The central theme of this volume is accountability for outcomes, certainly a current driving force in child welfare as well as in other public and private service fields.

This article, a chapter in the book Family Foster Care in the Next Century, describes how child well-being has been conceptualized and measured in research on family foster care, and discusses the essential dimensions that should be included in a useful measure of child well-being.

The purpose of this document is to define the key characteristics and activities of quality family resource centers, describe how they function as a vehicle for change for families and communities, and help policymakers and funders “make the case” for the family resource center approach to providing family support services.

First published in 1999, this work draws together a multi-national collection of papers, and aims to stimulate the development of policy and practice in this often neglected area.

These regulations were developed in the United States (in the state of Rhode Island) to assess all individuals who care for children away from their legal parents. It may contain useful information for organizations and countries that are developing their own regulations for foster carers.

This article, published in the book ‘Assessing the Long-Term Effects of Foster Care: A Research Synthesis,’ provides an overview of the history of the foster care system in the United States and findings from multiple studies on the effects of foster care on children.

Factors that influence the decision to remove children from their parents' care in cases of abuse and neglect were examined by reviewing hospital records of 185 children.

Despite growing knowledge of kinship care, little is known about its impact on transition-age youth. This study found that while educational attainment and homelessness risk were similar for youth in kinship and non-kinship foster homes, those in kinship care faced higher incarceration risks, with placement stability significantly influencing all outcomes.

This paper is a systematic review of studies that examined the implementation and/or effectiveness of the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA). ICWA was enacted in 1978 in response to the disproportionate number of American Indian children in non-American Indian out-of-home placements and to enhance the stability of American Indian families and tribes.

The resources on this page address ways to advocate for families in the U.S. and include State and local examples.