Child, Youth & Family
The CYF team works in the fields of child welfare, social services, education, and juvenile justice. From rigorous evaluation to consultation, we aim to shape the future of programs and policies that impact children, youth, and families.
Hands-on, flexible support
Our team works with federal, state, and local partners to develop, evaluate, and enhance services and supports for individuals and families. We make our impact by providing evaluation, consultation, and system assessment services to family-serving and other human service agencies. Our methods range from advanced statistical to mixed methods approaches, often providing training and technical assistance to help agencies manage and evaluate their services — building internal capacity for years to come.
We understand the complex contexts in which programs operate and that our methods must be balanced with real world considerations of cost and provider capacity. As such, we work carefully to select methods that maintain the highest feasible rigor within the context of available resources, and always remain flexible to the changing needs of our clients.
National experts in prevention and kinship support
For decades, we’ve been dedicated to building the evidence-base for programs aimed at improving the safety, permanency, and well-being of children and youth at risk of child welfare involvement. Through our 20+ years evaluating Title IV-E Waiver Demonstrations and, more recently, our work centered around Title IV-E Prevention Plans, we’ve worked closely with states to develop and evaluate programs that were ultimately rated favorably by national and federal clearinghouses – including the Title IV-E Prevention Services Clearinghouse and California Evidence-Based Clearinghouse.
Cross-system engagement and impact
When we focus on a project, we factor in more than just the system in which it sits. We consider how it links up with child welfare, health, education, juvenile justice, disability, housing, and more. Whether we’re designing a program evaluation, consulting on Title IV-E Prevention Plans, or developing resource navigation tools and apps, we always have cross-system services and data in mind. And because we understand the power of coordinated efforts, we work hard to employ collaborative and participatory research approaches in our work.
