Child welfare research: How adequate are the data?

This paper provides an overview of recent efforts to improve data collectio n on the child welfare population, with particular emphasis on measuring ou tcomes for children at risk of abuse or neglect and at risk of placement, a s well as children in foster care, kinship care, and adoption. Although a g reat deal of progress has been made in improving the data available to stud y the child welfare population, further improvements are needed if we are t o assess the performance of the child welfare system in promoting safety, p ermanency, and child and family well-being.