Research Partnerships and Projects

• Partners: AspireMN, Metro Health and Medical Preparedness Coalition, Minnesota Department of Human Services
• Funding: Department of Human Services

Given the increase of pediatric mental health crises in the state, CASCW researchers partnered with the Minnesota Department of Human Services (DHS), AspireMN, and the Metro Health and Medical Preparedness Coalition (a group of provider organizations serving the 7-county Twin Cities metropolitan area), in a study to better understand what supported children with complex mental or behavioral health needs and their families on their care journey, despite the ongoing challenges of accessing care in certain longer-term settings, like hospital emergency departments. This study employed a qualitative methodology, including analysis of de-identified case records, interviews with parents or guardians of pediatric patients with serious mental or behavioral health needs, and focus groups with staff serving this population of pediatric patients. This project will culminate in a final report with recommendations to DHS in February 2025.

• Partners: Center for Early Education and Development, Minnesota Department of Human Services, Minnesota Department of Education
• Funding: Department of Human Services

To address gaps in early care and education (ECE) participation rates for young children in foster care, the Center for Advanced Studies in Child Welfare (CASCW) and the Center for Early Education and Development (CEED) at the University of Minnesota, were commissioned by the Minnesota Department of Human Services (DHS) to conduct a mixed-methods study on ECE participation for children under age six in foster care in Minnesota. The purpose of the study was to better understand the barriers and facilitators of participation in ECE programs for young children in foster care throughout the state and to present findings in an interim and final report to the Minnesota Legislature. For the interim report, the aim of the study was twofold: to quantitatively describe recent ECE participation rates for young children in foster care by race, ethnicity, age, and county of residence; and to qualitatively explore the broad-level data systems, policy, and practice context through interviews with key state-level administrative stakeholders. For the final report, the aim of the study was to engage family and local staff participants across the state to qualitatively understand specific barriers and facilitators to ECE participation, as well as recommendations to increase ECE access for young children in foster care across the state.

Study findings were intended to inform considerations for state-level policies aimed at improving ECE access for young children in foster care through key recommendations from study participants. The report also provided recommendations to inform potential future research in this topic area and more broadly in the inquiry area of child wellbeing. The study was conducted in consultation with DHS and the Minnesota Department of Education.

The first report, Early Care and Education Participation for Young Children in Foster Care: Administrative and Contextual Insights, was delivered to the Minnesota Legislature in December 2022. The final report, Early Care and Education Participation for Young Children in Foster Care: Family and Staff Perspectives, was delivered to the Minnesota Legislature in June 2023. 

Researchers at the Center for Advanced Studies in Child Welfare (CASCW) have had collaborative relationships for over two decades with the leaders at Alia Innovations. Based on previous collective efforts developing validated practice tools, CASCW and Alia began considering what a future partnership could look like. In 2022, discussions began around how CASCW and Alia could partner in helping Alia build evaluative capacity to measure the impact of their services going forward. In January 2023, a contract was executed, and CASCW researchers worked closely with the Alia team to understand Alia’s array of services and opportunities for evaluation and capacity building. In the culmination of this 18-month contract, the evaluation framework was designed to measure the processes and outcomes of large-scale projects in which Alia is likely to have the most impact on child welfare organizations and communities. The evaluation framework included shared components across four identified key service areas which support Alia in talking about the outcomes of their work across service areas and project sites, and longitudinally.

• Partners: Ampersand Families, Ain Dah Yung, Connection to Independence
• Funding: The Sauer Family Foundation

The Identifying and Supporting Family Connections for Youth project, carried out by researchers at the Center for Advanced Studies in Child Welfare (CASCW), was a partnership with Ampersand Families to describe aspects of and assess the effectiveness of the Relative/Kin Engagement Pilot program. The pilot program was developed and implemented by trained staff at two youth serving nonprofit organizations in Minnesota, Ain Dah Yung (ADY) and Connections to Independence. CASCW researchers supported the development and initial implementation of the pilot programs at each organization, which was led by staff at the youth-serving entities.

In the course of this work, CASCW researchers conducted a small-scale process evaluation to assess the Wotakuye kinship program design and implementation efforts at ADY. The process evaluation was conducted in response to the needed shift from a two-site program evaluation to a single-site evaluation, and with the understanding that ADY is a culturally specific organization that may have different and/or additional strengths, challenges, and needs. The goals of these efforts were 1) to better understand how program partners and staff are conceptualizing the program components and process, and 2) to identify any implementation challenges or discrepancies in understanding that may need support and/or clarification as the program progresses. Results of this process evaluation were shared with project partners and the project funders. This project was funded by the Sauer Foundation.

This study, a cross-sectional survey of 932 respondents in Minnesota, builds off of the child welfare workforce stability studies conducted by the Center for Advanced Studies in Child Welfare (CASCW) to better understand the public’s knowledge of child maltreatment and the public’s perceptions of child protective services (CPS) interventions in Minnesota. CASCW researchers also examined responses by mandated reporter status and used sensitivity analysis to explore differences in the public’s perception of CPS by race/ethnicity. Data for this study were collected at the University of Minnesota’s Driven to Discover (D2D) Research Facility at the 2022 Minnesota State Fair through a structured survey. The study included recommendations to inform policy and practice in Minnesota.

• Partners: Minnesota Association of County Social Service Administrators, Minnesota Department of Human Services
• Funding: Department of Human Services

The Minnesota Child Welfare Workforce Stabilization study was developed to fill a gap in knowledge around the status of Minnesota’s child welfare workforce. The study worked to consider this information in the emerging context of shifts in child welfare practice and policy. In an effort to better understand the characteristics, perceptions, and experiences of child welfare practitioners in Minnesota, researchers from the Center for Advanced Studies in Child Welfare (CASCW) partnered with the Minnesota Association of County Social Service Administrators (MACSSA) and representatives of the Child Safety and Permanency Division of the Minnesota Department of Human Services (DHS) to carry out the first Minnesota Child Welfare Workforce Stabilization Study in 2016.

The original Minnesota Child Welfare Workforce Stabilization Study completed in 2016 was designed to inform the development of strategies to stabilize the child welfare workforce and ensure employee retention in a time of child protection system reform. The information learned from the 2016 study was incredibly informative, thus the study was repeated (with slight modifications) in 2019. Study reports provided statewide and regional descriptions of the characteristics, perceptions, and experiences of Minnesota’s child welfare workforce stemming from the survey administered in 2016 and subsequently in 2019.

The 2019 MN Child Welfare Workforce Stabilization Study examines child welfare workers’ opinions on aspects of child welfare work following Minnesota’s child protection system reform. Child welfare professionals provided profound insights on job satisfaction, well-being, workforce stability, and the impacts of system change.

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This report summarizes findings from a study conducted by researchers at the University of Minnesota, in partnership with program staff at the Hennepin County Human Services and Public Health Department (HSPHD). The study was designed to understand and attend to individual characteristics and pressing systemic issues influencing child maltreatment re-reporting, recurrence, and foster care re-entry in Hennepin County. This study focused on these outcomes during 2014-2017, a time period in which HSPHD experienced significant system change and practice shifts.

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Several partners were instrumental in making this report possible. The Minnesota Child Welfare System Planning Grant number 107328 provided funding to the Center for Advanced Studies in Child Welfare (CASCW) for the deliverables outlined within this report. The generous funding and partnership of the Department of Human Services made this work possible. CASCW gratefully acknowledges the significant time and energy of national partners who shared wisdom and experiences related to professional development of child welfare workers including the staff of the Pennsylvania Child Welfare Resource Center, in particular Helen Cahalane; the staff of the Colorado Child Welfare Training System, in particular Kasey Matz, the National Child Welfare Workforce Institute, in particular Sharon Kollar; as well as Theresa Tanoury. In addition to national partners, Nicole Names, Director of Pope County Human Services, was also instrumental in the development of content for this report. 

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Widely used in child welfare practice, risk assessment tools are used to identify problems and concerns in families to determine the likelihood of maltreatment occurrence/recurrence. This assessment often involves rating the child and family situation on a set of explicitly stated risk factors to gain a comprehensive understanding of the service needs of a family or individual (Camasso & Jagannathan, 2000; D’andrade, Austin, & Benton, 2008; Keating, Buckless, & Ahonen, 2016). Risk assessments are initiated early in the child protective services process and are used throughout the life of an open case. In this report, readers will find a description of commonly used risk assessment approaches and a comparison of commonly used risk assessment instruments used in North America, Europe, and Australia. Copies of the risk assessment instruments mentioned in this report are also available in the report appendices.

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The Center for Advanced Studies in Child Welfare (CASCW) has partnered with the Minnesota Association of County Social Service Administrators (MACSSA) Children’s Committee and the Minnesota Department of Human Services to better understand the state of Minnesota’s child welfare workforce, with a particular focus on child protection professionals, in order to develop strategies to stabilize and strengthen the workforce in a time of child protection reform. To accomplish this, CASCW developed the Child Welfare Workforce Stabilization Survey. While the survey was sent to the larger child welfare workforce, the final report and summary specifically focus on the child protection workforce.

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During the 2013-2014 school year, there were 5,785 chronic absenteeism reports made to the Hennepin County Attorney’s office (HCAO) for students, ages 5-11 years old. Since 2010, Hennepin County’s response to chronic absenteeism across all grades has involved a multi-stage intervention model called be@school. 

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In the fall of 2007, Ramsey County Community Human Services (RCCHSD) was one of five sites chosen as recipients of a grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Children’s Bureau (USDHHS) to develop a model of comprehensive family assessment to be used in child welfare.

Comprehensive Family Assessment (CFA)