Measurement issues in child welfare research on permanence

Objectives: Child welfare researchers are tasked with the selection of high quality measures for the study of permanence. Since the United States government created a matrix of outcome measures for assessing child welfare... [ view full abstract ]

Objectives: Child welfare researchers are tasked with the selection of high quality measures for the study of permanence. Since the United States government created a matrix of outcome measures for assessing child welfare agency performance, many researchers in the United States adopt these outcomes measures when studying the concept of permanence. Despite the importance of high quality measurement, little attention is paid to the validity of these measures. In response to this need, this project reviewed the commonly used measures of placement stability in out-of-home care and reunification with biological families.

Method: A preliminary examination of these outcome measures was conducted. This examination consisted of a literature review using the Academic Search Premier database. Search terms included “measurement” and various keywords that represent two dimensions of permanence: reunification and placement stability.

Results: The literature points to a number of complexities within these outcome measures. One of these complexities involves timing specifications. Many researchers measure reunification within the child’s first year in out-of-home care, however, a variety of options exist for the time span used to identify and code reunification. In terms of placement stability, placement moves in the initial period of out-of-home care are sometimes excluded from the count. Another complexity involves the types of placement settings included in the count and whether all placements, such as a time-limited treatment facility, should be included.

Conclusion: Researchers have many important decisions to make when selecting a measure of permanence. Statistical testing is needed to identify whether the correlates of permanence vary in strength and significance when different specifications for timing and placement type are used. Further, the field should carefully consider what they are intending to measure in regards to permanence and whether alternate measures, particularly those that rely on the child’s sense of permanence, should be used.