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Malcolm Wiener Center Working Papers |
A Lot to Lose: A Call to Rethink What Constitutes “Evidence” in Finding Social Interventions That Work by Katya Fels Smyth and Lisbeth B. Schorr, January 2009 |
Abstract |
A growing emphasis on accountability has led policy makers, funders, practitioners and researchers to demand greater evidence that program models “work” and that public and private dollars invested are generating relevant results that can be directly attributed to the given intervention. The gold standard for making these judgments is presumed to be the experimental–design study. In this paper, the authors suggest that the underlying assumption that everything that “works” can be judged with the same methodology has dramatic negative consequences for the field, for funders, and for those that desperately need high quality programs. The authors describe the characteristics of What It Takes organizations, which their work suggests support lasting change in the lives of highly marginalized and vulnerable people. They describe the ways that experimental methodology is a poor fit for judging the impact of these program models, while they find insufficient use of more appropriate ways of assessing their impact. They identify the risks inherent in the continued privileging of experimental designs over all others, and suggest that the risks are heightened in periods of great economic stress, when the pressure for accountability is increased. The authors suggest a set of starting points for rethinking evaluation to ensure greater accountability without reducing the chances that those who need help the most will have access to programs that support meaningful, lasting change. |
Listening
to Parents: Overcoming Barriers to the Adoption of Children From
Foster Care by Julie Boatright Wilson, Jeff Katz & Rob Geen. January, 2005. |
Abstract |
The
Adoption and Safe Families Act of 1997 (ASFA) codified the right
of children in foster care to achieve a safe and permanent home.
Since its passage, there has been a 79 percent increase in the number
of children adopted from foster care. Surprisingly, the vast majority
of post-ASFA adoptions were by foster parents or relatives of the
children in care. Why so few children are adopted by general applicants
is an important question, particularly for the 131,000 waiting for
permanent homes. We examined this question using federal data (AFCARS),
a state survey, and case record reviews and interviews with parents
and agency staff in three sites. We found a steep attrition rate
as prospective families go from initial call to adoption, and identified
two particularly crucial points in the process. The first is the
prospective parents’ initial call to an agency. This information
call can be an intensely emotional experience for the prospective
adoptive parent, but agencies, faced with the challenge of balancing
recruitment with screening, do not handle it as well as they might.
The second is the placement process. In part his is a result of
the inherent conflict between parents looking for the “right
child” to complete their family and agencies looking for the
“right home” for each child. But we also found great
confusion about how the placement decision is made and what role
the prospective adoptive parents should play in it. Among our recommendations
are an early focus on recruitment rather than screening; documentation
of the adoption process and qualifications for adopting; and, a
separation of screening from training wherever possible. We also
recommend a changing the way initial calls are handled and development
of a buddy system paring prospective adoptive parents with experienced
adoptive parents, and establishment of a process for soliciting,
and incorporating feedback from prospective parents. If we want
to find homes for waiting children, it is absolutely critical that
child welfare agencies develop ways of listening to prospective
parents throughout the adoption process and responding to their
needs and concerns. |
Malcolm Wiener Center Faculty's
Books |
| Christopher Avery |
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| Mary Jo Bane |
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| Linda Bilmes |
The People Factor. (forthcoming FT/Pitman/Prentice Hall) 2004 |
Government by the People. (forthcoming Brookingsl) 2004 |
| George Borjas |
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| Pepper Culpepper |
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| Joseph Kalt |
Current Issues in Native American Research. (Editor - forthcoming) 2004 |
What Can Tribes Do: Strategies and Institutions in American Indian Economic Development. (Editor with Amy L. Besaw and Stephen Cornell- forthcoming University of California Press) 2004 |
Native America at the New Millennium. (forthcoming) 2004 |
| Alexander Keyssar |
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| Jeffrey Liebman |
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| Jane Mansbridge |
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| Joseph Newhouse |
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| Mary Ruggie |
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| Malcolm Sparrow |
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| William Julius Wilson |
The Roots of Racial Tensions: Urban Ethnic Neighborhoods. (forthcoming, Alfred A. Knopf ) |
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© 2009 President and Fellows of Harvard College
Designed by Michael Blackmore
Updated:
January 22, 2009