Focusing on Child Welfare Systems: Collaborating With State Legislators on Reform

The focus on child welfare reform, in fact, often stems from a specific tragedy involving a child, changes in political leadership, or the hiring of a new agency administrator. The result is incremental change, some of which, while well intended, can lead agencies in the wrong direction. Moreover, child welfare leaders are expected to undertake reform while collaborating with other social service providers and community groups, balancing the goals of child protection and parental choice, addressing rampant staff turnover, and operating under budget constraints and within the scope of other new social service policy directives.

State legislators clearly are key participants in these reform efforts. In setting the framework for state government, legislators provide policy and programmatic direction and operational funding. They also can help promote collaboration across state government, educate the public about the value of child welfare reform, oversee agency progress, and provide a crucial sounding board for agency staff.

This report provides information to state child welfare agency administrators on effective strategies for using the CFSRs to work more closely with legislators to improve child welfare systems. (Excerpt from Introduction).