Over the last several years in child welfare, it has become evident that there is a growing need for empirically-based research and evaluation focused on systems’ change and reform efforts underway in child protection courts. With the current funding climate and the national focus on outcomes and impact of systems’ change on children and families, the need for research has become even more critical. As a result, PPCD has built the capacity to provide research and evaluation technical assistance for juvenile and family courts across the nation. 

The PPCD has conducted process and outcome evaluations for the Miami Model Court, the El Paso Model Court, the Newark Model Court, the Portland Model Court, the state of Utah Court Improvement Program, the Washington, D.C. child protection mediation program, the Indianapolis, Indiana family group conferencing program and Hawai’i’s ‘Ohana family conferencing program. These evaluations have resulted in the publication of Technical Assistance Briefs andBulletins which present findings on the efficacies and challenges of various court improvements, (e.g. second shelter hearings, family decision-making conferences, and mediation programs). Research projects have also involved a comprehensive evaluation of the juvenile and family court system in the state of Utah.

The PPCD conducted Court Improvement Project (CIP) re-assessments for: Washington State, New York State and the state of Nevada. Although the scope and breadth of each of the re-assessments varied somewhat depending on the specific court improvement initiatives undertaken in each state, each of the re-assessments were aimed at empirically assessing the timeliness, quality and effectiveness of the juvenile and family courts’ performance with respect to the court’s management and processing of child protection cases.  

Please see the publications page for more information about specific research topics or visit the Resource and Reference Lists for listings of organizations and materials that focus on child abuse and neglect issues.

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