Research needed to improve the prospects for children in out-of-home placement

This paper identifies several priorities for organizing research that is needed to significantly improve the prospects for children in out-of-home care. These priorities include (1) program evaluation research on services provided to children in out-of-home care, (2) organizational studies of various aspects of the child welfare system and the relationships between child welfare services and other systems, (3) research on child welfare decision making, (4) examination of the role of race and ethnicity in outcomes of care, (5) attention to recurring methodological issues. Accomplishing this research agenda will most likely require a sustained federal commitment to funding research on out-of-home care.