Pennsylvania Dependency Court Operations: A Data-Driven Assessment
Roberta McCann, MSW
Project Description
With approximately 15,000 Pennsylvania children in out-of-home foster care last year, and many more children living with their birth families under court supervision, the need to identify the most effective and efficient child welfare and legal practices that result in safe and permanent placement is critical. As part of a larger court improvement effort, one of the first actions taken by the court was the development of a statewide data collection and case management system. Currently, all 67 Pennsylvania counties are collecting dependency case-specific court data on 30 performance measurements. However, analysis of this data has not yet been undertaken. Careful, thorough analysis of available court data is necessary to improve local practice and inform ongoing system change efforts. Led by the Office of Children & Families in the Courts (OCFC), which oversees state-wide dependency court efforts, this project will focus on analyzing court data and translating the analysis into well-informed recommendations, clearly and simply articulated, to county dependency judges and the general public.
To accomplish this analysis, Roberta McCann will work with two dependency court data collection systems that were implemented in 2009. With oversight from the OCFC Administrator and existing data analysis staff, she will:
- Verify the integrity of the data collected
- Analyze the data
- Develop and present statistical analysis and interpretation of data reports to judges/local reform teams
- Identify court practices having the greatest positive impacts on child safety, permanence and well-being
- Ceate recommendations to further Pennsylvania’s Dependency Court system reform
The data analysis developed from this project is without precedent and critical to the ongoing system reform efforts, with potentially compelling outcomes for improving dependency court practice and improving child wellbeing.