• About Empirically-supported Practices
  Empirically-supported practices are also referred to as evidence-based and science-based practices. The terms refer to any intervention that has been identified as having research data generated using methods that meet scientific standards and demonstrate a level of efficacy deemed worthy of application and evaluation of effectiveness on a large scale. This article from the Center for Mental Health in Schools at the University of California, Los Angeles looks at the connection between research and "real world" interventions.

• Research Based Programs, Practices and Principles Support Children, Youth, and Families
  This bulletin from Oregon State University explains what is meant by research based programs, practices, and principles, and the differences between proven programs and practices, promising programs and practices, and guiding principles.

• Evidence-Based Programs to Prevent Children from Entering and Remaining in the Child Welfare System: Benefits and Costs for Washington
  In this 2008 report, the Washington State Institute for Public Policy studies three basic questions: Is there evidence that specific programs "work" to reduce the likelihood of children entering and remaining in the child welfare system? If so, do benefits outweigh program costs? Finally, what would be the total net gain to Washington if these evidence-based programs were implemented more widely?

• Briefs for Families on Evidence-Based Practices
  Parents rarely have access to research-based interventions. These briefs reflect the Center for Effective Collaboration and Practice's commitment to provide families with useful and usable information about evidenced-based practices regarding the development and adjustment of children with or at risk of developing serious emotional disturbance.

• An Effective Child Welfare System and Evidence-Based Practice for the Child Welfare System
  This monograph from the National Family Preservation Network is about Allegheny County Department of Human Services in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The monograph describes why Allegheny County's system is effective and also includes a list of 21 evidence-based practices and programs that have been found effective, or show promise of being effective, in the child welfare system.

• Emerging Practices in the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect
  Published as a component of the Child Abuse Prevention Initiative administered by the Office on Child Abuse and Neglect, this study identifies evidence-based effective practices in the field of child abuse prevention. Exemplary prevention programs were nominated for the project and reviewed by an advisory group of experts. The report provides an overview of child abuse prevention and describes each of the selected programs.

• Evaluating the Effectiveness of Strategies for Preventing Violence: Early Childhood Home Visitation
  On the basis of strong evidence of effectiveness, the independent, nonfederal Task Force on Community Preventive Services recommends early childhood home visitation for prevention of child abuse and neglect in families at risk for maltreatment.

• Guide for Child Welfare Administrators on Evidence Based Practice
  This document, a collaborative effort between the National Association of Public Child Welfare Administrators (NAPCWA) and the Chadwick Center for Children, provides a common language and framework for understanding the conditions, challenges, and opportunities of evidence based practice in child welfare.

• The Move to Evidence Based Practice: How Well Does it Fit Child Welfare Services?
  Child welfare services are engaged in examining and applying concepts from evidence based practice. This paper provides background on evidence based practice in child welfare and suggests the areas of least and greatest fit between the methods of evidence based practice and CWS. Implications for the emergence of more evidence based approaches to CWS are forwarded. Suggestions for social work education are also offered.

• Research-to-Practice Briefs
  Child Trends has published a series of research briefs that address adopting, sustaining, implementing and replicating evidence-based practices. Find these and research briefs in other areas at the link above.

• Growing Research in Practice: An Innovative Partnership Model
  This report from the Families Commission in New Zealand describes a program which aimed to help develop a culture of inquiry among practitioners in social service agencies in Auckland by developing strategies and resources to strengthen research-mindedness and related activity. GRIP worked with nine social service agencies to have them explore research questions of immediate concern to practitioners. While all the projects were ultimately about improving services to clients, particularly families, they took different approaches.
  
  
• Implementing Evidence-Based Practice in Treatment Foster Care: A Resource Guide
  The guide by The Foster Family-based Treatment Association (FFTA) highlights valuable information, references, resources, and tools for implementing Evidence-based Practices (EBPs) in Treatment Foster Care (TFC) service settings. The Resource Guide identifies specific models, interventions, and tools that TFC providers can use to deliver effective services to the children, youth, and families in their care. It also provides “how-to” information to help TFC providers successfully implement desired EBPs in their programs.
  
  
• Using Qualitative Data in Program Evaluation: Telling the Story of a Prevention Program
   This resource from FRIENDS National Resource Center for Community Based Child Abuse Prevention was developed for program administrators, managers, direct service practitioners and others as they expand and enhance current and future evaluation efforts. It is important to use qualitative evaluation techniques to better understand results found in quantitative data. By intentionally and thoughtfully using qualitative evaluation methods in conjunction with quantitative methods, one can understand why certain results were achieved or not achieved, explain unexpected outcomes and inform decisions about modifications to service provision. It can expand and explain the evidence used to demonstrate which practices work and why. The guide describes and defines qualitative evaluation. It also includes practical content on: Getting started in qualitative evaluation; collecting data through interviews, observations, enumeration and sampling, and document review; how to analyze and report on qualitative data; and, how to use qualitative data to make program decisions. The guide contains examples of data collecting activities and reporting and a glossary of terms.
  

Training Curriuclum

• Results Oriented Management in Child Welfare
  This free web-based training for child welfare managers and supervisors consists of 21 separate interactive modules. It covers: using outcome data to inform and target program improvement efforts; understanding and interpreting outcomes performance data; developing effective action plans; establishing a results-oriented organizational culture; learning what the research literature says about factors impacting outcome attainment; and understanding the outcome oriented policy context

PowerPoint Presentation

• Overview of Evidence-Based Practice
  This presentation was given to the National Association of State Foster Care Managers in October, 2007 by Charles Wilson, Executive Director of the Chadwick Center for Children and Families, and sponsored by the California Child Welfare Clearinghouse.

• Evidence-Based Practice Tool
  This web-based tool provides you with easy access to a review of the child welfare research evidence on factors associated with the six major Child and Family Service Review outcome measures, and several possible action steps to consider when designing program improvements as indicated or implicated by the research. Evidence-based practices are those practices, documented in the research literature, that have demonstrated replicable, reliable outcomes. These practices may be direct service practices or administrative/policy practices.

• California Evidence-Based Clearinghouse for Child Welfare
  This website is designed to: serves as an online connection for child welfare professionals, staff of public and private organizations, academic institutions, and others who are committed to serving children and families; provide up-to-date information on evidence-based child welfare practices; and facilitate the utilization of evidence-based practices as a method of achieving improved outcomes of safety, permanency and well-being for children and families involved in the California public child welfare system. Subscribe to their email alerts to receive information about new topical areas and programs added to the website.

• Evidence-Based Program Database
  The Evidence-Based Program Database at Ohio State University is a compilation of quality government, academic, and non-profit lists of evidence-based programs that appear on the World Wide Web and/or in print form. It is meant for practitioners in the health and human services, education, mental health, child and family service, juvenile justice, and other social service systems that seek to change youth behaviors.

• Center for Effective Collaboration and Practice - Child Welfare Issues
  The Center is collaborating with a number of Strategic Partners – clearinghouses, national membership associations, regional resource centers, and other family and education groups – to identify and disseminate information on effective practices. Contact information and program descriptions are available for strategic partner organizations.

• National Registry of Evidence-based Programs and Practices
  NREPP, a service of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) is a searchable database with up-to-date, reliable information on the scientific basis and practicality of interventions. Users, such as community organizations and state and local officials, can perform custom searches to identify specific interventions based upon desired outcomes, target populations and service settings.

• A Guide to Evidence-Based Practices on the Web
  The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration provides this Web Guide to assist the public with simple and direct connections to Web sites that contain information about interventions to prevent and/or treat mental and substance use disorders. The Web Guide provides a list of Web sites that contain information about specific evidence-based practices (EBPs) or provide comprehensive reviews of research findings.

• Research in Practice
  This UK-based project promotes positive outcomes for children and families through the use of research evidence. The group achieves its mission by identifying effective methods of understanding and using research and by providing services to a collaborative network of committed agencies. Their work, developed with and for their partners, includes the website, network exchange, change projects, learning events, and publications.

• Strengthening Families Through Early Care and Education
  The Center for the Study of Social Policy (CSSP) has developed a new strategy to build on evidence-based protective factors for children and families to prevent the occurrence child abuse and neglect. This strategy focuses on building protection for children within their homes and communities and seeks to overcome or mitigate manageable individual causes of child neglect and abuse such as parental isolation, lack of knowledge about child development, and mental, physical, or financial crisis in the family, rather than removing children from their homes.

• Evidence-Based Practices in Adoption
  The Virginia-based Adoption Professionals' Resource website focuses primarily on the adoption of children from foster care. Resources include links for innovative practices and publications.

• Helping America's Youth
  This website provides information about program designs that successfully deal with risky behaviors. You can replicate these strategies to meet your local needs. The Program Tool database contains risk factors, protective factors, and programs that have been evaluated and found to work. It includes 180 evidence-based programs that prevent and reduce delinquency or other youthful problem behaviors.

• Evidence-Based Practice in Child Welfare in the Context of Cultural Competence
  This forum was held in June 2007 at the University of Minnesota to respond to the problem of increasing pressure to demonstrate positive outcomes in child welfare services coupled with rather sparse evidence on what works for the children and families most likely to be served by these agencies. In addition, while children of color are often disproportionately represented in foster care, there is little information about the actual effectiveness of culturally sensitive and culturally competent approaches to practice. The goal of the meeting was to produce a plan to address this problem nationally and to craft pragmatic strategies that could be immediately applied in practice and policy.The proceedings of the meeting are available on this Web site, including links to videos, pod casts, Breeze presentations, and texts of the main portions of the forum. For those wishing to hold a similar discussion in their own agency, community or state, online products will soon include guidelines, instructions, and supporting documents to aid these discussions.

• Northwest Institute for Children and Families
  The Director's Corner of this website includes research summaries on the subject of evidence-based practice.

• Lifecourse Interventions to Nurture Kids Successfully
  LINKS, from Child Trends, summarizes evaluations of out-of-school time programs that work (or not) to enhance children's development, in a user-friendly format for policy makers, program providers, and funders. This approach is built on the concept that child development is a cumulative process that begins before birth and continues into young adulthood