Fallon Barbara, Filippelli Joanne, Black Tara, Trocmé Nico, Esposito Tonino
Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work, University of Toronto, 246 Bloor Street West, Toronto, ON M5S 1V4, Canada.
Centre for Research on Children and Families, McGill University, 3506 University Street, Montreal, QC H3A 2A7, Canada.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2017 Oct 14;14(10):1223. doi: 10.3390/ijerph14101223.
Formal university-child welfare partnerships offer a unique opportunity to begin to fill the gaps in the child welfare knowledge base and link child welfare services to the realities of practice. With resources from a knowledge mobilization grant, a formal partnership was developed between the University of Toronto, clinicians, policy analysts, and researchers from child welfare agencies across Ontario. The key objectives of the grant included: (1) enhancing the capacity of service providers to access and analyze child welfare data to inform service and policy decisions; (2) integrating clinical expertise in service and policy decisions; and (3) developing a joint research agenda addressing high-priority knowledge gaps. This partnership was an opportunity to advance the evidence base with respect to service provision in Ontario and to create a culture of knowledge and evidence that would eventually support more complex research initiatives. Administrative data was analyzed for this partnership through the Ontario Child Abuse and Neglect Data System (OCANDS)-the first child welfare data system in Ontario to track child welfare-involved children and their families. Child welfare agencies identified recurrence as an important priority and agency-driven analyses were subsequently conducted on OCANDS generated recurrence Service Performance Indicators (SPI's). Using an urgent versus chronic investigative taxonomy for analyses, findings revealed that the majority of cases did not recur within 12 months and cases identified as chronic needs are more likely to return to the attention of child welfare authorities. One of the key outcomes of the partnership - helping agencies to understand their administrative data is described, as are considerations for next steps for future partnerships and research.
正式的大学与儿童福利机构合作关系提供了一个独特的契机，可着手填补儿童福利知识库中的空白，并将儿童福利服务与实际情况相联系。借助知识动员拨款提供的资源，多伦多大学、临床医生、政策分析师以及安大略省各地儿童福利机构的研究人员之间建立了正式的合作关系。该拨款的主要目标包括：（1）提高服务提供者获取和分析儿童福利数据以指导服务和政策决策的能力；（2）将临床专业知识融入服务和政策决策；（3）制定一个联合研究议程，以解决高度优先的知识空白。这种合作关系是一个推进安大略省服务提供方面证据基础的契机，并营造一种知识和证据文化，最终支持更复杂的研究计划。通过安大略省虐待和忽视儿童数据系统（OCANDS）对该合作关系的行政数据进行了分析，OCANDS是安大略省首个追踪涉及儿童福利的儿童及其家庭的儿童福利数据系统。儿童福利机构将复发确定为一个重要优先事项，随后对OCANDS生成的复发服务绩效指标（SPI）进行了机构驱动的分析。使用紧急与慢性调查分类法进行分析，结果显示大多数案件在12个月内没有复发，被确定为慢性需求的案件更有可能再次引起儿童福利当局的关注。描述了该合作关系的一个关键成果——帮助各机构了解其行政数据，以及对未来合作关系和研究后续步骤的考虑。
