Action Research has three types of projects, to learn more about each type click on the links below.
Child Welfare Reform in New York
Action Research works with many stakeholders in the New York City and New York State child welfare systems, including the New York City Administration for Children’s Services (ACS), the Family Court, advocates for children and parents, private service providers and others working to improve the lives of New York’s children and families. Our projects aim to improve preventive services that help strengthen families and keep children safely in their homes; streamline processes to have children live with safe, loving, and permanent families—with safe reunification the first and best option; expand the foster care provider pool; improve the fiscal models to reward better outcomes; and enhance services and outcomes for older youth in foster care.
Supporting Monitors of Child Welfare Litigation Settlements
Advocates for children and public child welfare agency are engaged frequently in class action litigation. In many states and localities, the parties sign settlement agreements that commit the public agency to undertake reforms and meet performance goals. Action Research supports the monitors appointed to provide neutral assessments of the progress of reforms by analyzing administrative data provided by public agencies and consulting on data and analysis issues.
Evaluating Innovations in Child Welfare
We specialize in evaluations of innovative child welfare programs where we can leverage our expertise in administrative data and understanding of child welfare systems and operations to provide insight on strategies to improve outcomes for children and families. While we use rigorous social science methods in our evaluations, we also have a unique approach to evaluation that focuses on learning and decision-making. We invest in building trusting relationships, draw on knowledge embedded in and around programs, minimize the burden of research, and pay attention to when results from evaluation are most helpful to decision makers.