Children, Youth and Families
Using Data from Schools and Child Welfare Agencies to Predict Near-Term Academic Risks
The National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance at the Institute of Education Sciences (US Department of Education) examined data from Allegheny County students to better understand predictors of […]
Youth Aging Out of the Child Welfare System: Analysis of Outcomes
National research shows that young adults transitioning out of foster care into adulthood face more challenges than their peers. This report examines outcomes for Allegheny County young adults who had been […]
Trends in Child Welfare Out-of-Home Placement
This report and related dashboard summarize child welfare placement dynamics in 2008-2017. Data describe children in placement, what types of placements were used, how long children stayed there, and where they went after placement.
Developing Predictive Risk Models to Support Child Maltreatment Hotline Screening Decisions
The Allegheny Family Screening Tool (AFST) is a predictive risk model designed to improve decision-making in Allegheny County’s child welfare system. The tool utilizes hundreds of data elements to predict […]
Progress Towards Building an Affirming and Supportive Child Welfare System: Findings from an Institutional Analysis
In July 2013, the Center for the Study of Social Policy (CSSP) and the Allegheny County Department of Human Services (DHS) launched a partnership to better support child welfare-involved youth […]
Do Family Support Centers Reduce Maltreatment Investigations? Evidence from Allegheny County
The Center for State Child Welfare Data analyzed Allegheny County data to explore whether the presence of a Family Support Center in a neighborhood is associated with lower child welfare […]
Survey Finds That Most Teens in Foster Care Are Able to Participate in Typical Youth Activities, with Some Challenges for Teens in Group Care
Teens in foster care sometimes face challenges when it comes to getting permission to do things like spending the night at a friend’s house, using the internet, or joining a […]
Moving a Child Welfare System to Be More Affirming of the LGBTQ Community: Strategies, Challenges and Lessons Learned
In an effort to provide affirming services to LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transsexual, queer/questioning) communities involved with Allegheny County’s Department of Human Services (DHS), the first Department-wide LGBTQ work group […]
Youth Who Ran Away from Allegheny County Child Welfare Placements
In Allegheny County in 2016, 73 children in child welfare out-of-home placements ran away. This represents three percent of all children and nine percent of children ages 12 through 18 […]
Single Mothers Living in Poverty
Approximately 40 percent of the families headed by single mothers in Allegheny County are living below the poverty line, while only four percent of two-parent families are living in poverty. […]
Youth Perspectives on Out-of-Home Placement
From 2012 through 2015, 1,255 youth ages 14 through 17 entered into out-of-home placements in Allegheny County. Out-of-home placement settings include foster care, group homes, residential facilities, living with a […]
Adoptions and Involuntary Termination of Parental Rights Cases
This data brief includes information on involuntary termination of parental rights cases and adoptions handled through CYF. TPR petitions and completed adoption data from 2014-2021 were examined in two separate […]
Racial Disproportionality in Allegheny County’s Child Welfare System
A total of 20,190 children were referred to the child welfare system in Allegheny County due to abuse or neglect in 2015. The data in this brief analyzes the number […]
Understanding the Foster Parent Training Experience
Eleven Allegheny County foster care provider agencies formed a training cooperative in order to improve the number and quality of training opportunities for foster parents. After increasing the number and […]
Conferencing and Teaming in Allegheny County: Participant Experience Update
Conferencing and Teaming is the Allegheny County Department of Human Services’ practice model designed to engage child welfare participants, and their natural supports, in a process of family strengthening through […]