courtney & Dworsky, 2006), and six times more likely to experience homelessness than same-aged youth in the general population (Fowler et al., 2010). Research also suggests that foster youth who remain in substitute care past the age of majority tend to fare better than those who do not. At age 19, they are more likely to be enrolled in college (Courtney & Dworsky, 2006), to receive a mental health service (Courtney et al. 2006), and to avoid homelessness (Dworsky & Courtney, 2009). Understanding who stays and who leaves has important implications for ensuring that critical protections during the transition to adulthood reach those who are in need. The goal of this study is to examine how long young adults remain in substitute care, and the factors related to increased or decreased time to exit from care. This study involves a secondary data analysis of state child welfare administrative data. The sample includes a cohort of young people who turned 18 while in out-of-home care, who were: (1) in out-of-home care at age 17; (2) in care for at least 1year; and (3) entered substitute care due to child abuse or neglect. The outcome of interest is the first exit from substitute care that occurs past age 18. The analyses focus on the timing of exits from substitute care.

CFRC

This annual report provides information on the performance of the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services with regard to the outcomes for children who are in or at risk of substitute care. This monitoring report, required as part of the B.H. Consent Decree, examines measures of child safety, family and placement stability, continuity, permanence, and child and family well-being. Detailed break-downs of each indicator by child gender, race, age, and geographic region are provided in the appendix.

Tamara Fuller, Megan Paceley, and Jill Schreiber

Many Child Protective Services (CPS) systems have implemented Differential Response (DR) in efforts to improve child and family outcomes by providing a wider array of concrete and preventative services with a less adversarial and more supportive approach. Quantitative survey data confirms that parents who receive DR services are more engaged, receive more concrete services, and have higher overall satisfaction than those who receive a traditional investigation; yet we still have little knowledge of what occurs inside the “black box” of service provision. This qualitative study provided an in-depth analysis of parents’ perspectives of the effectiveness of the services they received through a non-investigative CPS approach.

Theodore P. Cross, Megan Alderden, Alex Wagner, A., Daniel Bibel, Lisa Sampson, Brittany Peters, Saijun Zhang, and Meridith Spencer

This presentation reports on a study of the relationship between injury evidence and crime laboratory evidence and police unfounding and arrest in a statewide sample of Massachusetts sexual assault csaes. Most arrests took place rapidly--before crime laboratory analysis was conducted, but in the small number of cases in which arrests took place afterwards DNA evidence was common--suggesting the importance of DNA when probable cause cannot immediately be established. Arrests were more likely when there were injuries, though the causal relationship is unclear. Additional predictors of unfounding and arrest were identified.

Tamara Fuller, Martin Nieto, and Saijun Zhang

In December 2009, the State of Illinois was selected by the National Quality Improvement Center on Differential Response in Child Protective Services (QIC-DR) as one of three sites to implement and evaluate Differential Response (DR). This report presents the final findings of the outcome evaluation and cost analysis, which compared the newly implemented family assessment child protective services (CPS) response (known as "DR" in Illinois) to the traditional investigation response to answer three research questions: 1) How is the assessment response different from the investigation response in terms of family engagement, caseworker practice, and services provided? 2) Are children whose families receive an assessment response as safe as or safer than children whose families receive an investigation? 3) What are the cost and funding implications to the child protection agency of the implementation and maintenance of a differential response approach? The report provides an overview of the development and proliferation of Differential Response over the past two decades, summarizes previous research, and provides descriptions of both the traditional investigation response (IR) and the new differential response (DR). A description of the research design and data collection instruments is offered. Findings are presented that compare the two CPS responses (IR and DR) with regard to parent engagement and satisfaction; service provision; child safety and family well-being; and costs per-case.

Ted Cross, Joan Meunier-Sham, and L. Zuniga

This article describes a systematic approach used by a statewide pediatric sexual assault nurse examiner program to ensure the quality of forensic medical examinations it provides in child sexual abuse investigations. Seven strategies for enhancing quality are described: (a) hiring experienced professionals, (b) effective training, (c) comprehensive protocols, (d) ample support for pediatric sexual assault nurses, (e) management oversight, (f) a clinical coordinator to provide ongoing training and technical assistance, and (g) a quality assurance process in which expert child abuse pediatricians review each statewide pediatric sexual assault nurse examination. To show the evolution of quality care over time, the program's experience from 2004 to 2010 is reviewed, and quality assurance data are analyzed.

Sham, J.M., Cross, T.P. & Zuniga, L. (2013). The seven pillars of quality care in a statewide pediatric sexual assault nurse examiner program. Journal of Child Sexual Abuse, 22,722-739.

Jesse Helton and Ted Cross

This report provides a comprehensive look at the well-being of children involved with the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) 18 months following the close of a substantiated investigation of maltreatment. It reports results from the Illinois Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being (ISCAW), a statewide study of children in substantiated investigations that examines multiple domains of child well-being, including physical health, mental health, and developmental risk.

Saijun Zhang, Tamara Fuller, and Martin Nieto

In child protection services, multiple maltreatment recurrences, or chronic maltreatment, has been a concern drawing increased attention because of its persistent harm to the children and the need to consider more ef- fective intervention strategies to meet its unique needs. Timing has been an important issue in understanding the pattern of chronic maltreatment. No existing research has examined the influence of the interval between previous maltreatment incidents on future recurrences. The current study uses state administrative data to conduct longitudinal analyses to examine how the interval between previous maltreatment incidents is asso- ciated with the likelihood of future maltreatment occurrence among children who encountered multiple maltreatment recurrences. The findings suggest that short intervals are associated with increased likelihood of encountering a future recurrence, while controlling various covariates. The findings suggest the possibility of including the interval between previous maltreatment incidents as an indicator for child maltreatment risk assessment, and the need for developing responsive intervention strategies to stop the trend of chronic maltreatment.

Zhang, S., Fuller, T., & Nieto, M (2013). Didn't we just see you? Time to recurrence among frequently encountered families in CPS. Children and Youth Services Review, 35, 883–889.

Theodore Cross, Eun Koh, Nancy Rolock & Jennifer Eblen-Manning

This study used content analysis and qualitative analysis to examine reasons for moves in 53 child welfare cases with placement instability. Coding from case records of reasons for placement moves revealed three categories in most cases: 1) caregiver-related reasons, such as maltreatment by caregivers or changes in caregivers' lives; 2) child behavior-related reasons such as aggressive behaviors; and 3) system- or policy-related reasons, such as the need to use temporary placements or the aim of placing children with siblings. Children's previous instability should be considered in choosing and supporting caregivers, providing mental health resources, and considering moves to improve care.

Theodore Cross, Eun Koh, Nancy Rolock & Jennifer Eblen-Manning (2013). Why do children experience multiple placement changes in foster care? Content analysis on reasons for instability. Journal of Public Child Welfare, 7, 39-58.

Jill Schreiber, Tamara Fuller, and Megan Paceley

Recent reforms in child protection systems (CPS) in several countries have placed an increased emphasis on engaging parents in the initial assessment and service planning process. CPS workers, however, face multiple barriers to successful engagement with parents, including parents' preconceived notions of CPS and their subsequent fearful or angry responses to the initial visit. This qualitative study sought input from 40 parents involved in CPS regarding the strategies that workers used to successfully engage them in the child protection intervention. Three major themes about worker skills emerged from the analysis of the interview transcripts: parents were more positively engaged with CPS workers who they perceived as competent, who utilized positive communication skills, and who provided them with either emotional or concrete support. These findings have clear implications for CPS worker training; especially for CPS agencies that do not require CPS workers to have social work degrees. Additional implications for CPS agencies, such as the need for realistic worker caseloads and effective community outreach, are discussed.

Schreiber, J., Fuller, T., & Paceley, M. (2013). Engagement in child protective services: Parent perceptions of worker skills. Children and Youth Services Review, 35, 707–715.

Jesse J. Helton & Janet Liechty

No study to date has examined the prevalence of obesity in a nationally representative sample of children who were part of a Child Protective Services (CPS) investigation for abuse and neglect. Further, no study has been able to examine differences in obesity risk by child and family demographics and maltreatment case characteristics. Therefore the purpose of this study is to (1) determine the prevalence and correlates of obesity among children investigated for abuse and neglect in the U.S. and (2) examine associations between obesity, child race/ethnicity and family material hardship, history of a prior investigation, type of alleged maltreatment, and credibility of allegation by child sex and developmental age.

Jesse J. Helton and Theodore P. Cross

Children entering foster care are at high risk for chronic physical, developmental, and psychological conditions requiring intensive health and rehabilitative services. Even though Medicaid covers all children in foster care, research shows that many children with chronic health conditions (CCHC) do not receive the necessary specialized or primary care services they require. CCHC with kin caregivers may be at a particular disadvantage, according to previous studies. This study assesses health care utilization for CCHC and those without in a large sample of children entering either kinship or traditional placements.

Saijun Zhang, Tamara Fuller

Chronic child maltreatment, which typically refers to three and more maltreatment incidents associated with a child or family, has gained increasing concerns because of its persistent harm to the children and its disproportional consumption of child welfare resources. Using data from the Illinois child welfare administrative dataset, the study analyzed 2,781 children who had at least two re-reports of child abuse and neglect during the two year observational period from July 1st 2009 to June 30th 2011. The two year period was divided into four 6-month consecutive observation sessions. Maltreatment reports were summed within each session for each child, which yielded a repeated measure of maltreatment count every 6 months. Mplus 7 was used for the Latent Growth Curve Modeling estimation. The results show a declining slope (change rate) of maltreatment counts over time, and identify a series of covariates affecting the slope. The findings have useful implication for child welfare policy and practice concerning chronic maltreatment issues.

Jiyoung Kang

The purpose of this study was to test pathways from perceived instrumental social support to neglectful parenting with two mediating variables -- material hardship and personal control. I used a subsample of mothers (n=2,910) who participated in the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing study (FFCW) from the birth of their children through age 5. The model fits the data well and the findings supported the proposed pathways among variables. Perceived instrumental social support decreased material hardship and increased personal control. Decreased material hardship and increased personal control in turn decreased neglectful parenting. Decreased material hardship also increased personal control. The study's findings contribute to the design and evaluation of social support prevention programs for child neglect.

Emmeline Chuang, Rebecca Wells, John Bellettiere and Theodore P. Cross

Parental substance use significantly increases risk of child maltreatment, but is often under-identified by child protective services. This study examined how agency use of standardized substance use assessments and child welfare investigative caseworker education, experience, and caseload affected caseworkers' identification of parental substance abuse treatment needs. Data are from a national probability sample of permanent, primary caregivers involved with child protective services whose children initially remained at home and whose confidential responses on two validated instruments indicated harmful substance use or dependence. Investigative caseworkers reported use of a formal assessment in over two thirds of cases in which substance use was accurately identified. However, weighted logistic regression indicated that agency provision of standardized assessment instruments was not associated with caseworker identification of caregiver needs. Caseworkers were also less likely to identify substance abuse when their caseloads were high and when caregivers were fathers. Implications for agency practice are discussed.

Chuang, E., Wells, R., Bellettiere, J. & Cross, T.P. (2013). Identifying the substance abuse treatment needs of caregivers involved in child welfare. Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment, 45, 118-125.

SaiJun Zhang & Tamara Fuller

A large proportion of children live apart from their fathers among unwed birth families. Lack of paternal involvement has been shown to have a negative impact on child development, and federal and state programs have been initiated to improve paternal engagement among families without a resident father. It is important to understand factors that hamper or promote paternal engagement. This study explores the influence of neighborhood environment on paternal engagement beyond individual and family characteristics, and compares the difference between resident father families and nonresident father families.

Theodore P. Cross, Joan Meunier-Sham and Cynthia L. Moore

This brief presents data on statewide implementation of the Massachusetts Pediatric Sexual Assault Evidence Collection Kit, a specially designed non-invasive kit for victims of child sexual abuse receiving acute forensic medical examinations. The kit yielded biological evidence in 33% of 283 cases, a rate that was comparable or higher than previous studies using traditional, more invasive methods.

Tamara Fuller, Raquel Ellis, Julie Murphy, and Marc Winokur

Family perspectives are often overlooked when data is collected in child welfare proigram evaluations. To elicit the family voice from caregivers involved with Child Protective Services in Differential Response systems in Illinois, Colorado, and Ohio, the evaluators designed and administered a family exit survey. This presentation, given at the 7th Annual Conference on Differential Response in Child Welfare, describes the instrument development process and presents preliminary findings. The presentation also focuses on special considerations when collecting data from child welfare populations, including the importance of cognitive testing and strategies for enhancing response rates. Finally, results of a qualitative study with families conducted in Illinois are presented.

Yu-Ling Chiu

Onset age of first offending is known to be an important predictor for chronic offenders. I include both females and males and examine whether onset age has different impacts on the continuation of offending. I use administrative records from child welfare and juvenile justice in the State of Washington. The sample consists of 13,521 first time offenders between 8and 16 years of age in 2005. Onset age was categorized as early onset age (age 13 and under), and late onset age (age 14-16). I conduct multinomial regression for the whole sample, female subsample, and male subsample respectively. For the whole sample, the multinomial regression shows that, being male (63%), being African American(10%) or Hispanic (7%), and being dually involved youth (17%) are associated with a greater risk of multiple re-offenses. Late onset age is associated greater risks of re-offenses. The results of female and male subsamples do show that onset age has different impacts on continuing. Female youths at the early onset age are found to be 1.5 times more likely to be persistent offenders; while male youths at the late onset criminal age are found to be 1.3 times more likely to be persistent offenders.

Yu-Ling Chiu

Female youth are increasingly visible in the juvenile justice system and some evidence suggests maltreatment may be a particularly important precursor to girls’ delinquency. The current study addresses what factors contribute to the transition from child welfare to juvenile justice. Methods: I analyzed juvenile arrests and child protection records in Los Angeles County between 2000 and 2008. I use event history analysis to answer the research question. The models indicate African American girls are at greatest risk relative to both white and Hispanic girls. Girls with a history of neglect are 1.5 times as likely to experience a juvenile arrest as compared with girls with sexual abuse histories. Regarding placement types, girls primarily placed in a non relative foster home (Exp(β)=.589, p<.01) or a relative foster home (Exp(β)=.445, p<.01) were significantly less likely to enter the juvenile justice system as compared with similar girls primarily placed in congregate care facilities. Placement instability increases the risk of juvenile arrest. Juvenile courts must tailor different services for girls simultaneously involved in both the child welfare and juvenile justice systems for their unique needs.

Hui Huang

The association between child maltreatment and juvenile delinquency is well-established. A number of studies show that youths with maltreatment experience have higher delinquency rates than their peers. Many maltreatment victims receive child welfare services. However, several studies show that child welfare services are associated with higher rates of first time offending and recidivism. Studies report that placement instability in substitute care and staying in congregate placement (e.g. group home) contribute to higher rates of first time offending. Little research has examined whether child welfare system’s response to returning delinquent wards is associated with higher rates of recidivism. Informed by deviant peer influences in congregate care, I hypothesize that placing delinquent cases from family-like settings in congregate care is associated with higher rates of recidivism. I use administrative records from the Los Angeles County Department of Probation and the Department of Children and Family Services. I studied a sample of 5,630 first time violent offenders who were put on probation or dismissed. Thirty-three percent of them recidivated within two years. Using logistic regression, I find that placing delinquent wards in congregate care was associated with higher rates of recidivism. Results highlight potential mechanisms through which child welfare services affect recidivism.

Megan Alderden, Theodore P. Cross, Alexander Wagner, Daniel Bibel, Marjorie Bernadeau, Lisa Sampson, Saijun Zhang, Kaitlin Lounsbury and Brittany Peters

This presentation reports preliminary results from a study of forensic evidence in 587 adult sexual assault cases (victim age 12 and older) seen by medical providers in Massachusetts from 2008 to 2010.Non-genital injuries were found in 53% of victims, genital injuries in 41.1% of victims, and biological evidence in 86.9% of cases (the last included semen, blood, a saliva enzyme and/or other biological evidence). Over two thirds of medical examinations were conducted by nurses from the statewide Sexual Assault Nurse Examiners (SANE) program, who are specially trained to conduct forensic medical examinations in sexual assault cases, and less than one-third by other medical providers, primarily emergency department physicians. Black and Hispanic victims were significantly less likely to have non-genital injuries identified, which may relate to the contrast in color between the injury and skin. SANE nurses were significantly more likely to identify genital injuries; there was no significant difference on non-genital injuries. In 40.9% of cases in which some biological evidence was found, the crime labs were able to extract a DNA profile. In 37.9% of the cases with DNA profiles generated, the DNA matched the suspect in the case, in 8.3% the DNA matched the DNA in another investigation in a national DNA database, and in 17.5% the DNA matched a convicted offender in that database. There were no significant differences between SANE nurses and other medical providers on likelihood of forensic evidence, even though the SANEs, whose philosophy stresses empowering patient choices, were significantly less likely to use certain procedures such as pubic hair combings.

Jill Schreiber

Child maltreatment is a societal trauma that affects the child, the family, and the community. Although faith can provide social and community supports as well as coping mechanisms for families in trauma, few studies have explored religious measures with this population. In this paper we present nationally representative demographic data on religious attendance of child welfare-involved youth and caregivers using the National Study of Child and Adolescent Well-Being (NSCAW II). Parents investigated for maltreatment have low religious attendance: Only 21% attend weekly, whereas 36% of kin (related) foster parents and 61% of non-kin attend religious services weekly. The strongest predictors of youth religious attendance were parent attendance and whether youth attended with their parent. Moving between a biological family and a foster family predicts decreases in youth weekly attendance, but remaining at the same home or moving from one foster home to another is not correlated with a decrease in weekly attendance. No factors were correlated with an increase in weekly attendance in this sample.

Joan Meunier-Sham, Theodore Cross, and Cynthia Moore

This presentation reports research on Massachusetts Pediatric Forensic Evidence Collection Kit, the first evidence kit in the country specially created to collect forensic medical evidence in acute child sexual assault cases. The kit is designed to follow a set of "first do no harm" principles that make use of the kit less invasive and more supportive of children than traditional methods of medical examination. Statistical results are presented that show that the kits yield biological evidence following crime lab analysis at rates that are comparable to previous studies even while following the "do no harm" principles.

Joseph P. Ryan and Hui Huang

This report presents findings from Illinois Department of Children and Family Services Title IV-E Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse (AODA) Waiver Demonstration. Implemented in 2000, the AODA waiver randomly assigned substance-involved parents with children in substitute care to either a control group (services as usual) or a treatment group (services as usual plus the services of a recovery coach). Results indicate the parents assigned to the recovery coach group are more likely to achieve family reunification as compared to parents assigned to the control group. In addition, children in the treatment group spent significantly fewer days in foster care as compared to children in the control group. It is estimated that the waiver demonstration saved the State of Illinois at least $6,141,925 through March 2012.

Theodore Cross, Jesse Helton, and Emmeline Chuang

Some advocates argue that police too rarely conduct criminal investigations in Child Protective Services sexual abuse cases, while policy regarding police involvement in CPS physical abuse and neglect cases is not well developed. However, little research has examined how often police investigate in CPS cases and what factors predict involvement. Using two cohorts of cases (1999-2001 and 2008-2009) from the National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being, a national probability study of children involved in CPS investigations, this presentation examines the frequency of criminal investigations in CPS cases and the factors predicting criminal investigation. Across cohorts, criminal investigations took place in 21% to 24% of all cases, 47% to 49% of sexual abuse cases, 24% to 27% of physical abuse cases and 15% to 18% of neglect cases. Police investigated more often when caseworkers reported greater risk and harm to the child and greater evidence, but variables like child age and relationship to perpetrator were not significant. Which county was involved, however, was a major predictor, with enormous variation in rates of police investigation across counties. Thus the likelihood of a criminal investigation depends on severity but also agency differences in practice. Equity suggests the need to discuss these differences.

Theodore Cross

This day-long workshop presents a more comprehensive overview of 25 years of research on the criminal justice response to child maltreatment. Topics include the progress of child abuse cases through the criminal justice system, the effect of multidisciplinary teams, the impact of the court experience and testifying on child victims, factors associated with prosecution, and research on evidence and offender confession.

Jesse Helton, Theodore Cross and Tatiana Gochez-Kerr

Although studies have shown that children with disabilities are at an increased risk for both intrafamilial maltreatment and extrafamilial victimization, few examine how specific forms of disability and level of impairment predict risk, and most examine only one type of victimization. This study examines the association between levels of social abilities, everyday living skills, and internalizing and externalizing behaviors and the prevalence of single or multiple types of victimization. The analysis used baseline and 18 month follow-up data for youth ages 8 to 17 in a longitudinal national probability study of children involved in maltreatment investigations in 2008. Youth with very severe impairments in living skills were at a decreased risk of both single and multiple victimizations than low to normal functioning peers. Youth with very severe internalizing problems were at an increased risk of a single type of victimization – either sexual abuse or neglect - than low to normal functioning peers. Youth with very severe to severe externalizing problems were at an increased risk of a single type of victimization – sexual abuse, neglect, or assault - than normal functioning peers. Presenters will discuss plausible explanations of why children at different levels of these types of functionality may be more or less likely to experience single or multiple forms of victimizations.

Theodore P. Cross, Jesse J. Helton, Sandra Lyons & Judy Havlicek

Young child maltreatment victims are extremely vulnerable to compromised development. Using the National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being, this presentation reports Illinois and national research on developmental challenges for child victims age 0 to 5 and on interventions to address developmental lags. Large proportions of these children show delays in cognitive and language development. Gaps exist in providing early intervention, though children in foster care are more likely to receive it.Obstacles to identifying children with developmental need, referring them to early intervention (EI), and providing EI services limit the number of children receiving help and the positive impact of their involvement with EI. However, a large majority of Illinois substantiated child victims are enrolled in early child education programs, significantly more than in the rest of the country.

Jesse Helton and April Diaz

The purpose of this research brief is to examine the use of community food services (such as food pantries and soup kitchens) and state-provided food assistance programs among families involved in child welfare investigations in Illinois. The percentage of families in substantiated investigations in Illinois that use community food service and food assistance programs is compared to the percentage of these households that are eligible for assistance.

Sandra J. Lyons, Theodore P. Cross, & Jesse J. Helton

Children from birth to age 3 are particularly vulnerable to adverse effects of child maltreatment on their development. This research brief reports findings from the Illinois Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being (ISCAW) concerning the well-being of infants and toddlers in substantiated maltreatment cases in Illinois. Disproportionate percentages live in poverty, experience risk factors like domestic violence and caregiver substance abuse, and have special health care needs. Standardized measures of child development used by ISCAW show that many are at risk for development delays. Programs such as DCFS’ Integrated Assessment Program and Early Childhood Placement Family Services Program that provide developmental screening and consultations and referrals on early childhood issues are critical to meeting the developmental needs of young children involved with DCFS.

Jill Schreiber and Theodore Cross

Maltreated children are more likely to attend religious services when their caregivers (including foster parents) attend religious services. Maltreating parents are less likely to attend religious services than foster parents, so it is likely that in addition to changes in their home and school, children entering foster care will also be experiencing changes in how often they attend religious services

Theodore Cross

This 90 minute workshop presents a brief overview of 25 years of research on the criminal justice response to child abuse. Topics include the progress of child abuse cases through the criminal justice system, the effect of multidisciplinary teams, the impact of the court experience and testifying on child victims, factors associated with prosecution, and research on evidence and offender confession.

Theodore Cross and Jesse Helton

This report provides results from the Illinois Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being (ISCAW), an intensive study of the well-being of a random sample of 818 Illinois children involved in substantiated child maltreatment investigations. The study is a component of the National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being (NSCAW). Using data from interviews and standardized instruments used with caseworkers, caregivers, teachers and children themselves, ISCAW provides a broad profile on how child and youth victims function, how they are developing, and what services they receive. Chapters review child and adolescent well-being and services in five domains: child development; education; physical health; social, emotional and behavioral well-being; and risk in children's environment. Disproportionate percentages of children in each domain have significant problems needing intervention, but many children are resilient as well. Although many children receive services to address these problems, there is frequently a gap between the services needed and those delivered.

Jesse Helton

The objective of this presentation is to estimate the risk that a child place in out-of-home foster care following a maltreatment investigation will encounter times when adequate food is unavailable. The sample is derived from the National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-being Cohort 2 (NSCAW 2), which is a study of children who have come into contact with the child welfare system in 2008. The results indicate that 40% of kinship caregivers report receiving food stamps at the time of child placement, which is substantially higher rate compared to 7% of foster parents. Results also indicate that, regardless of placement type, being divorced, separated, or never married, having less than a high school degree, and having a lower family income were all associated with increased risk for food stamp receipt. Although there are many advantages to being placed with kin, children in kinship foster care are at a high risk of encountering times when adequate food is unavailable. These instances have the potential to seriously endanger a child’s already compromised health and may have implications for maltreatment recurrence.

Jesse Helton and April Diaz

Although the special health care needs of children entering foster care is a major concern, little is known about child obesity and the factors associated with its risk for this population. The objective of this poster is to estimate the rate of childhood obesity in a cohort of youth entering care in 2008 and the child, investigation, and environmental correlates associated with obesity. The National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-being Cohort 2 (NSCAW 2), a national study of children who have come into contact with the child welfare system, was used for this study. The results indicate that 21% of youth over the age of 1 in foster care, 28% in kinship care, and 37% in residential facilities are obese. Further, being African-American, sexually abused, and investigated in high poverty counties were all associated with higher rates of obesity. There were no gender or age differences, or differences in rates of obesity between children with and without severe emotional problems. These findings have significant implications for child well-being. Bearing in mind that poverty and child maltreatment are two leading causes of obesity, foster care providers and families will continue to disproportionately serve children who are obese.

Tamara Fuller and Martin Nieto

Despite their central importance in safety assessment and intervention, no research has examined the content of safety plans, or the relationship of safety plan type to investigation characteristics and investigation outcomes. The current study was conducted to answer the following questions: 1) Do safety plans include each of the elements that are required according to CERAP policy and procedures? Are some elements included more frequently than others? 2) What types of safety plans do workers develop during child protection investigations? 3) Do the safety plans developed by investigators vary by family or case characteristics? 4) Is there a relationship between the type of safety plan and child safety? The current evaluation provides an in-depth examination of safety plans written by Child Protective Services (CPS) investigators, develops a typology of the most commonly occurring safety plans, and examines the relationships between the safety plans and case characteristics as well as between safety plans and maltreatment recurrence.

Tamara Fuller

Presented at the 2012 Family Impact Seminar and Council on Contemporary Families (CCF) annual conference. As more and more states adopt Differential Response and other front-end child welfare system reforms, it is important to stay informed of the current evidence base for these practices. This presentation reviews the most recent evidence on the effectiveness of Differential response in relationship to: family engagement and satisfaction, service delivery, repeat maltreatment, family functioning and well-being, and cost-effectiveness. The importance of continued rigorous evaluation of Differential Response is emphasized.

Tamara Fuller, Kathleen Kearney, Sandra Lyons

This report summarizes information on the implementation of Differential Response (DR) in Illinois by the Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) as of July 1, 2011. The State of Illinois is one of three sites selected by the Quality Improvement Center on Differential Response in Child Protective Services (QIC-DR) to implement and evaluation a DR program, and the only one of the three to implement DR statewide. The Illinois Site Visit Report examines the exploration and adoption phases of DR implementation in Illinois; provides a detailed description of the DR program that was developed; presents findings on the fidelity of DR practice to the program described in policy and statute; and assesses the core competency and organizational drivers used in the first year of project development. Information for this report was collected through three primary methods: (1) document review, including legislation, rules, procedures, protocols, and contracts; (2) statewide focus groups with both workers and supervisors who provided DR services and conducted child protective investigations; and (3) individual interviews and a focus group with key informants critical to DR implementation and program development.

Tamara Fuller, Kathleen Kearney, Sandra Lyons

This executive summary provides a brief summary of the full Differential Response 2011 Site Visit Report. It includes an overview of the DR Program that was implemented statewide in Illinois on November 1, 2010. It also summarizes findings from the site visit data collection that occurred in June 2011. The Illinois Site Visit Report examines the exploration and adoption phases of DR implementation in Illinois; provides a detailed description of the DR program that was developed; presents findings on the fidelity of DR practice to the program described in policy and statute; and assesses the core competency and organizational drivers used in the first year of project development.

Theodore Cross, Ben Mathews, Lil Tonmyr, Debbie Scott and Catherine Ouimet

Children's exposure to domestic violence (EDV) has increasingly been considered a form of maltreatment. This article provides an overview of knowledge on the child welfare response to EDV, from research and program and policy development in Australia, Canada and the United States. Although EDV is underreported, almost half of caregivers in child maltreatment have experienced DV and more than a third of children in DV cases have witnessed it. Mandatory reporting has been tried in some jurisdictions, but can lead to inappropriate reports, strain on the child welfare system, and an insufficient response if not matched by adequate training and service availability. Improved child welfare response to EDV has involved increased collaboration and training, protocol development and dedicated EDV staffing. New initiatives have embedded the response to EDV within broader programs to protect children from violence. Differential response programs hold promise for addressing EDV.

Cross, T.P., Mathews, B., Tonmyr, L., Scott, D. & Ouimet, C. (2012). Child welfare policy and practice on children's exposure to domestic violence. Child Abuse & Neglect, 36, 210-216.

Kathleen A. Kearney and Mary Hollie

This presentation discusses the critical role collaboration places in the success of performance-based contracting. Information about how the State of Illinois developed goals and specific performance measures for residential care is presented with an emphasis on the impact in private sector agencies. The lessons learned from the first three years of implementation are shared. Presented at the Alliance for Children and Families' Senior Leadership Conference, New Orleans, Louisiana, February 27, 2012

Theodore Cross, Janet Fine, Lisa Jones and Wendy Walsh

Children's Advocacy Centers (CACs) are specialized multidisciplinary programs that respond to child abuse in over 700 communities across the U.S. This article is a response to two recent chapters in professional books that have criticized CACs for creating role conflict for mental health professionals, because of their work with criminal justice and child protection professionals in CACs as part of a coordinated response to child abuse. The article argues that these authors overestimate the risk of role conflict. CACs set a boundary between forensic interviewing and therapy. Many mental health professionals in CACs serve as consultants with no clinical responsibility and all are rarely involved in investigation. Participation in multidisciplinary teams focuses on children’s interests and well-being.

Cross, T.P., Fine, J., Jones, L.M. & Walsh, W.A. (2012). Mental health professionals in children’s advocacy centers: Is there role conflict? Journal of Child Sexual Abuse, 21, 91-108.

Wendy Walsh, Theodore Cross and Lisa Jones

This study examined factors explaining parental doubt and blame of their child in 161 child sexual abuse cases. Parental blame and doubt was higher when youths were older, when youths were Black and non-Hispanic, and when alleged perpetrators were adolescents (versus adults). Practitioners need to recognize that adolescent victims may be at risk for parental doubt and blame, as may be victims of adolescent perpetrators.

Walsh, W.A., Cross, T.P. & Jones, L.M. (2012). Do parents blame or doubt their child more when sexually abused by adolescents versus adults?. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 27, 453-470.

Saijun Zhang & Mary K. Eamon

This brief reports on a study that shows how community violence is related to aggressive parenting which in turn is linked to children's aggressive behavior. In a sample of 2,247 mothers of 5 year olds, one-third of the effect of community violence on children's aggressive behavior was explained by the fact that mothers exposed to this violence were more aggressive in their parenting with children. Steps to address the effect of community violence are discussed.

CFRC

This brief reports results of a survey of parents who had adopted children through DCFS about their families' service needs and financial situation post-adoption, and about the adoption subsidies they received. Most families obtained the services they need, but some service needs were unmet. Most families were limited financially, and for some, the subsidy was their primary source of income. Most families thought the subsidy was inadequate to meet their child's needs.

CFRC

Increasing the number of children placed in a single foster home is an understandable response to a shortage of foster care providers, but may stress both children and families, heightening the risk that children will need to be moved to a different foster home or will run away. In this report of an analysis of Illinois DCFS administrative data, the number of unrelated children in the home was significantly related to the risk of placement disruption and running away. However, the number of siblings living together in a foster home had no effect on the risk of disruption and actually was related to a lower risk of running away.

Saijun Zhang and Tamara Fuller

Using a sample of 1592 unmarried mothers from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study (FFCW), this study examines whether neighborhood dysfunction affects family structure transition and maternal stress, and whether these two factors subsequently affect paternal engagement. The structural equation modeling estimation indicates that (1) neighborhood dysfunction is negatively associated with family structure upward transition, but is positively associated with maternal stress; (2) family structure upward transition is positively associated with father engagement, but maternal stress is negatively associated with father engagement.

CFRC

This annual report provides information on the performance of the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services with regard to the outcomes for children who are in or at risk of substitute care. This monitoring report, required as part of the B.H. Consent Decree, examines measures of child safety, family and placement stability, continuity, permanence, and child and family well-being. Detailed break-downs of each indicator by child gender, race, age, and geographic region are provided in the appendix.

Tamara L. Fuller and Martin Nieto

This research brief summarizes the results of an evaluation of the use of a safety assessment instrument, known as the Child Endangerment Risk Assessment Protocol or CERAP, on rates of maltreatment recurrence in Illinois. Findings indicate that although most Child Protective Services (CPS) investigators complete a safety assessment at the initiation of the investigation, less than half complete a follow-up safety assessment at the conclusion of the investigation, even if conditions in the household led the investigator to conclude that household conditions were unsafe. Additional safety assessment at the conclusion of the investigation was associated with lower recurrence rates in the 6-month period following the initial maltreatment report date.

Tamara Fuller

In November 2010, the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services implemented a Differential Response (DR) approach to child protective services. The Department was also selected as one of three site funded to conduct of rigorous evaluation of the implementation and outcomes of DR, and the Children and Family Research Center was selected as the local site evaluator. This brief describes the Differential Response program that was implemented in Illinois and provides an overview of the comprehensive evaluation.

Ji-Young Kang, Martin Nieto, & Tamara Fuller

Utilizing Illinois Child Abuse and Neglect Tracking System database, this study aims to examine 1) if children with different single and multiple subtypes of child neglect have higher risk of re-report than those with physical abuse; 2) if there are differences in the time length to the re-report among children reported with single and multiple subtypes of child neglect compared to physical abuse.

Tamara Fuller & Megan Paceley

Despite being a central concept of most family-centered service interventions, including Differential Response, very little is known about the best ways to engage families in child welfare services. The small amount of literature that exists typically focuses on engaging families in mental health or substance abuse treatment, rather than the mandated or involuntary services often provided by child welfare. What little evidence has been collected within child welfare points to very low or uneven levels of parent engagement, even within interventions designed to encourage parent participation. This presentation highlighted the results of a qualitative study of family engagement strategies used by both DR caseworkers and investigators in Illinois. Individual interviews were conducted with approximately 40 caregivers who provided in-depth accounts of their experiences and responses. Responses were transcribed and analyzed to reveal those strategies that were most effective (and least effective) in making families feel engaged.

Ji-Young Kang

This study tries to understand families' existing stressors at the case opening in DR in Illinois. It presents the amount and types of stressors families have at the case opening in DR based on phone surveys with caregivers in Illinois DR.

Ji-Young Kang & Tamara Fuller

This study examines whether depending of the level of stress of caregivers, different factors predict social support. To know whether there are different mechanisms of receiving social support depending on caregivers' individual, family, and environmental characteristics are considered using data from the Longitudinal Studies of Child Abuse and Neglect (LONGSCAN).

Kathleen A. Kearney, Erwin McEwen, Brice Bloom-Ellis, Mary Hollie

This presentation sets forth findings from the Striving for Excellence project on the use of performance based contracting for agencies providing residential treatment services to youth in the Illinois child welfare system. The presentation includes a project overview, the collaborative planning process used to develop the performance measures, the risk adjustment model, results and lessons learned from implementation case studies to date.

Jesse J. Helton, Jill Schreiber, Tamara Fuller, Kathleen Kearney

The purpose of this workshop is to introduce the very basics of mixed methods design and methodological rigor, and provide two examples of recent multi-site, state-wide mixed method studies in Illinois. This workshop will touch on some of mixed method's background and tensions, most useful theoretical perspective for policy analysis, research purposes, and research designs. We will emphasize how a "mixed method way of thinking" can be used early in the research process to construct an integrated qualitative/quantitative design. Throughout the workshop we will highlight two recent mixed methods studies. The first will describe the mixed methods used in a multi-site evaluation of an initiative to expand the use of performance based contracting to children's residential treatment, Independent and Transitional Living services in Illinois. The second will describe the mixed methods used in a four year evaluation of the implementation and effectiveness of Differential Response in Illinois. In the end, the audience will have a better global understanding of how a "mixed methods way of thinking" embraces child welfare's complexity, and allows the methodology to be as complex as the social actors themselves.

Erwin McEwen, Bob Goerge, Dana Weiner and Tami Fuller

The need for effective partnerships between public child welfare agencies and research institutions has never been greater. Although some states and localities have created child welfare research partnerships with universities, there has been little discussion of the mechanisms that make these research partnerships work. By any account, the State of Illinois has been successful in leveraging the resources of its academic partners to build evidence, strengthen practice, and inform policy. This presentation at the 2011 National Child Welfare Evaluation Summit described the key elements that have allowed Illinois to both build and sustain their effective university-agency collaborations. The presentation also highlighted three research partnerships in Illinois and how each partner works with the Department to provide data that informs practice and improves outcomes.

Jesse J. Helton

This research brief examines rates of obesity and underweight for children with a substantiated investigation of maltreatment in Illinois. Findings show that 24% of Illinois maltreated children are obese, a rate 1.5 greater than children in the general population. African-American children entering substitute care following the investigation are at the highest risk for being obese. Findings also show that 7% of Illinois maltreated children are underweight, a rate over twice that of children in the general population; 6-11 year-olds and male children at the greatest risk for underweight in Illinois. A smaller than expected percentage of caregivers of underweight or obese maltreated children think their child has a weight problem.

Kathleen A. Kearney, Mary Hollie

This workshop discusses lessons learned from statewide implementation of performance based contracting for residential treatment, independent and transitional living programs in Illinois. Challenges faced by both the public child welfare system and private agencies are examined. Specific strategies employed by a large, multi-service child welfare agency to adapt to a performance-based contracting environment are highlighted to give a "real world" example of implementation. (Presented July 26, 2011 at the Foster Family-Based Treatment Association 25th Annual Conference in Orlando, FL.)

Kathleen A. Kearney & Anita Horner

The American child welfare system is adopting a more family centered practice approach which recognizes the complexity of working with families with multiple service needs. This presentation discusses research on the use of power and its impact upon engaging families involved in the child welfare system. Promising practices which have incorporated family engagement strategies are highlighted to help courts in their dependency court improvement efforts, including Differential Response (DR) and Family Group Decision-Making (FGDM). (Presented July 25, 2011 at the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges 74th Annual Conference in New York, NY.)

Ted Cross, Eun Koh, Nancy Rolock and Jennifer Eblen-Manning

A troubling percentage of children in substitute care bounce from placement to placement, with a negative effect on both their chances of having a permanent home and their well-being in both childhood and adulthood. This presentation reports results of the Illinois Multiple Move Study, a joint CFRC-Department of Children and Family Services analysis of the reasons underlying instability in a sample including the most unstable cases in the state (click the link for the complete Multiple Move study report in PDF format). Child behavior, caregiver factors and system and policy issues all contributed to instability in most unstable cases. The presentation identifies a number of the specific triggers leading to multiple moves and discusses some ways to adjust practice to prevent placement instability.

Ted Cross, Jesse Helton & Emmeline Chuang

Some advocates argue that police too rarely conduct criminal investigations in Child Protective Services sexual abuse cases, while policy regarding police involvement in CPS physical abuse and neglect cases is not well developed. However, little research has examined how often police investigate in CPS cases and what factors predict involvement. Using two cohorts of cases (1999-2001 and 2008-2009) from the National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being, a national probability study of children involved in CPS investigations, this presentation examines the frequency of criminal investigations in CPS cases and the factors predicting criminal investigation. Across cohorts, criminal investigations took place in 21% to 24% of all cases, 47% to 49% of sexual abuse cases, 24% to 27% of physical abuse cases and 15% to 18% of neglect cases. Police investigated more often when caseworkers reported greater risk and harm to the child and greater evidence, but variables like child age and relationship to perpetrator were not significant. Which county was involved, however, was a major predictor, with enormous variation in rates of police investigation across counties. Thus the likelihood of a criminal investigation depends on severity but also agency differences in practice. Equity suggests the need to discuss these differences.

Jesse Helton and Ted Cross

Previous research suggests a curvilinear relationship between child disability and physical abuse, with children with mild impairments at greater risk than both children with severe impairments and superior functioning. Using a national probability sample of families investigated for maltreatment (N = 1675), this study tested for both linear and curvilinear relationships of child functioning to parental physical assault. Linear relationships were found between problem behaviors and minor and severe assault, and between social skills and minor assault: the more impaired the level of child functioning, the greater the risk. Curvilinear relationships were found in which children with mildly impaired or average language skills were at greater risk for minor assault than both children with severe impairment or above average and superior skills. Children with superior daily-living skills were at lower risk for severe assault than all other children. Implications for understanding processes underlying parental physical assault of children with impairments are discussed.

Helton, J. & Cross, T.P. (2011). The relationship of child functioning to parental physical assault: Linear and curvilinear models. Child Maltreatment, 16, 126-136.

Kathleen A. Kearney and Mary Hollie

This workshop discusses the leadership challenges inherent when bringing about large scale system reform and the collaborative planning process required in both the public and private sectors. An overview and findings from the Illinois Striving for Excellence project expanding the use of performance based to residential treatment agencies are presented. Presented at the American Association of Children's Residential Center's 55th Annual Conference, Seattle, Washington.

Theodore P. Cross and Jesse J. Helton

Early childhood education programs show promise for helping ameliorate the negative effects of growing up with maltreatment, environmental risk, and disadvantage. A new CFRC study shows that child maltreatment victims involved with the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services are 1.3 times more likely than comparable children in the rest of the country to be enrolled in these programs.

Tamara Fuller

The State of Illinois implemented Differential Response (DR) on November 1, 2010, and is rigorously evaluating both the implementation process and the intended and unintended outcomes of the intervention. The DR evaluation is comprehensive, including multiple surveys, focus groups, interviews, and administrative data collection. The amount of time and effort required of such evaluation can be a burden on front-line staff, who are often called upon to help with the data collection. This presentation, given at the four regional Differential Response summits in April 2010, explained the importance of evaluation and the valuable information that will result from careful data collection efforts.

Tamara Fuller and Martin Nieto

Findings from past evaluation have indicated that CERAP completion beyond the first investigation milestone ranges from moderate to poor. Significant changes to safety assessment practice are scheduled to occur in 2012 with the implementation of the enhanced safety model. Implementation of the new assessment practices may benefit from a better understanding of how investigators and caseworkers are currently using the CERAP safety assessment tool. The current study therefore examines trends in CERAP completion in investigation and intact family cases.

Jesse Helton

Many youth report assaulting a family member and domestic battery represents a sizable proportion of juvenile arrests. However, little is known about those youth involved in the juvenile justice system because of a domestic assault. The purpose of this study is to address the following questions about youth who are arrested for domestic battery: (1) are these youth different in terms of demographic characteristics and disposition compared to youth arrested for other types of offenses; (2) are these youth more likely to re-offend compared to youth arrested for other offenses; (3) due to the nature of their offense (i.e., family dispute), are these youth more likely to be placed in detention rather than returned home to their parents; and (4) has the child welfare system been involved with families of youth arrested for domestic battery prior to the arrest, and does the involvement reduce the likelihood of re-offending? Results show that once a youth is arrested for a domestic dispute their juvenile justice experience is disproportionately punitive, leading to a greater risk of reoffending and further system penetration. Presented at the Midwest Socialogical Society Annual Meeting on March 26, 2011.

Saijun Zhang and Tamara Fuller

Using data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study, this study examines the differentiated influence of neighborhood disorder on paternal engagement of resident (married/cohabiting) and nonresident fathers. The findings suggest that mothers and children of nonresident father families are more likely to reside in more problematic communities than that of resident father families. Multivariate analysis indicates that problematic community environment is negatively associated with paternal engagement of nonresidential fathers, but not with that of resident fathers. (Presented at the 15th Annual Conference of Society for Social Work and Research, Tampa, FL)

Joseph P. Ryan, Hui Huang and Jeanne Marsh

Presented at the Society for Social Work and Research Annual Conference, Tampa FL, January 2011.

Joseph P. Ryan, Hui Huang and Yu Ling Chiu

Presented at the Society for Social Work and Research Annual Conference, Tampa FL, January 2011.

Jiyoung Kang

This study examines if different factors predict service use of caregivers at risk of child maltreatment depending on their perceived service needs. The study used data from the Longitudinal Studies in Child Abuse and Neglect (LONGSCAN).

Hui Huang, Joseph P. Ryan, Sam Choi and Jeanne Marsh

Presented at the Society for Social Work and Research Annual Conference, Tampa FL, January 2011.

Nancy Rolock, Eun Koh, Theodore P. Cross and Jennifer Eblen-Manning

To understand placement instability in foster care, a CFRC study compared matched samples of stable and unstable cases from the Department of Illinois Children and Families and identified key factors to explain the movement of some children through multiple homes during their stay.

Kathleen A. Kearney

To understand placement instability in foster care, a CFRC study compared matched samples of stable and unstable cases from the Department of Illinois Children and Families and identified key factors to explain the movement of some children through multiple homes during their stay.

Jill Schreiber

Religion is an understudied factor in child welfare in general and in the foster care system in specific. There are two reasons that religion needs to be considered in child welfare: 1) both foster children and foster parents claim that religion is important, and 2) increased religiosity is correlated with improved outcomes for adolescents in the general population and moderates negative effects faced by disadvantaged youth. Data from a nationally representative survey, the National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-being (NSCAW), show that foster children and foster parents are attending church at a high rate. The question remains, does the religious attendance of foster parents and foster youth affect outcome measures. (Presented workshop at the North American Association of Christians in Social Work Convention, Durham, NC, November 13, 2010.)

Womazetta Jones, William Wolfe, Tamara Fuller, & Kathleen Kearney

This presentation describes the lessons learned from the first year of statewide implementation of Differential Response in Illinois. Highlights from the lessons learned included the importance of engaging key stakeholders in a collaborative planning process in determining program design; recognizing the role of core implementation drivers in establishing a successful model; modifying and utilizing SACWIS for effective data collection; and designing a statewide randomized control trial to inform both child protection policy and practice. Presented at the Fifth Annual Conference on Differential Response in Child Welfare, Anaheim, CA, November 10, 2010.

J. Hall, T. Gartstka, D, DeStefano, & Kathleen A. Kearney

This panel discussion presents cross-site and local findings from the national demonstration sites using performance based contracting to improve outcomes for children and families in Illinois, Florida and Missouri.

Daniel Smith, Genelle Sawyer, Lisa Jones, Theodore Cross, Michael McCart, and M. Elizabeth Ralston

Maternal support is an important factor in predicting outcomes following disclosure of child sexual abuse; however, definition of the construct has been unclear and existing measures of maternal support are utilized inconsistently and have limited psychometric data. The purpose of this study was to develop a reliable and valid mother-report measure for assessing maternal support following the disclosure of child sexual abuse.

Smith D. W., Sawyer, G. K., Jones, L. M., Cross, T. P., McCart, M. R., and Ralston M. E. (2010). Mother reports of maternal support following child sexual abuse: Preliminary psychometric data on the Maternal Self-Report Support Questionnaire (MSSQ). Child Abuse & Neglect, 34, 784-792.

CFRC

This annual report provides information on the performance of the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services with regard to the outcomes for children who are in or at risk of substitute care. This monitoring report, required as part of the B.H. Consent Decree, examines measures of child safety, family and placement stability, continuity, permanence, and child and family well-being. Detailed break-downs of each indicator by child gender, race, age, and geographic region are provided in the appendix.

Kearney, K.A., Bloom-Ellis, B., McEwen, E., Murray, D., Teeple, K., Berglind, M., Hollie, M., Vimont, M. & Rousey, K.

This panel discussion by both public and private sector child welfare leaders responsible for the implementation of the Striving for Excellence project presents the project overview and lessons learned during the exploration, planning, and initial implementation phases of the project. From the 4th National Summit on Public-Private Partnership, San Antonio, Texas.

Collins-Camargo, C., Haslag, L., Kearney, K.A. & Schuler, C.

This panel presentation from the National Quality Improvement Center on the Privatization of Child Welfare Services includes findings from the Illinois, Florida, and Missouri demonstration sites and highlights the lessons learned during project implementation. From the 13th Annual National Child Welfare Data and Technology Conference, Bethesda, Maryland.

Womazetta Jones, William Wolfe, Tamara Fuller, & Kathleen Kearney

This presentation describes the lessons learned from the first year of statewide implementation of Differential Response in Illinois. Highlights from the lessons learned included the importance of engaging key stakeholders in a collaborative planning process in determining program design; recognizing the role of core implementation drivers in establishing a successful model; modifying and utilizing SACWIS for effective data collection; and designing a statewide randomized control trial to inform both child protection policy and practice.

Brett Brown, Kathy Chase, William Wolfe, Womazetta Jones, Tamara Fuller & Tony Loman

Differential response (DR) is a promising child welfare reform being rigorously evaluated in a number of states using random control trials (RCT). This workshop will present work from ongoing and recently completed RCT evaluations of DR. Issues covered will include: modifications to child welfare administrative data systems to accommodate random assignment, tracking cases, and DR data collection; developing complementary non-administrative data resources for evaluation; data design for cross-site comparisons; and successful strategies for promoting cooperative work between SACWIS staff, evaluators, and program personnel. Presented at the 13th National Child Welfare Data and Technology Conference, Washington DC, July 20, 2010.

Jesse Helton and Theodore Cross

Previous research on childhood disability and maltreatment has assumed that the risk of physical abuse has a linear relationship to level of functionality, so that the more disabled children are, the greater their risk of abuse. Other research has indicated that a yet untested curvilinear relationship may be present, where children with modest difficulties may be at greater risk. Using a cross-sectional dataset of families who have been investigated for maltreatment, this study examines the association between separate continuous measures of functionality - behavior, language, social skills, and daily-living skills - and the prevalence of minor and severe physical assault for children ages 3 to 10. Linear relationships emerged where children with many behavioral and social difficulties were more likely to experience assault compared to children without those difficulties. Negative curvilinear relationships emerged where children with modest language, social, and daily-living skills were more likely to experience an assault compared to children with many or little to no difficulties with these skills. Theoretical explanations as to why children at different levels of various types of functionality may be more or less likely to be assaulted will be discussed, focusing on the role of stress, parental expectations, and knowledge of child development within a bioecological model. Presented at the International Family Violence and Child Victimization Research Conference, Portsmouth, NH, July 13, 2010

Ted Cross and Keith Smith

This workshop provides a primer for prospective users of the data set of the National Survey of Child and Adolescents Well-Being (NSCAW), the largest and most ambitious study ever conducted tracking services, well-being and outcomes for children involved in child maltreatment investigations.

Theodore P. Cross, Brett Drake, Tamera L. Fuller & Martin Nieto

The decision to substantiate a report of child maltreatment is one of the most important in the the child welfare field, but the latest knowledge about what underlies the decision to substantiate and how it relates to future outcomes is not widely known. This workshop--led by authors of a special section on substantiation in the journal Child Maltreatment -- provided an overview of current research on substantiation and discusses its meaning for policy. Data suggest that the substantiation decision is usually based on a combination of the harm the child is thought to have experienced and the evidence for maltreatment, although this model does not fit well in a small proportion of cases. Most worrisome are the 9% of child protective cases in which children reportedly suffered moderate to severe harm but the case was not substantiated. The workshop reviews the mixed evidence for the validity of substantiation and discusses the debate on substantiation as a gatekeeper for decision-making and a method of measuring child maltreatment. (Presented at the American Professional Society on the Abuse of Children (APSAC) 18th Annual National Colloquium, New Orleans, LA, June 23-26, 2010)

Theodore P. Cross, Tonya Lippert, Lisa M. Jones & Wendy A. Walsh

Suspect confessions in child sexual abuse investigations help establish the veracity of children's disclosures and empower a speedy, just and healing response. But little is known about the frequency of confessions and what influences suspects to confess. Using data from the Multi-Site Evaluation of Children's Advocacy Centers, this study examines these aspects of confession in a sample of 282 cases in which investigators believed abuse had occurred across four communities. (Presented at the American Professional Society on the Abuse of Children 18th Annual National Colloquium, New Orleans, LA.)

Lisa M. Jones, Kathryn E. Atoro, Wendy A. Walsh, Theodore P. Cross, Amy L. Shadoin, Suzanne Magnuson

Qualitative responses by caregivers (n = 203) and youth (aged 8 and older; n = 65) about their experiences with sexual abuse investigations were analyzed in conjunction with quantitative ratings of satisfaction. Respondents described mostly high levels of satisfaction, although dissatisfaction was reported with some key aspects of investigations. The features cited as worse than expected by caregivers were the investigators' commitment to prosecuting the alleged offender and the absence of clear and regular communication about the status of the case. The features mentioned most often by caregivers as better than expected were the emotional support and interviewing skills of investigators. Youth focused both praise and criticism on investigators' interviewing skills. There were relatively few complaints by either caregivers or youth about the duration of the investigation, medical exams, lack of services, or failures of interagency communication, areas of considerable reform in the past several decades. Implications for investigator training and reform initiatives are discussed.

Jones, L. M., Atoro, K. E., Walsh, W. A., Cross, T. P., Shadoin, A. L., & Magnuson, S. (2010). Nonoffending caregiver and youth experiences with child sexual abuse investigations. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 25, 291-314.

Tonya Lippert, Theodore Cross, Lisa Jones, & Wendy Walsh

Increasing the number of suspects who give true confessions of sexual abuse serves justice and reduces the burden of the criminal justice process on child victims. With data from four communities, this study examined confession rates and predictors of confession of child sexual abuse over the course of criminal investigations (final N = 282). Overall, 30% of suspects confessed partially or fully to the crime. This rate was consistent across the communities and is very similar to the rates of suspect confession of child sexual abuse found by previous research, although lower than that from a study focused on a community with a vigorous practice of polygraph testing. In a multivariate analysis, confession was more likely when suspects were younger and when more evidence of abuse was available, particularly child disclosure and corroborative evidence. These results suggest the difficulty of obtaining confession but also the value of methods that facilitate child disclosure and seek corroborative evidence, for increasing the odds of confession.

Lippert, T., Cross, T. P., Jones, L., & Walsh, W. (2010). Suspect confession of child sexual abuse to investigators. Child Maltreatment, 15, 161-170.

Eun Koh and Nancy Rolock

Adoption Preservation, Advocacy and Linkage (APAL) is a needs assessment outreach program implemented by private agencies in and around the Chicago area. The program is targeted at families with children who exited foster care to subsidized adoptive or guardianship homes. The Maintaining Adoption Connections (MAC) program is operated through a different set of private agencies and provides services to the families identified through the APAL outreach program. This report evaluates the first year of implementation of the APAL/MAC programs, which is from October 1, 2007 to September 30, 2008.

Kathleen A. Kearney

Adoption Preservation, Advocacy and Linkage (APAL) is a needs assessment outreach program implemented by private agencies in and around the Chicago area. The program is targeted at families with children who exited foster care to subsidized adoptive or guardianship homes. The Maintaining Adoption Connections (MAC) program is operated through a different set of private agencies and provides services to the families identified through the APAL outreach program. This report evaluates the first year of implementation of the APAL/MAC programs, which is from October 1, 2007 to September 30, 2008.

Kearney, K.A. & Vimont, M.

This presentation discusses the collaborative planning process used to develop the Striving for Excellence project which expands the use of performance based contracting to residential agencies. Findings to date from the project's evaluation are discussed. Presentation at the Alliance for Children and Families Annual Child Welfare Leadership Conference, Boston, MA.

Tamara Fuller, Martin Nieto

Previous evaluations of the safety assessment instrument used in Illinois, the Child Endangerment Risk Assessment Protocol (CERAP), have found a strong and consistent relationship between safety re-assessment and lower rates of maltreatment recurrence among children initially assessed as unsafe at the initial stage of the investigation. Not all investigated households require additional safety assessment, however. If a case is completed quickly -- in less than 30 days -- safety re-assessment is not required. The current report re-examines worker compliance with safety re-assessment at the conclusion of the investigation, and also explores whether the relationship between re-assessment and lower rates of maltreatment recurrence extends to investigations closed within 30 days.

Heather Ringeisen, Cecilia Casanueva, Theodore Cross & Sharon Christ

This study examined the frequency and persistence of depression among mothers of young children in child protective investigations using a national child welfare probability study. It also identified family and environment factors associated with mothers becoming and staying depressed. Almost half of these mothers experienced depression at one point during a five year follow-up period after the close of a maltreatment investigation and there was no significant improvement in depression over levels at the start of the study. Being a victim of intimate partner violence and reporting fair or poor health were the two most consistent predictors of mothers' depression. (Presented at the 23rd Annual Children's Mental Health Research and Policy Conference, Tampa, FL.)

Rolock, N., Manning, J.E., Koh, E., & Cross, T.

This presentation reports quantitative results from the Multiple Move Study, a joint Illinois DCFS and CFRC project to explore the reasons underlying placement instability for youth who move multiple times in substitute care. Factors explaining instability were analyzed in matched samples of 61 multiple move cases and 61 matched stable cases. Child behavior, system issues, and caregiver issues all contributed to instability - in many cases child behavior problems emerged only after earlier placement instability due to other causes. Findings on Child and Youth Investment Teams (CAYIT) program designed to address instability are also presented. Presented at the Illinois Child Welfare Data Summit: 1st Annual Leadership Summit, Chicago, IL.

John Fluke, Brett Drake, Theodore P. Cross, Tamera L. Fuller, Martin Nieto, & Barbra Fallon

The substantiation decision in child maltreatment investigations can have an important effect on service delivery, court actions, and judgments about caregivers, and underlies many statistical reports of child victimization. Only recently, however, has an empirical knowledge base on substantiation begun to be developed. This workshop summarized the latest research on substantiation to provide participants with knowledge about conceptual developments, important methodological advancements leading to new insights, and important implications for practice and policy. In addition, the workshop introduced issues that have been the subject of disagreement and sharp discussions within the research community in the field such as the validity of substantiation as a category, its value as a guide to intervention, and its role in understanding the CPS system. (Presented at the Child Welfare League of America (CWLA) National Conference, Washington, DC, January 24, 2010.)

Hui Huang & Joseph P. Ryan

Victims of maltreatment are at an increased risk of delinquency. Research indicates that the risk of delinquency is approximately 47% higher for youths associated with at least one substantiated report of maltreatment. In recent years there has been increased focus on the developmental effects of maltreatment. However, such studies have failed to account for differences in response from the child welfare system. That is, do child welfare systems respond similarly to cases of childhood and adolescent maltreatment? If not, can these differential responses account for some of the developmental effects? The current study addresses this gap the knowledge.

Hui Huang & Joseph P. Ryan

A primary goal for child welfare systems is to improve family functioning and achieve family reunification. Yet this goal has proven particularly difficult for children with substance abusing caregivers - a group that often achieves the absolute lowest rates of reunification. Children in substance abusing families remain in substitute care placements for significantly longer periods of time, and experience significantly lower rates of family reunification relative to almost every other subgroup of families in the child welfare system (U.S. General Accounting Office, 2003). Unfortunately very little is known about the specific treatment services are most likely to improve the chances for achieving family reunification. The current study addresses this gap in the literature. We focus particular attention on the role of residential treatment, and the role of residential treatment in combination with other community based approaches (e.g. outpatient, recovery homes) for substance abusing caregivers in child welfare.

Yu-Ling Chiu & Joseph Ryan

Poster presented at the 2010 Annual Conference of the Society for Social Work and Research (SSWR), San Francisco, CA, January 14-17.

Saijun Zhang & Mary Keegan Eamon

This study examines the mediating effect of psychologically and physically aggressive parenting on the relationship between mothers' community violence exposure and young children's aggressive behavior. Using data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study, the study finds a mediating mechanism by which mothers' higher levels of community violence exposure lead to more physically and psychologically aggressive parenting, which subsequently increases child aggressive behavior. (Presented at the 14th Annual Conference of the Society for Social Work and Research, San Francisco, CA.)

Saijun Zhang & Min Zhan

Using a sample of 1,116 single mothers with children who were about 3-year old from the Fragile Families and Child Well-Being Study, this study identifies a mediating mechanism by which neighborhood disorder attenuates community social capital, which subsequently increases paternal stress of single mothers with young children. (Presented at the 14th Annual Conference of the Society for Social Work and Research, San Francisco, CA.)

Cecilia Casanueva, Theodore Cross, Heather Ringeisen & Sharon Christ

This study examines depression among caregivers of young children involved in investigations of child maltreatment, in terms of 12-month prevalence of depression across 5 to 6 years. Data were from the National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being, a national probability study of 5,501 children investigated for maltreatment. The study sample comprised 1,244 female caregivers (95.5% biological mothers) of children not placed out of home and younger than 5 years old. About a quarter of caregivers had, at any given point, a score indicating major depression in the previous 12 months; across all follow-ups, 46% of caregivers had a score indicating major depression at some point. Depression was associated with caregivers' report of intimate-partner violence and fair or poor health status. Caregivers of maltreated children are at substantial risk for depression that does not diminish over the course of 5 years. Assessing and providing assistance for intimate-partner violence and health problems may help decrease depression prevalence.

Casanueva, C., Cross, T.P., Ringeisen, H. and Christ, S. (2010). Prevalence, trajectories, and risk factors for depression recurrence among caregivers of young children involved in child maltreatment investigations. Journal of Emotional and Behavioral Disorders, 19, 98-116.

Ted Cross and Christina Bruhn

States play a major role in providing mental health services for children in foster care, but previous research uses either local or national samples. Using 2003 and 2005 data, the present study compares children in foster care in Illinois and nationally on mental health need and service receipt. Caregivers completed measures of children's mental health problems and service receipt and youths completed selfreport measures of mental health problems. From 46.5% to 55.9% of Illinois children and youth in foster care scored in the clinical or borderline clinical range on a caregiver measure of children's mental health, comparable to national rates. Children and youth selfreported lower rates of mental health problems both in Illinois and nationally. Though sizable proportions used mental health services across samples, Illinois children in foster care were significantly less likely to receive a range of different mental health services than children in foster care nationally. Challenges to service delivery for Illinois children in foster care and recent service improvements are reviewed in this and a companion paper.

Cross, T.P. & Bruhn, C. (2010). Delivery of mental health services for a state's population of children in foster care: A comparison of Illinois and national data. Illinois Child Welfare, 5, 87-107.

Theodore P. Cross

This article examines the reasons for a shortfall in mental health services for children in foster care in Illinois in 2003 and 2005, and explores efforts to improve mental health services by the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS). The shortfall reflects both overall deficits in funding and staffing children’s mental health services in Illinois and specific challenges to the child welfare system. From 1988 to 2001, DCFS mental health change efforts focused on substantially reducing high rates of psychiatric hospitalization and residential treatment and overhauling an ineffective system of psychological assessment, leaving much undone regarding more routine mental health services. Spurred in part by federal review and statewide grassroots children’s mental health advocacy, DCFS since 2005 has initiated a range of new assessment and treatment programs. However, ongoing problems with Medicaid funding and reimbursement hinder service delivery. More rapid improvement of mental health services for this population may require a coalition with a specific commitment to children in foster care.

Wendy A. Walsh, Lisa M. Jones, Theodore P. Cross, Tonya Lippert

Corroborating evidence has been associated with a decrease in children's distress during the court process, yet few studies have empirically examined the impact of evidence type on prosecution rates. This study examined the types of evidence and whether charges were filed in a sample of child sexual abuse cases (n = 329). Cases with a child disclosure, a corroborating witness, an offender confession, or an additional report against the offender were more likely to have charges filed, controlling for case characteristics. When cases were lacking strong evidence (confession, physical evidence, eyewitness), cases with a corroborating witness were nearly twice as likely to be charged. Charged cases tended to have at least two types of evidence, regardless of whether there was a child disclosure or not.

Walsh, W.A., L.M. Jones, Cross, T.P., & Lippert, T. (2010). Prosecuting child sexual abuse: The importance of evidence type. Crime & Delinquency, 56, 436-454.

Kathleen A. Kearney

This two day presentation was sponsored by Casey Family Programs for public and private sector child welfare administrators in Texas to help them understand the importance of collaborative planning in devising performance based contracting initiatives. From the Casey Family Programs Peer-to-Peer Initiative, San Marcos, Texas.

Nancy Rolock, Eun Koh, Ted Cross, Jennifer Eblen Manning

The report provides detailed case summaries on the 121 cases included in the "Multiple Move" study.

Nancy Rolock, Eun Koh, Ted Cross, Jennifer Eblen Manning

This study sought to understand the reasons for placement instability among children in substitute care in Illinois. A sample of 61 children with a high number of placements (3 placements within 18 months) was selected, and propensity score matching was used to obtain an equal number of children with similar characteristics that who did not experience such high levels of placement instability. An in-depth case file review was completed on all children in the sample, and the two groups were compared to determine the possible causes for placement instability.

Kathleen A. Kearney

This study sought to understand the reasons for placement instability among children in substitute care in Illinois. A sample of 61 children with a high number of placements (3 placements within 18 months) was selected, and propensity score matching was used to obtain an equal number of children with similar characteristics that who did not experience such high levels of placement instability. An in-depth case file review was completed on all children in the sample, and the two groups were compared to determine the possible causes for placement instability.

Liz Quinn, Crystal MacAllum, Janet Ciarico, John Rogers

The Illinois Permanency for Older Wards Waiver (2005-2008) tested the effects of offering an enhanced set of transition and post-permanency services to youth who were considering subsidized guardianship or adoption. A previous Illinois subsidized guardianship waiver demonstration (1997-2002) found that the availability of subsidized guardianship boosted permanency rates, but more so for younger children than for teenagers. In response, the Older Wards Waiver was designed to determine whether the prospect of losing eligibility for some enhanced transition services after adoption or subsidized guardianship was the reason for the lower permanency rate for teens.

CFRC

This annual report provides information on the performance of the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services with regard to the outcomes for children who are in or at risk of substitute care. This monitoring report, required as part of the B.H. Consent Decree, examines measures of child safety, family and placement stability, continuity, permanence, and child and family well-being. Detailed break-downs of each indicator by child gender, race, age, and geographic region are provided in the appendix.

Mark Testa, Joseph Ryan, Pedro Hernandez, Hui Huang

The AODA waiver was based on the premise that Recovery Coaches could engage families more quickly in the substance abuse treatment process. Moreover, through monitoring, encouragement, and advocacy, it, was hypothesized that the use of Recovery Coaches would have a positive effect on treatment duration and treatment completion and via more timely access and higher completion rates, children in the demonstration group would experience higher rates of family reunification. The evidence indicates that parents assigned to the recovery coach group were significantly more likely to achieve family reunification as compared to parents assigned to the control group. There were no differences with regard to subsequent reports of maltreatment - indicating that families are not being reunified too quickly. Moreover, children in the recovery coach group spent significantly fewer days in foster care as compared with children in the control group. Finally, the Illinois AODA waiver demonstration saved the State almost 7 million dollars through June 30, 2009.

Ringeisen, H., Casanueva, C., Cross, T.P. & Urato, M.

This study examines mental health and special education needs and service use at school entry among children involved in maltreatment investigations as infants. Data are from the National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being, a national probability study of 5,501 children investigated for maltreatment. The study sample comprised 959 children who were infants at baseline and 5 to 6 years old at the last follow-up. Half had behavioral or cognitive needs at entry to school. About a quarter received outpatient mental health or special education services. Logistic regression showed that compared to children residing with biological parents, adopted and foster children were more likely to receive mental health services, and children adopted or in kinship care were more likely to receive educational services. Increased monitoring of behavioral and cognitive needs of infants reported for maltreatment may facilitate their access to services and ease the transition to school.

Ringeisen, H., Casanueva, C., Cross, T. P., & Urato, M. (2009). Mental health and special education services at school entry for children who were involved with the child welfare system as infants. Journal of Emotional and Behavioral Disorders, 17, 177-192.

Kathleen A. Kearney

This presentation was given on behalf of the Striving for Excellence Project at the 3rd National Summit on Public-Private Partnership sponsored by the National Quality Improvement Center on the Privatization of Child Welfare Services (QIC PCW) in Saint Louis, Missouri. The presentation provides a status update on the project including the development of performance outcomes for the Illinois Independent and Transitional Living Programs (ILO/TLP).

Kathleen A. Kearney

Based on international comparisons, the United States has a high child poverty rate. The Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), which provides a tax benefit to low-income working households and was expanded after the 1990s welfare reform, is currently this country's largest cash transfer program for low-income families with children. This article examines the historical components of the EITC. We then analyze the program's child poverty reduction effectiveness by comparing the percent and percentage point declines in the child poverty rate accounted for by the EITC benefit for six years between 1996 and 2005. Figures for the first four years were drawn from previous studies, while figures for the final two years were estimated with a U.S. Census Bureau calculator. All of the analyses used Current Population Survey data. We determined that the percent decline in the child poverty rate attributed to the EITC generally increased during this period (highest percent was 19.5 in 2005), while the percentage point decline remained relatively stable. We then critically examine four poverty reduction assumptions of the EITC that limit its ability to further reduce child poverty and draw social policy implications.

Kearney, K.A., Hollie, M. & McEwen, E.

This presentation discusses the importance of collaboration between the public and private sectors in bringing about large scale system reform. From the 17th National Conference on Child Abuse and Neglect, Atlanta, Georgia.

Tamara Fuller, Martin Nieto

Previous evaluations of the Child Endangerment Risk Assessment Protocol (CERAP) have found a consistent and significant relationship between CERAP re-assessment, particularly at the conclusion of the investigation, and lower rates of maltreatment recurrence among children initially assessed as "unsafe" at the initial stages of their investigation. Concerns were raised by DCFS about the validity of this finding because there are circumstances in which a CERAP assessment at the conclusion of the investigation is not required, even among cases found to be "unsafe" in the initial CERAP assessment. The main purpose of this FY09 CERAP evaluation is to re-examine the relationship between safety re-assessment and maltreatment recurrence using the correct population of cases that most closely resembles CERAP use in the field. By ruling out possible alternative explanations for the results, we can bolster our confidence that this relationship is valid and may have important implications for Department policy and practice.

Kearney, K.A., Bloom-Ellis, B., Morris, A., & Jordan, N.

This panel discussion highlights the risk adjustment model developed for the Striving for Excellence project. From the 17th National Conference on Child Abuse and Neglect, Atlanta, Georgia.

Martin Nieto, Tamara Fuller, Mark Testa

The 2008 Conditions of Children report raised a" warning sign" regarding the safety of children in care. In recent years, children in kinship foster care had become more likely to experience maltreatment recurrence while in care compared to those in traditional foster care, a reversal of previous trends. The Center conducted a series of analyses to examine the following questions in response to the finding: 1. Are licensed kinship foster homes safer than unlicensed kinship foster homes? How does each of these compare to licensed traditional foster homes? 2. Is the relationship between placement type (kin or non-kin), license status, and safety accounted for by differences in demographic or case characteristics such as child's age, child's race, number of other children in the home, or regional location?

Joseph P. Ryan, Pedro Hernandez & Jun-Sung Hon

Formal kinship care represents the placement of a maltreated or otherwise vulnerable youth in the care and protection of a known relative or adult with a recognized kin bond. The practice of identifying and utilizing kin placements in child welfare has significantly increased over the last two decades. In part, the increased use of kinship care reflects the priorities, preferences, and mechanisms specified in federal legislation. A fairly broad literature demonstrates the value of kin homes in child welfare. Yet significant gaps in the understanding of kin homes remain, especially with regard to youth outcomes across allied service systems. In the current study we use administrative records from a large urban county and propensity score matching to investigate the relationship between kinship care placements in child welfare and the risk of delinquency. The sample (n = 13,396) is diverse and our design is longitudinal in that we follow youth through child welfare and juvenile systems for several years. The results indicate that the relative risk of delinquency is signficantly greater for African American and white male adolescents served in kin homes. For Hispanic males and Hispanic females, kin homes are associated with a decreased likelihood of delinquency. There is no kin placement effect associated with African American or white females.

Zhang, S.

Using a sample of 246 single mothers who were aged between 16-50 with an income below 200 percent of the poverty line, and who lived without the presence of partners and grandparents at home, the study findings suggest that mothers with higher levels of community violence exposure are more likely to adopt more psychologically and physically aggressive parenting practice than mothers with lower levels of such exposure. (Presented at the 13th Annual Conference of Society for Social Work and Research, New Orleans, LA.)

Ted Cross and Christina Bruhn

This presentation reports results on mental health services for Illinois children in foster care from the 2003 and 2005 Illinois Child Well-Being studies and contrasts them with results from national comparison data. Illinois children were significantly less likely to receive mental health services than children in foster care nationally. Obstacles impeding service delivery are reviewed. Presented at the Society for Social Work Research Conference, New Orleans, LA.

Mary Ann Hartnett, Christina Bruhn, Jesse Helton, Tamara Fuller, Lynn Steiner

The IL-CWB Study Round 2 data were drawn from a sample of 655 children in care in Illinois on March 31, 2003. Significant changes were made to the methodology and data collection instruments used in Round 2 from the methodology used in Round 1. Interviews with caregivers, caseworkers, and children were modified to follow the interview instruments used in the National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being (NSCAW). The NSCAW Executive Summary data collection instruments include several standardized child assessment instruments to assess behavior, depression, trauma, and other indices of well-being. This approach allows for direct comparisons with foster children nationwide and provides a standardized assessment of foster children in Illinois. In addition to the well-being domains of physical health, mental health, educational performance, placement stability, and permanence studied in Round 1, Round 2 of the IL-CWB Study includes sections on children's strengths and their connections to community.

Kathleen A. Kearney

This report presents findings of the semi-structured interviews of the Project Steering Committee conducted in 2008 and 2009 pertaining to their perception of collaboration, the planning and implementation process, and potential project pitfalls.

Tonya Lippert, Theodore Cross, Lisa Jones, & Wendy Walsh

This study aims to identify characteristics that predict full disclosure by victims of sexual abuse during a forensic interview. Data came from agency files for 987 cases of sexual abuse between December 2001 and December 2003 from Children's Advocacy Centers (CACs) and comparison communities within four U.S. states. Cases of children fully disclosing abuse when interviewed were compared to cases of children believed to be victims who gave no or partial disclosures. The likelihood of disclosure increased when victims were girls, a primary caregiver was supportive, and a child's disclosure instigated the investigation. The likelihood of disclosure was higher for children who were older at abuse onset and at forensic interview (each age variable having an independent effect). Communities differed on disclosure rate, with no difference associated with having a CAC. Findings suggest factors deserving consideration prior to a forensic interview, including organizational and community factors affecting disclosure rates.

Lippert, T., Cross,T.P., Jones, L. & Walsh, W. (2009). Telling interviewers about sexual abuse: Predictors of disclosure at forensic interviews. Child Maltreatment, 14, 100-113.

Nancy Rolock

This report examines the disproportionate representation in the child welfare system in Illinois for children of different races/ethnicities. Disproportionality is examined by region within the state - Cook County, Northern, Central and Southern regions. An innovative method for examining racial over/under representation - a weighted risk ratio - is used to look at child welfare outcomes at several points: indication of investigated cases, placement with kin, stability in foster care, and exits to permanence.

Kathleen A. Kearney

This report examines the disproportionate representation in the child welfare system in Illinois for children of different races/ethnicities. Disproportionality is examined by region within the state - Cook County, Northern, Central and Southern regions. An innovative method for examining racial over/under representation - a weighted risk ratio - is used to look at child welfare outcomes at several points: indication of investigated cases, placement with kin, stability in foster care, and exits to permanence.

CFRC

This annual report provides information on the performance of the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services with regard to the outcomes for children who are in or at risk of substitute care. This monitoring report, required as part of the B.H. Consent Decree, examines measures of child safety, family and placement stability, continuity, permanence, and child and family well-being. Detailed break-downs of each indicator by child gender, race, age, and geographic region are provided in the appendix.

Tamara Fuller, Martin Nieto

Recent concerns related to Illinois' failure to meet the national standard for maltreatment recurrence in the federal Child and Family Service Review (CFSR) have prompted some to question the utility of the safety assessment protocol (the CERAP) that has been in use in Illinois since 1995. By changing the safety outcome examined in the current CERAP evaluation to match that used in the federal CFSR (i.e., 6-month maltreatment recurrence rather than the 60-day recurrence used in previous reports), we can begin to examine the relationship between CERAP use in the field, other child protective services practices, and maltreatment recurrence. The current evaluation attempted to provide useful information for the Department's efforts of reform in this area by answering the following questions: 1) Does maltreatment recurrence as defined in the CFSR vary by region in Illinois? 2) If so, can regional differences in investigation practices be identified as possible points of policy reform? And 3) Are these regional differences in practice related in a reliable way to maltreatment recurrence?

Tonya Lippert, Tricia Favre, Cindy Alexander, and Ted Cross

The objective of this study was to identify child characteristics, factors related to the therapy referral, and caregivers’ psychological and social variables that predict sexually abused children’s beginning therapy following a therapy referral.

Lippert, T., Favre, T., Alexander, C. & Cross, T.P. (2008). Families who begin versus decline therapy for children who are sexually abused. Child Abuse & Neglect, 32, 859-868

Theodore P. Cross, Lisa M. Jones, Wendy A. Walsh, MoniqueSimone, David J. Kolko, Joyce Szczepanski, Tonya Lippert, Karen Davison, Arthur Cryns, Polly Sosnowski, Amy Shadoin, and Suzanne Magnuson

This bulletin reports results from a multi-site quasi-experimental evaluation of the impact of Children's Advocacy Centers (CACs). CACs are multidisciplinary organizations designed to provide a coordinated, child-friendly investigation and service response in cases of alleged child sexual abuse or other serious abuse. Compared to non-CAC comparison communities, non-offending caregivers in CACs reported greater satisfaction with the investigation, and children were more likely to receive forensic medical examinations and referrals for mental health services. The bulletin provides a comprehensive overview of study results and discusses the implications for practice in the response to serious child abuse.

Nancy Rolock, Leslie Cohen

Presented at the 11th National Child Welfare Data and Technology Conference, July 21, 2008. The rapid growth in the number of children adopted or taken into guardianship from public child welfare systems has raised concerns about the services needs of families post-finalization. This presentation provided an overview of the results of a statewide survey of caregivers who had adopted or assumed guardianship of a foster child in Illinois, in addition to the results of a national survey of child welfare administrators comparing post-permanency services.

Nancy Rolock

Presented at the 11th National Child Welfare Data and Technology Conference, July 22, 2008. This presentation examines the over-representation of African-American children in the Illinois child welfare system at three key points: removal from the home and placement into foster care, placement with kin, and exits to permanent homes through reunification, adoption, or guardianship.

Jun Min Park

This study examined the extent and correlates of entry into residential care among 672 children and adolescents in state custody who have experienced a psychiatric crisis. Overall, 36% of the sample was placed in residential care at some point after their first psychiatric crisis screening. Among the youth placed in residential care, 54% did so within 6 months of their first crisis screening, with an additional 18% between 6 and 12 months. Psychiatric hospitalization, older age, and type of child welfare placement, independent of psychiatric status, were associated with an increased risk for residential care placement. Having an inpatient psychiatric episode places children at greater risk for residential placement, suggesting that it would be efficient to develop diversion programs from residential placements within and immediately following psychiatric hospital episodes. Youth in psychiatric crisis may also benefit from efforts to include their families as part of the treatment process.

Theodore P. Cross

This presentation provided results from a longitudinal analysis of the National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being on outcomes related to adoption for a subsample of infants who had been maltreated. Nearly one-third of infants involved in investigations were placed outside the home during or soon after the maltreatment investigation; 36% of this group had been adopted by a five-year follow-up. At five-year follow-up, adopted children had better outcomes on cognitive and learning measures than children in kin and foster care. Additional results examine frequency of multiple placements, timing of finalization, and other five-year well-being outcomes.

Jackie Bright, Nancy Rolock

This presentation at the DCFS Permanency Enhancement Symposium examines differences permanency outcomes of foster children of various racial and ethnic backgrounds. Differences in the percentages of indicated reports and substitute care entries during Fiscal Year 2007 are examined, as well as median length of stay in foster care, and exits to permanence within 36 months. Data is presented for the three Cook regions - Cook North, Cook South, and Cook Central - as well as for specific sites within each region.

Dayna Finet

Although vital, quantitative data cannot tell us anything about the subjective experiences of life in the child welfare system - how children and youth in foster care make sense of it, and what it means to them. Recognizing the importance of these perspectives, in 2003 the Center started Foster Youth Seen and Heard (Project FYSH) to collect the personal stories of older foster youth and young adults formerly in care. From its beginning and continuing into the current year, the FYSH project has provided a structured and supportive opportunity for self expression about life in foster care. Additionally, FYSH makes the perspectives of foster children and youth more available to researchers, child welfare professionals, policy makers, and the concerned public. Evaluations of the program have demonstrated that both the opportunity for self expression and a chance to influence positive change motivate participants to join Project FYSH and continue with the program.

Kathleen A. Kearney

Using administrative data collected by five crisis nurseries in Illinois, outcomes for individual caregivers accessing services were examined. Results showed caregivers generally reported improved outcomes in a number of domains after receiving crisis nursery services.

Mark Testa

In the late 1990s, the Federal Government instituted IV-E Waiver Subsidized Guardianship Demonstrations in six states to test the feasibility of a new option to achieve permanency. These experiments offered subsidies to relative caregivers who were willing to assume guardianships to provide long-term permanency for foster children. The findings and policy implications of the IV-E Subsidized Guardianship Demonstrations in several states will be presented. Additionally, findings that highlight the advantages of foster children who are reared by relatives will be shown.

Mark Testa, Eun Koh, John Poertner

This study applies special analytical techniques to AFCARS data supplied by Fostering Results partner states of Arizona, Illinois, Missouri, Ohio, and Wisconsin to generate alternative prospective measures of child welfare outcomes, which can substitute for the standard retrospective measures currently utilized in the CFSR. It discusses the advantages and disadvantages of alternative plans in addressing the needs for quality data on child and family outcomes.

Eun Koh

Presented at the Society for Social Work Research 12th Annual Conference, January 17-20, 2008. This presentation examines the permanency outcomes of children in kinship foster care with those of children in non-kinship foster care. Propensity score matching (PSM) is used to address the problem of selection bias.

Zhang, S.

Using a sample of non-elderly adults from the National Survey of Families and Households, the study explores the relationship between two types of social capital -- bonding capital and bridging capital -- and an individual's future economic wellbeing. The study finds that bridging capital, measured by the strength of an individual's volunteer group affiliation, is positively associated with their future income increase, but bonding capital, measured by the strength of individual social networks with friends and relatives, does not show such a connection. (Presented at the 12th Annual Conference of Society for Social Work and Research, Washington DC.)

CFRC, DCFS

This semi-annual report is submitted by the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services as required by the Terms and Conditions of its child welfare demonstration project with the Children's Bureau of the Administration for Children and Families. The report covers the period June 2007 - December 2007. Unless otherwise indicated, analysis data in the report covers April 2000 through December 2007, the last reporting quarter for which complete data were available from our data collection agency. Client demographic and treatment participation totals are complete through December 2007 unless otherwise indicated. The format for this report follows the requirements for child welfare demonstration projects in the ACF draft Program Instruction issued February 2001 (Log No. ACYF-CB-PI-2001).

Cecilia E. Casanueva, Theodore P. Cross & Heather Ringeisen

This study examines levels of developmental need in young children investigated by child protective services, estimates early intervention service use, and examines need and service use variations during the 5-6 years after investigation on the basis of maltreatment substantiation status. Data were from the National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being, the first nationally representative study of children investigated for maltreatment. The sample comprised 1,845 children aged 0 to 36 months at baseline. Logistic regression with covariate adjustment was used to examine the relationship between having an Individualized Family Service Plan (IFSP; a proxy and marker of early intervention services through Part C of the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act) and substantiation status. A high prevalence of developmental problems was found among children with substantiated cases and children with unsubstantiated cases. Few children with developmental needs had an IFSP. Substantiation status and level of child welfare system involvement were significantly associated with having an IFSP.

Casanueva, C., Cross, T.P. & Ringeisen, H. (2008). Developmental needs and individualized family service plans among infants and toddlers in the child welfare system. Child Maltreatment, 13, 245-258.

Wendy A. Walsh, Tonya Lippert, Theodore P. Cross, Danielle M. Maurice and Karen S. Davison

This article explores the length of time between key events in the criminal prosecution of child sexual abuse cases (charging decision, case resolution process, and total case-processing time), which previous research suggests is related to victims' recovery. The sample included 160 cases in three communities served by the Dallas County District Attorney. Most cases (69%) took at least 60 days for the charging decision, with cases investigated at the Children's Advocacy Center having a quicker time than either comparison community. Only 20% of cases had a case resolution time within the 180-day target suggested by the American Bar Association standard for felonies. Controlling for case characteristics, one of the three communities and cases with an initial arrest had a significantly quicker case resolution time. Total case processing generally took more than 2 years. Implications include the need to better monitor and shorten case resolution time.

Walsh, W., Lippert, T., Cross, T., Maurice, D. & Davison, K. (2008). How long to prosecute child sexual abuse for a community using a children’s advocacy center and two comparison communities? Child Maltreatment, 13, 3-13.

CFRC

This research brief examines the rate of re-entry into foster care among children who exited to adoptive homes, and compares re-entry rates between Illinois and other states.

Jung Min Park

This presentation to the Child Care Association of Illinois describes findings of a study that examined the relationship between inpatient psychiatric hospitalization and later placement into substitute care.

Mark Testa

Presentation at the Fall Membership Practice, Policy, and Networking meeting of the Child Care Association of Illinois, given on November 8, 2007. This presentation provides an overview of the mental health and special education status of children in foster care in Illinois. It also provides information on the growing group of foster children who have exited the system to adoption or guardianship.

Joseph Ryan

Presented November 8, 2007 to the Child Care Association of Illinois. Describes the results of the Illinois Alcohol and Other Drug (AODA) waiver demonstration evaluation, and also examines the relationship between child welfare and juvenile justice outcomes.

Eun Koh

Presented at the Council on Social Work Education, San Francisco, California, October 27-30, 2007. The study compares differences in foster care re-entry following reunification for children whose last placement setting was either a relative or non-relative foster home. Study employed propensity score matching (PSM) to minimize the effects of selection bias on outcomes.

Tamara Fuller, Martin Nieto

This report analyzes the impact of the Child Endangerment Risk Assessment Protocol (CERAP) implementation on the safety of children investigated by the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) for abuse and neglect. A series of analyses were completed to examine CERAP effectiveness: 1) trend analysis of 60-day maltreatment recurrence rates from 1986-2006; 2) trend analysis of 6-month maltreatment recurrence rates from 1986-2006; 3) an examination of CERAP use by child protection investigators (CPI); 4) comparisons of recurrence rates between investigation cases categorized as "safe" and "unsafe" by child protective services (CPS) workers in the field, and 5) comparisons of recurrence rates among safe and unsafe households with and without a second CERAP assessment.

CFRC

This annual report provides information on the performance of the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services with regard to the outcomes for children who are in or at risk of substitute care. This monitoring report, required as part of the B.H. Consent Decree, examines measures of child safety, family and placement stability, continuity, permanence, and child and family well-being. Detailed break-downs of each indicator by child gender, race, age, and geographic region are provided in the appendix.

Barry Ackerson, Dayna Finet, Misa Kayama, Ozge Sensoy

The research described in this report analyzes empirically the status of an existing vocational program for foster children and youth. Additionally, study findings suggest a need for a structure and curriculum more compatible with currently accepted models in community mental health and adult education rather than within the confines of resources and supports typically available in a largely residential living program.

Kristen Tromble

This Guide is intended to promote consistency in the data used to produce specific child welfare outcome measures.

Joseph Ryan, Sam Choi, Jun Sung Hong, Pedro Hernandez, Christopher Larrison

Substance exposed infants present a major challenge to child welfare and public health systems. Prenatal substance exposure and continued substance abuse in the home are associated with a wide range of adverse social, emotional, and developmental outcomes. Such outcomes include but are not limited to strained parental attachments, child maltreatment, and extended stays in substitute care settings. The current study focuses on an experimental evaluation of the effectiveness of recovery coaches in child welfare to prevent new substance exposed births. The sample includes 931 substance abusing women enrolled in a Title IV-E Waiver Demonstration, 261 in the control group and 670 in the experimental group. Cox proportional hazards modeling indicates that women in the experimental group were significantly less likely to be associated with a new substance exposed birth.

CFRC

This brief provides an overview of the introduction and implementation of subsidized guardianship in Illinois, including results from the federal Title IV-E waiver demonstration evaluation.

Tamara Fuller

This presentation highlights findings from a telephone survey of 350 caregivers who either adopted or assumed guardianship of a child in the Illinois child welfare system. The survey asked caregivers about their child's service needs, and their attempts to get services to meet those needs. Findings from this survey provide valuable information on practices and services that will best support this population. Presented at the Illinois Post-Permanency Forum, Chicago, IL, May 31, 2007.

Tamara Fuller, Melinda Lis

In 2000, the number of Illinois children in publicly-assisted adoptive and guardianship homes surpassed the number of children in foster care. The challenge that Illinois and other states now face is how to sustain these newly-formed family relationships. This presentation presents findings from two studies: a statewide survey of adoptive and guardianship parents in Illinois regarding their service needs; and a national survey of public child welfare agencies regarding post-adoption subsidies, services and spending. Findings from this survey provide valuable information on practices and services that will best support this population. Presented at the Child Welfare League of America National Conference, Washington, DC, February 27, 2007.

Mark Testa, Martin Nieto, Tamara Fuller

This report updates a 2004 analysis of the relationship between placement stability and the number of foster children in the home. Our re-analysis extends the observation period an additional three years: FY2004-2006. The trend line shows that the concentration of children in the same foster home has continued to diminish during this time period. In FY 2006, approximately 2.3% of unrelated foster children were placed in foster homes with three or more children compared to 4.1% in FY2003 and 16.0% in FY1990. This reduction bodes well for placement stability because the data suggest that the risk of non-permanency moves increases significantly with each additional unrelated child who is resident in the home. The reanalysis also reconfirms that the risk of instability is still invariant with respect to the number of siblings in the home. In fact, there is compelling evidence that having at least one sibling in the home may be a protective factor against running away.

Lisa M. Jones, Theodore P. Cross, Wendy A. Walsh & Monique Simone

The Children's Advocacy Center (CAC) model of child abuse investigation is designed to be more child and family-friendly than traditional methods, but there have been no rigorous studies of their effect on children's and caregivers' experience. Data collected as part of the Multi-Site Evaluation of Children's Advocacy Centers were used to examine whether CACs improve caregivers' and children's satisfaction with investigations. Nonoffending caregiver and child satisfaction were assessed during research interviews, including the administration of a 14-item Investigation Satisfaction Scale (ISS) for caregivers. Two hundred and twenty-nine sexual abuse cases investigated through a CAC were compared to 55 cases investigated in communities with no CAC. Hierarchical linear regression results indicated that caregivers in CAC cases were more satisfied with the investigation than those from comparison sites, even after controlling for a number of relevant variables. There were few differences between CAC and comparison samples on children's satisfaction. Children described moderate to high satisfaction with the investigation, while a minority expressed concerns about their experience. The CAC model shows promise for improving families' experiences, but to build upon this promise, agencies will need to systematize procedures for refining and adapting the model as new research becomes available.

Jones, L.M., Cross, T.P., Walsh, W. & Simone, M. (2007). Do Children's Advocacy Centers improve families' experiences of child sexual abuse investigations? Child Abuse & Neglect, 31, 1069-1085.

Theodore P. Cross , Lisa M. Jones, Wendy A. Walsh, Monique Simone, David Kolko

Children's Advocacy Centers (CACs) aim to improve child forensic interviewing following allegations of child abuse by coordinating multiple investigations, providing child-friendly interviewing locations, and limiting redundant interviewing. This analysis presents one of the first rigorous evaluations of CACs' implementation of these methods. This analysis is part of a quasi-experimental study, the Multi-Site Evaluation of Children's Advocacy Centers, which evaluated four CACs relative to within-state non-CAC comparison communities. Case abstractors collected data on investigation methods in 1,069 child sexual abuse cases with forensic interviews by reviewing case records from multiple agencies. CAC cases were more likely than comparison cases to feature police involvement in CPS cases (41% vs. 15%), multidisciplinary team (MDT) interviews (28% vs. 6%), case reviews (56% vs. 7%), joint police/child protective services (CPS) investigations (81% vs. 52%) and video/audiotaping of interviews (52% vs. 17%, all these comparisons p < .001). CACs varied in which coordination methods they used, and some comparison communities also used certain coordination methods more than the CAC with which they were paired. Eighty-five percent of CAC interviews took place in child-friendly CAC facilities, while notable proportions of comparison interviews took place at CPS offices (22%), police facilities (18%), home (16%), or school (19%). Ninety-five percent of children had no more than two forensic interviews, and CAC and comparison differences on number of interviews were mostly non-significant. Relative to the comparison communities, these CACs appear to have increased coordination on investigations and child forensic interviewing. The CAC setting was the location for the vast majority of CAC child interviews, while comparison communities often used settings that many consider undesirable. CACs showed no advantage on reducing the number of forensic interviews, which was consistently small across the sample.

Cross, T.P., Jones, L., Walsh, W., Simone, M. & Kolko, D. (2007). Child forensic interviewing in children's advocacy centers: Empirical data on a practice model. Child Abuse & Neglect, 31, 1031-1052.

Wendy Walsh, Theodore Cross, Lisa Jones, Monique Simone, & David Kolko

This study examines the impact of Children's Advocacy Centers (CAC) and other factors, such as the child's age, alleged penetration, and injury on the use of forensic medical examinations as part of the response to reported child sexual abuse. This analysis is part of a quasi-experimental study, the Multi-Site Evaluation of Children's Advocacy Centers, which evaluated four CACs relative to within-state non-CAC comparison communities. Case abstractors collected data on forensic medical exams in 1,220 child sexual abuse cases through review of case records. Suspected sexual abuse victims at CACs were two times more likely to have forensic medical examinations than those seen at comparison communities, controlling for other variables. Girls, children with reported penetration, victims who were physically injured while being abused, White victims, and younger children were more likely to have exams, controlling for other variables. Non-penetration cases at CACs were four times more likely to receive exams as compared to those in comparison communities. About half of exams were conducted the same day as the reported abuse in both CAC and comparison communities. The majority of caregivers were very satisfied with the medical professional. Receipt of a medical exam was not associated with offenders being charged. Results of this study suggest that CACs are an effective tool for furthering access to forensic medical examinations for child sexual abuse victims.

Walsh, W., Cross, T.P. , Jones, L., Simone, M. & Kolko, D. (2007). Which sexual abuse victims receive a forensic medical examination? The impact of children's advocacy centers. Child Abuse & Neglect, 31, 1053-1068.

CFRC

This annual report provides information on the performance of the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services with regard to the outcomes for children who are in or at risk of substitute care. This monitoring report, required as part of the B.H. Consent Decree, examines measures of child safety, family and placement stability, continuity, permanence, and child and family well-being. Detailed break-downs of each indicator by child gender, race, age, and geographic region are provided in the appendix.

Tamara Fuller & Martin Nieto

This report analyzes the impact of Child Endangerment Risk Assessment Protocol (CERAP) implementation on the safety of children investigated by the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) for abuse and neglect. Child safety is assessed using data from DCFS' Child Abuse and Neglect Tracking System (CANTS) and defined as the occurrence/nonoccurrence of an indicated allegation of maltreatment within 60 days of an initial investigation. The current analysis examined recurrence rates in investigations with safety decisions of "safe" versus "unsafe." Rates are examined separately for investigations of moderate physical abuse, severe physical abuse, and sexual abuse.

Tamara Fuller, Christina Bruhn, Melinda Lis, Nancy Rolock, Leslie Cohen

This report presents the results of a comprehensive evaluation of post-adoption and guardianship services in Illinois. Three separate studies are included:

Joseph Ryan

This report examines the use of Recovery Coaches in promoting progress and success for drug-involved parents of children involved in the child welfare system. The use of a recovery coach was intended to increase the access to substance abuse services, improve substance abuse treatment outcomes, shorten the length of time children of drug-involved parents remain in substitute care placement, and affect child welfare outcomes including increasing rates of family reunification and decreasing the risk of continued maltreatment.

Alisa B. Miller & Theodore Cross

This study examines the use of ethnicity in 489 empirical research articles published in three major child maltreatment specialty journals from 1999 to 2002. Of the American samples, 12.5% focus on ethnicity, 76.2% report the ethnic composition of participants, and 33.8% use ethnicity of participants in analyses. Ethnicity has a significant effect in 52.3% of articles in which it was used in analyses, suggesting its importance as a variable in a wide range of studies. African Americans and Native Americans are underrepresented in research samples. These findings indicate more attention to ethnicity in American research than Behl, Crouch, May, Valente, and Conyngham's 2001 study might suggest but also highlight the need for continued expansion in focusing on, reporting, and using ethnicity in research.

Miller, A.B. & Cross, T.P. (2006). Ethnicity in child maltreatment research: A replication of Behl et al.'s content analysis. Child Maltreatment, 11, 16-26.