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May 2016Vol. 17, No. 3Child Welfare and Education System Collaboration Synthesis

In 2011, the Children's Bureau funded 10 projects through Child Welfare - Education System Collaborations to Increase Educational Stability grants. The goals of the 17-month infrastructure-building grants were to support collaborative initiatives among State, local, or Tribal child welfare agencies and education systems to improve educational stability and permanency outcomes for youth in foster care ages 10 to 17 years. A new synthesis published on the Child Welfare Information Gateway website discusses findings that the grantees included in their final project and/or evaluation reports.

Grantees focused on organizational-level activities intended to coordinate systems and encourage knowledge transfer across the systems. Examples of key program interventions and activities include service integration procedures, training, development of oversight committees and leadership teams, improved data-sharing capabilities, and designated staff to work with youth in foster care. The projects shared several common evaluation challenges, such as difficulty in accessing certain kinds of data (e.g., baseline and child-specific data), and difficulty in obtaining information from stakeholders and collaborative partners. Overall, however, evaluations suggest some improvements in communication and collaboration among child welfare, education, and system partners.

To learn more about the projects and to read the synthesis, visit the Information Gateway website at https://www.childwelfare.gov/topics/management/funding/funding-sources/federal-funding/cb-funding/cbreports/edcollaborations/.