National Quality Improvement Center On The Representation Of Children In Child Welfare Cases
On October 1, 2009, the Children's Bureau, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services awarded the University of Michigan Law School a five-year, $5 million dollar grant to serve as the National Quality Improvement Center on the Representation of Children in the Child Welfare System. We are delighted -- and humbled -- to have this opportunity. The Children's Bureau has shown great vision in creating this effort to develop knowledge about child advocacy and improve the level of practice. We look forward to working with the entire child advocacy community and keeping each of you apprised of progress. Read the press release and Ann Arbor.Com's article.
Essential outline of the project
Assessment: In the first year we will assess the state of child representation in child welfare cases in America. We will gather information from as many sources as possible, including libraries, government reports, and interviews with policy makers and practitioners, including many of you on this listserve. The underlying theory of change that guides our efforts is that ultimately improvements in legal representation of children leads to better legal decision-making which in turn results in improved child welfare outcomes over time. We want our approach to be creative, inclusive, open-minded and pragmatic. By the end of 2010 we hope to produce a book that compiles our findings as the "State of Child Advocacy in America, 2010". Hopefully that report itself will be of value to people in their on-going efforts to improve child representation.
Demonstration Projects/Research: The opportunity to develop empirical data about the most effective way of delivering child representation is a critical part of this QIC. At the end of the first year, we will identify models of child advocacy that seem the most promising in delivering good results for children and achieving the overall systemic goals of safety, permanency and child well-being. We aspire to have these models reflect the many dimensions of child advocacy and alternative approaches that could provide helpful data and move us toward a common understanding of good advocacy for children. We also hope to broker some general agreement in our field as to an appropriate focus for the research/demonstration component. In the second year of the QIC we will frame Requests for Proposals (FRPs), in close consultation with the Children's Bureau, and invite locales to apply for funds to implement the various models of child advocacy. In years 2 through 5, the demonstration projects will implement the various models; we will gather data as to the effect of these; and try to better understand what actions by an advocate, what structure of delivery, what skill set is most likely to achieve a good result for most children. Of course this will be challenging to document and measure as each child has distinct needs and circumstances.
Certification: Another element of the QIC is to promote certification of lawyers as specialists in child welfare law. We will work closely with the National Association of Counsel for Children in this dimension and some of the grant funds will be devoted to promoting certification. Certification has become an increasingly important means of professionalizing the field and makes clear that there is a rich body of specialized knowledge required to work effectively in this area of practice.
Knowledge Development and Dissemination: Throughout the project we will attempt to keep you advised of the progress, our process and what lessons we are learning about child advocacy in protection cases. We hope to be available at conferences and professional meetings. We will produce a final report, probably in book form, that summarizes our findings and makes recommendations for going forward. We hope this process results in a clear and broadly accepted definition of the role of the child’s legal representative, along with a clear articulation of how that legal advocacy for the child is best delivered.
Our Team: We plan to engage with everyone committed to learning about how best to advocate for children. Don Duquette is very excited about the core team that has been assembled to carry out this mission. Our project includes some of the nation’s leading researchers, practitioners, and evaluators. Our Child Advocacy Law Clinic of the University of Michigan Law School is the oldest child welfare law clinic in the nation, where we combine practical, hands-on advocacy with sophisticated law and policy analysis. Colleagues Frank Vandervort and Vivek Sankaran will assist in the effort. Our main partner is Planning and Learning Technologies, Inc. of Arlington, VA, led by Karl Ensign, who will oversee the assessment and evaluation project components. Our other partners include the American Bar Foundation, the leading research institute for the empirical study of law, legal institutions and legal processes in the United States; NACC, of course; and KidsVoice of Pittsburgh, nationally recognized for its pioneering interdisciplinary approach to child advocacy and for its sophisticated case management technology. Author, trainer, and advocate Ann Haralambie will also assist us. Attached is our logic model that summarizes our approach and objectives for reaching these goals.
Advisory Board: In addition we will recruit a national advisory board for guidance and direction as we implement this project. This is a collaborative project with the Children's Bureau and they will be very active in guiding and overseeing our efforts.