Presentations, Publications and Related Activities

• West Haven Probate Court Project: A Collaborative Endeavor
  
  
• Probate Court Study: At the invitation of the Connecticut Probate Court Administrator, Casey has conducted a study of the management of minor guardianship petitions in Probate Courts statewide. Findings and recommendations have been presented to the state Probate Court Administration. Casey is facilitating discussions between the Connecticut Department of Children and Families and the Connecticut Probate Court Administration to examine practices and policies that may improve the handling of these cases.
  
  
• Foster Care Consumer Survey: The agency's annual consumer survey of families and youth in our foster care programs is now complete. Methodological changes increased participation rates this year. Presentations of survey findings to various stakeholders will continue through 2003.
  
  
• Presentation at Society for Psychotherapy Research Conference: Senior Research Associate Gretta Cushing presented "Interpersonal origins of parenting among addicted and non-addicted mothers," along with Lorna Smith Benjamin, at The Annual Meetings of the Society for Psychotherapy Research in Weimar, Germany in July 2003.
  
  
• Someplace to Belong: Adolescents and Foster Care in Massachusetts
  Background materials for a very successful legislative briefing provide a thorough briefing on Massachusetts teens in foster care and recommendations for improving their chances for success.
  Executive Summary (pdf)
  Complete Report (pdf)
  
  
• The first paper from the alumni study has been published: Kerman, B., Wildfire, J. & Barth, R. P. (2002). "Outcomes for young adults who experienced foster care." Children and Youth Services Review, 24, 319-344.
  
  
• "Extending transitional services to former foster children." Child Welfare.: A paper examining the costs of extending transitional supports for older foster youth beyond the age services are typically terminated has been accepted for publication in Child Welfare. Kerman, B., Barth, R. P., & Wildfire, J. (in press).
  
  
• Quality Service Review of the Post-Adopt Program: Program staff met in early September at Simsbury to develop a review protocol with an eye to reviewing the program across divisions.
  
  
• Foster Parent Recruitment and Retention Study: In collaboration with the New Hampshire Department of Children's Services (DCS), and Casey's divisions in New Hampshire and Massachusetts, we are developing a population study and a longitudinal study to develop the empirical knowledge base regarding foster parent recruitment and retention, vital issues to quality out-of-home care of children.
  
  
• Bridgeport Technology Project: We are in our second year of a two-year evaluation of the pilot study of the use of computer technology with foster youth and their families. This innovative program was presented at a recent conference on technology and social work at the University of South Carolina.
  
  
• Family Reunification Evaluation: The implementation evaluation phase of this project has been completed by our research partners at the University of Connecticut and the University of Maine. They are currently collecting descriptive and demographic data on program participants and are designing the outcome evaluation phase that will begin in 2003.
  
  
• Research Staff Presented at the 10th National Roundtable on Outcome Measures in Child Welfare Services: Ben Kerman and Bonnie Kerker delivered presentations on the use of the CQI process to inform child welfare services during the October conference sponsored by the American Humane Association.
  
  
• Research Staff Hosted a Roundtable Discussion at the Annual American Evaluation Association Meeting in November 2002: Department staff led a discussion about the role of research and evaluation in social services agencies.
  
  
• Family Resource Center Implementation Study: Faculty from Smith College School for Social Work, our partners in studying implementation of the agency's Family Resource Center initiative, have visited all of the program sites and completed interviews with program staff members and program participants. They are currently hiring and training diarists to function as local observers of the ongoing implementation process, as well as to develop site maps that locate our FRCs within a demographic and human services context. A report on their initial findings from this study will be presented soon.
  
  
• Baltimore Young Parents Program Review: In July, the staff of the Young Parents Program in the Baltimore Division participated in a Quality Service Review (QSR) of their program. The QSR is a case-based approach to assessing whether a program is successfully achieving the outcomes it is seeking for families and children. The review itself is a very intensive process completed over a five-day period, using experienced child welfare/child mental health professionals from across the country as program reviewers. Results of the YPP review were very positive, revealing a high level of performance by staff in addressing the significant challenges presented by the adolescent and young adult parents in their caseloads.
  
  
• International Conference Presentation: Ben Kerman and Amy Stephens presented a paper examining risk factors related to foster youth who make abuse or neglect allegations while in out-of-home care, at the 2002 International Conference on Child Abuse and Neglect held in Denver in July.