Linking Research and Practice

We engage in the full range of prevention and intervention research to improve outcomes for vulnerable children and families.

Research Projects

Strive

Strive is a set of new parent support and education programs being designed specifically for parents involved in the child welfare system
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Connecting

Connecting aims to improve bonds between teens and foster parents, which in turn can make teens less vulnerable to risky behaviors. So far, the program has showed promising results.
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Alliance for Child Welfare Excellence

The Alliance strengthens the professional expertise of social workers and community members by sharing curricula, delivery methods and evaluation tools.
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Foster Care and Education Research

This study examines how foster care can affect a child's educational outcomes, and whether school transitions or foster care has a greater overall impact on a child.
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Our Approach to Research

We work collaboratively with external partners to generate rigorous and practical knowledge that informs the fields of policy, practice, and research. We focus on research related to children and families who are at risk for or who are currently involved with the child welfare system in Washington State. 

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Recent Publications

Parenting Stress Among Child Welfare Involved Families

Parenting stress for child welfare involved families is caused by many factors, including mental health and food insecurity. This study examines predictors of stress for parents receiving in-home services and those with children in out-of-home care.

A Randomized Controlled Trial of a Parent Management Training Program for Incarcerated Parents

Children of incarcerated parents are twice as likely as their peers to exhibit antisocial behavior problems. The Parent Child Study compares outcomes for incarcerated parents who undergo Parent Management Training versus services as usual.

Relationship Processes and Resilience in Children with Incarcerated Parents

This volume presents findings from five new studies that focus on child- or family-level resilience processes in children with parents currently or recently incarcerated in jail or prison.

Research Blog Posts

Foster Care

Strive: Where Are We Today?

When we started on the path of developing an open source parenting program, we could only hope that Strive would become what it is today. We still have a lot of work to do, but one thing we know for sure is: we’ve tapped into something that everyone seems desperate for.
Apr 19, 2016
Budget & Funding

POC's Poverty & Child Welfare Forum

On December 8, 2015, POC hosted the Poverty & Child Welfare Forum, which brought together practitioners, advocates, researchers, and others engaged in child welfare and anti-poverty work in Washington state.
Nov 19, 2015