Study 1
Johnson and Wagner (2005) used a quasi-experimental design to look at the effectiveness of a Structured Decision Making (SDM) support system for foster care cases. The researchers examined whether children entering the foster care system in agencies that were piloting the SDM case management model achieved permanency more quickly than they would have if the new case management procedures had not been implemented. The 3-year evaluation compared the outcome results among 18 counties in Michigan: nine counties that implemented a pilot version of SDM and nine counties that did not.
The nine pilot counties were matched to nine non-pilot counties based on demographic characteristics, including population size, percentage of families in rural areas, percentage of families by race, percentage of families receiving public assistance, and percentage of families below the federal poverty level. Counties were also matched on administrative characteristics of the county’s child welfare agency, such as foster care caseload size, the ratio of direct service cases per foster care worker, and the percentage of county caseload that was managed by private agencies. The counties were comparable on most characteristics. Pilot counties did, however, have a significantly higher number of children initially placed in a shelter home (15.7 percent versus 4.7 percent) instead of a foster home, which could have affected the outcome results since children that are initially placed in foster homes are more likely to attain permanency sooner.
The nine pilot counties had a total of 841 cases. In those cases, the ethnicity of the child was 76 percent white, 18 percent African American, and 5 percent “other”/unknown. In almost half the cases (49.8 percent), the child was between 5 and 14 years old. The nine non-pilot counties had 871 cases. In those cases, the ethnicity of the child was 49 percent white, 44 percent African American, and 7 percent “other”/unknown. In almost 48 percent of the cases, the child was between 5 and 14 years old.
The study looked foster care outcomes in at the counties for an 18-month period prior to implementation of SDM. Preimplementation findings showed that children entering foster care in the pilot counties were no more likely to enter a permanent placement within 15 months of entering foster care then were children in comparison counties. Children in pilot counties were somewhat less likely to return home or be freed for adoption than children in the comparison counties.
The postimplementation period looked at outcomes for children who entered foster care during an 18-month period (from April 1998 through September 1999) with a goal of returning home. The primary outcome measure was a child’s permanency status 15 months after placement (including placement with a relative, foster home, shelter home, or other). Each child was followed for a period of 15 months, which started the date the child entered care. Permanency was considered achieved for a case if the child was reunited with the parents, had entered a permanent placement with another family member, was adopted or freed for adoption by termination of parental rights, or had another permanent arrangement (such as a permanent foster placement agreement).
The study also examined whether children in the pilot counties were more likely to reenter foster care after reunification than those children in the comparison counties. For those children that had returned home from 15 months after placement, data was collected for a 12-month follow-up period, beginning at the time of reunification, to determine if the children reentered foster care.
The study relied on bivariate and multivariate analysis, including logistic regression, which controlled for case characteristics that may have influenced case outcomes. No subgroup analysis was conducted.