Growth in Child Abuse Reports and Child Welfare Services Caseloads

Policies creating the permanency planning revolution and accompanying practice changes appear to have resulted in different outcomes for children and families. Students of child welfare, at all levels, know that the impact of policies and practices depends mainly on the sociopolitical context. Indeed, a socioecological framework for understanding families dominates the child welfare field (Germain, 1979; Pecora, Whittaker, Maluccio, Barth, & Plotnick, 1992). Most often, researchers draw on this framework to generate practice implications.