Diane DePanfilis, Ph.D., M.S.W is a Professor at the Silberman School of Social Work, Hunter College, City University of New York. Her research focuses on using prevention and implementation science to design, implement, and evaluate interventions in public and private child welfare systems.
Youth Leaving Foster Care is the first comprehensive text to focus on youth emerging from care, o... more Youth Leaving Foster Care is the first comprehensive text to focus on youth emerging from care, offering a new theoretical framework to guide programs, policies, and services. The book argues that understanding infant, child, and adolescent development; attachment experiences and disruptions; and the impacts of unresolved trauma and loss on development are critical to improving long-term outcomes. It provides an overview of the foster care context, detailed discussion of the effects of maltreatment on development from infancy through young adulthood, and common mental health problems and treatment recommendations.
This study explored the relationship between housing conditions and the adequacy of the physical ... more This study explored the relationship between housing conditions and the adequacy of the physical care of children. The sample included 106 caregivers who were participating in a neglect prevention demonstration project in a low-income, inner-city neighborhood. Children who lived with caregivers who had unsafe housing conditions were less likely to receive adequate physical care. Findings confirm the importance of addressing concrete housing conditions as part of an ecological approach to preventing child neglect.
The use of structured risk-assessment systems by child protective services has increased dramatic... more The use of structured risk-assessment systems by child protective services has increased dramatically during the past ten years. Versions of the Illinois CANTS 17B, the Washington Assessment of Risk Matrix, and the Child at Risk Field System have been put into use in some form in 23 states [Berkowitz 1991]. Despite this widespread acceptance, workload pressures, uncertain reliability and validity of the instruments, and the need for a knowledgeable and well-trained casework staff have limited the models' usefulness once implemented.
... Factors affecting foster care placement of children receiving child protective services ... T... more ... Factors affecting foster care placement of children receiving child protective services ... The foster care literature includes a large body of clinical and empirical work beginning in the late 1950s (for example, Glickman, 1957) that focused on placement issues or predictors. ...
Children and families who need child welfare–related services deserve to receive interventions su... more Children and families who need child welfare–related services deserve to receive interventions supported by strong scientific research (Wilson & Walsh, 2012), increasing the likelihood that interventions will support families to meet the basic needs of their children, keep them safe, and promote their well-being, security, and stability. To accomplish those outcomes, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (USDHHS) Administration on Children, Youth and Families urges child welfare systems to understand, install, implement, and sustain practices with the highest degree of evidence available (Administration on Children, Youth and Families, 2012). The USDHHS Children’s Bureau (CB) partners with federal, state, tribal, and local agencies to improve the overall health and well-being of our nation’s children and families. However, public child welfare systems have struggled to achieve optimal performance and are cited when they are unable to achieve federal child welfare outcomes (Children’s Bureau, n.d.a). Even when public child welfare systems commit to implement system changes to improve child and family outcomes, it is difficult to locate interventions with evidence that they are effective with child welfare target populations (California Evidence Based Clearinghouse for Child Welfare [CEBC], n.d.). The lack of evidence about what works in child welfare has led to a movement to bridge the gap between research and child welfare policies, programs, and practices. As one method to guide this movement, the USDHHS Children’s Bureau created three Child Welfare Research and Evaluation Workgroups to provide guidance about how child welfare stakeholders can partner to more successfully build evidence, strengthen practice, and inform policy. One of these workgroups developed A Framework To Design, Test, Spread, and Sustain Effective Practice in Child Welfare (Framework Group,
Objective: An exploratory analysis of self-report data gathered by the Family Connections program... more Objective: An exploratory analysis of self-report data gathered by the Family Connections program is used to build a predictive model of program completion. Method: The sample includes 136 families in a poor, urban neighborhood who meet risk criteria for child neglect. Families are randomly assigned to receive 3- or 9-month interventions. Bivariate analyses compare families who did and did not complete services. Logistic regression analysis identifies service-completion predictors for 136 families for whom pre- and post-data are available. Results: More caregivers in the 3-month group complete services. Completers have more children and report a more positive alliance with their workers. Depressive symptoms, worker alliance, and treatment-group status predict service completion in the final model. Conclusions: Findings and implications for practice are discussed.
Youth Leaving Foster Care is the first comprehensive text to focus on youth emerging from care, o... more Youth Leaving Foster Care is the first comprehensive text to focus on youth emerging from care, offering a new theoretical framework to guide programs, policies, and services. The book argues that understanding infant, child, and adolescent development; attachment experiences and disruptions; and the impacts of unresolved trauma and loss on development are critical to improving long-term outcomes. It provides an overview of the foster care context, detailed discussion of the effects of maltreatment on development from infancy through young adulthood, and common mental health problems and treatment recommendations.
This study explored the relationship between housing conditions and the adequacy of the physical ... more This study explored the relationship between housing conditions and the adequacy of the physical care of children. The sample included 106 caregivers who were participating in a neglect prevention demonstration project in a low-income, inner-city neighborhood. Children who lived with caregivers who had unsafe housing conditions were less likely to receive adequate physical care. Findings confirm the importance of addressing concrete housing conditions as part of an ecological approach to preventing child neglect.
The use of structured risk-assessment systems by child protective services has increased dramatic... more The use of structured risk-assessment systems by child protective services has increased dramatically during the past ten years. Versions of the Illinois CANTS 17B, the Washington Assessment of Risk Matrix, and the Child at Risk Field System have been put into use in some form in 23 states [Berkowitz 1991]. Despite this widespread acceptance, workload pressures, uncertain reliability and validity of the instruments, and the need for a knowledgeable and well-trained casework staff have limited the models' usefulness once implemented.
... Factors affecting foster care placement of children receiving child protective services ... T... more ... Factors affecting foster care placement of children receiving child protective services ... The foster care literature includes a large body of clinical and empirical work beginning in the late 1950s (for example, Glickman, 1957) that focused on placement issues or predictors. ...
Children and families who need child welfare–related services deserve to receive interventions su... more Children and families who need child welfare–related services deserve to receive interventions supported by strong scientific research (Wilson & Walsh, 2012), increasing the likelihood that interventions will support families to meet the basic needs of their children, keep them safe, and promote their well-being, security, and stability. To accomplish those outcomes, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (USDHHS) Administration on Children, Youth and Families urges child welfare systems to understand, install, implement, and sustain practices with the highest degree of evidence available (Administration on Children, Youth and Families, 2012). The USDHHS Children’s Bureau (CB) partners with federal, state, tribal, and local agencies to improve the overall health and well-being of our nation’s children and families. However, public child welfare systems have struggled to achieve optimal performance and are cited when they are unable to achieve federal child welfare outcomes (Children’s Bureau, n.d.a). Even when public child welfare systems commit to implement system changes to improve child and family outcomes, it is difficult to locate interventions with evidence that they are effective with child welfare target populations (California Evidence Based Clearinghouse for Child Welfare [CEBC], n.d.). The lack of evidence about what works in child welfare has led to a movement to bridge the gap between research and child welfare policies, programs, and practices. As one method to guide this movement, the USDHHS Children’s Bureau created three Child Welfare Research and Evaluation Workgroups to provide guidance about how child welfare stakeholders can partner to more successfully build evidence, strengthen practice, and inform policy. One of these workgroups developed A Framework To Design, Test, Spread, and Sustain Effective Practice in Child Welfare (Framework Group,
Objective: An exploratory analysis of self-report data gathered by the Family Connections program... more Objective: An exploratory analysis of self-report data gathered by the Family Connections program is used to build a predictive model of program completion. Method: The sample includes 136 families in a poor, urban neighborhood who meet risk criteria for child neglect. Families are randomly assigned to receive 3- or 9-month interventions. Bivariate analyses compare families who did and did not complete services. Logistic regression analysis identifies service-completion predictors for 136 families for whom pre- and post-data are available. Results: More caregivers in the 3-month group complete services. Completers have more children and report a more positive alliance with their workers. Depressive symptoms, worker alliance, and treatment-group status predict service completion in the final model. Conclusions: Findings and implications for practice are discussed.
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