Assessing Their Implications for the Child Welfare Field
and for Federal Child Welfare Programs
This project is available on the Internet at:
http://aspe.hhs.gov/hsp/07/CWPI/
Background
During the 1990s, a number of state and local child welfare agencies began
experimenting with privatization of child welfare services in order to improve
performance and reduce costs. Models of privatization vary across the
country, from statewide reforms to more limited initiatives. States
continue to look for best practice measures to fuse programmatic and fiscal
reforms. However, because little sound research and few outcome evaluations
have been conducted on these initiatives, little information on effective
practices and models is available.
To assist state and local child welfare policymakers who are
considering or implementing privatization reform,
the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning
and Evaluation (ASPE), U.S. Department
of Health and Human Services (HHS) has undertaken The Child Welfare
Privatization Initiatives Project. This project is developing
a series of topical papers drawing from the experience of child welfare and
other social services programs which have privatized services and is intended
to provide insights about factors that should be considered when approaching
or improving upon privatization efforts.
The following topical papers are being produced under this contract and will
be available here as they are completed (publications dates will span 2007
and 2008):
-
Assessing Site Readiness: Considerations
about Transitioning to a Privatized Child Welfare System. This
paper assists child welfare administrators in thinking through key issues
about transitioning to a privatized system of service delivery. The
paper is organized around 12 questions that administrators need to ask themselves
when assessing the readiness of their site to undertake this
type of systems reform.
-
Models of Privatization Reform.
This paper presents a range of program and contracting models currently used
by sites across the country and explain how these models have evolved over
time. It also provides information about what has been learned to date
about the challenges and benefits of different approaches.
-
Evolving Roles of Public and Private Agencies
in Privatized Child Welfare Systems. This paper presents both
the challenges and lessons learned about transitioning from publicly to privately
delivered services. It will provide examples of how states have divided
roles and responsibilities across systems once privatization occurs.
-
Developing Effective Contracts. This paper will describe what
the field has learned about developing contracts in child welfare and related
social services including writing clear expectations about services provision
and performance standards, billing and payment arrangements, and standards
for reporting.
-
Contract Monitoring and Accountability. This paper will focus
on key responsibilities and challenges that public agencies often face in
effectively monitoring the organizations with which they contract, including
primary responsibility for different areas of contract monitoring, information
system needs, commonly used performance measures, and agency appeal and grievance
processes.
-
Evaluating Privatization Initiatives. This paper will provide
state and local child welfare administrators a how to guide for
evaluating the effectiveness of their reforms. This includes establishing
policy relevant research questions appropriate to the initiative, determining
appropriate short and long term outcomes, identifying appropriate data, and
selecting the best outcome evaluation design.
This project is being carried out by a partnership between Planning and Learning
Technologies Inc. of Arlington, VA, and The Urban Institute of Washington,
DC. It builds on knowledge gained during a national needs assessment
of child welfare privatization efforts conducted for the Childrens
Bureaus Quality Improvement
Center for the Privatization of Child Welfare Services
(http://www.uky.edu/SocialWork/qicpcw/)
as well as research on privatization conducted in other closely related social
services
(http://aspe.hhs.gov/hsp/privatization-rpt03/).
To obtain a printed copy of any report, send the title and your mailing
information to:
Human Services Policy, Room 404E
Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
200 Independence Av, SW
Washington, DC 20201
Fax: (202) 690-6562
Where to?
Top of Page | Contents
Home Pages:
Human Services Policy
(HSP)
Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation
(ASPE)
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
(HHS)
Last updated: 03/17/2008