Children, Youth and Families
Do Family Support Centers Reduce Maltreatment Investigations? Evidence from Allegheny County
The Center for State Child Welfare Data analyzed Allegheny County data to explore whether the presence of a Family Support Center in a neighborhood is associated with lower child welfare […]
Survey Finds That Most Teens in Foster Care Are Able to Participate in Typical Youth Activities, with Some Challenges for Teens in Group Care
Teens in foster care sometimes face challenges when it comes to getting permission to do things like spending the night at a friend’s house, using the internet, or joining a […]
Moving a Child Welfare System to Be More Affirming of the LGBTQ Community: Strategies, Challenges and Lessons Learned
In an effort to provide affirming services to LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transsexual, queer/questioning) communities involved with Allegheny County’s Department of Human Services (DHS), the first Department-wide LGBTQ work group […]
Youth Who Ran Away from Allegheny County Child Welfare Placements
In Allegheny County in 2016, 73 children in child welfare out-of-home placements ran away. This represents three percent of all children and nine percent of children ages 12 through 18 […]
Single Mothers Living in Poverty
Approximately 40 percent of the families headed by single mothers in Allegheny County are living below the poverty line, while only four percent of two-parent families are living in poverty. […]
Youth Perspectives on Out-of-Home Placement
From 2012 through 2015, 1,255 youth ages 14 through 17 entered into out-of-home placements in Allegheny County. Out-of-home placement settings include foster care, group homes, residential facilities, living with a […]
Adoptions and Involuntary Termination of Parental Rights Cases
This data brief includes information on involuntary termination of parental rights cases and adoptions handled through CYF. TPR petitions and completed adoption data from 2014-2021 were examined in two separate […]
Racial Disproportionality in Allegheny County’s Child Welfare System
A total of 20,190 children were referred to the child welfare system in Allegheny County due to abuse or neglect in 2015. The data in this brief analyzes the number […]
Understanding the Foster Parent Training Experience
Eleven Allegheny County foster care provider agencies formed a training cooperative in order to improve the number and quality of training opportunities for foster parents. After increasing the number and […]
Conferencing and Teaming in Allegheny County: Participant Experience Update
Conferencing and Teaming is the Allegheny County Department of Human Services’ practice model designed to engage child welfare participants, and their natural supports, in a process of family strengthening through […]
An Evaluation of the Family Support Center Network
An evaluation of 25 Allegheny County Family Support Centers looked at the operation and impact of individual Centers as well as the network as a whole, in five specific areas: […]
Conferencing and Teaming – Participants’ Perspectives and Satisfaction
More than 200 families were interviewed about their experience with Conferencing and Teaming meetings. Although most responded positively to the meeting process, only about two-thirds reported that the meeting resulted […]
Child Welfare Leadership Fellows: Using Data to Improve the Lives of Children and Families
Twenty-seven child welfare professionals participated in the first year of the Leadership Fellows program, learning how to use data to 1) identify issues that negatively impact children and families in […]
Families For Teens: Foster Care Recruitment and Support in Allegheny County
When removing a child from home is necessary, a stable foster home is the preferred placement option; unfortunately, adolescents and teenagers are much less likely to find such a home […]
The Impact of Child Welfare System Involvement on School Stability – An Evaluation of Pittsburgh Public School Students
Child welfare out-of-home placements are stressful events, compounded by the fact they may result in a youth changing schools. Research shows mid-year school changes to be disruptive both academically and […]