Since the 1970s, many state child welfare systems have been the subject of legal controversies, contentious politics, and broad-based reform efforts. The State of Tennessee is no exception. Concerns about its Department of Children’s Services’ (DCS) policies, programs, and outcomes led in 2001 to a class action lawsuit and ultimately resulted in transformational reforms over a period of almost two decades. This case study is intended to help child welfare system leaders, policymakers, and advocates who are engaged in comprehensive system improvement learn from Tennessee’s experience, whether those improvement efforts take place within the confines of class action litigation or are driven by other interests and priorities in their respective states.
The State of Tennessee stands out because, after years of progress (and despite early difficulties and setbacks along the way), it durably improved the ways the Department serves children and families and achieves outcomes, leading to successful exit from a Settlement Agreement and federal court supervision. Tennessee’s experience illustrates both the hard work that it takes to produce better results for children and youth and the many challenges that state child welfare systems face in designing, implementing, and sustaining improvements in system performance and outcomes. In the interest of capturing and sharing Tennessee’s experience with practitioners and policymakers in the child welfare field, the Center for the Study of Social Policy (CSSP) coordinated the development of a case study and organized a symposium with many of the key stakeholders involved in Tennessee’s reform. This study is based on a review of the documented history of Tennessee’s reform and informed by the reflections and perspectives of many who played key roles in the litigation and related system improvement efforts (including, but not limited to, those who participated in the symposium).
Although the timeline of efforts in any state or locality will differ based on local circumstances, there are lessons to be learned from understanding how Tennessee’s reform proceeded over time. For this reason, Part One of this case study discusses Tennessee’s reform chronologically, including significant accomplishments as well as the prominent challenges, framed by six developmental stages:
- Filing and negotiating the 2001 Brian A. Settlement Agreement: the circumstances leading to litigation and the entry of a court-ordered agreement
- Beginning the work: diagnosing problems, enlisting allies, weathering early struggles, and celebrating successes (2001-2004)
- Gaining momentum: the challenges of setting priorities and demonstrating progress (2004- 2010)
- Creating a path to exit: modifying the Settlement Agreement to reflect changing realities and conditions for exit (2010)
- Final Stages: unanticipated setbacks, demonstrating improvements, and moving towards exit (2011-2015)
- Sustainability and exit (2016-2018)
Part Two of the case study identifies and examines the history and examines how cross-cutting themes played out during different stages of the reform.
