ABSTRACT
This chapter identifies the useful way to think about well-being, describes a corresponding approach to the analysis of observational data, and presents the results in a way that informs child welfare policy and practice. The common-sense appeal of considering well-being as a key outcome for the child welfare system may be confounded by the practical challenges of incorporating it into an accountability framework. The bio-ecological perspective on human development has framed much of the knowledge and research on children in the last few decades. Bio-ecological/life course perspectives encourage age-differentiated analyses of maltreatment and foster care placement. The interest is empirical inasmuch as existing national child welfare data are observational and the public health perspective provides a rationale for imbuing observational data with relevance for policy analysis and decision making. Developmental trajectories relate to normative, ontogenetic development and are modified by the child's family and community contexts. Maltreatment trajectories refer to the course of maltreatment in the family context.
