Contracting for Child and Family Services A Mission-Sensitive Guide This report explores purchase-of-service contracting and managed care contracting (including the field’s newest option, network creation) as a means of privatizing child welfare services. It helps state and local agencies — and potential service providers — navigate contracts and the contracting process in this new era of serving America’s children and families. Read More
By the Numbers the role of data and information in detention reform This report offers examples and tips for using data and information technology to advance juvenile detention reform efforts. It is part of a series that shares lessons from a multi-year, multi-site project conducted by the Annie E. Casey Foundation. Called the Juvenile Detention Alternatives Initiative (JDAI), the project aimed to do just what its name suggests: Identify more effective, efficient alternatives to juvenile detention. Read More
Improving Conditions of Confinement in Secure Juvenile Detention Centers This report presents a discussion of what was learned from the Juvenile Detention Alternatives Initiative (JDAI) about improving and maintaining safe, humane institutions. Attention is given to the impact of inadequate conditions. It also offers guiding principles, based on JDAI, for improving institutional conditions, developing and conducting an assessment, improving practices, and maintaining ongoing assessment. Read More
New Hope for Low-Income Workers Improving Economic and Child Outcomes in Milwaukee In 1994, Milwaukee implemented a two-year program, New Hope, that provided low-income working families with a flexible package of earnings supplements and services. The results? Glorious. Parents benefited from a boost in employment and earnings. Equally noteworthy: Their kids — specifically their sons — had fewer behavioral issues and better academic success. Read More
AdvoCasey: Summer 1999 “Above Average” Welfare Reform This edition of AdvoCasey examines the ripple of changes sparked by the landmark federal welfare law of 1996. Readers will learn about an array of financial incentive programs — in both the United States and Canada — that are helping welfare recipients secure work and bigger paychecks. A smaller story reviews one of America’s most effective anti-poverty programs, the Earned Income Tax Credit. Read More
Resident Involvement in Community Change The Experiences of Two Initiatives Involving people in local neighborhood change creates problems as well as better solutions, as this report demonstrates through an examination of Casey's Plain Talk and Community Change for Youth Development philanthropy projects. Read More
Consider the Alternatives planning and implementing detention alternatives This report urges juvenile justice officials to abandon detention’s standard all-or-nothing approach in favor of a new option: A continuum of alternatives that maintains public safety, cuts costs and reduces overcrowding — all while offering more efficient, appropriate services to America’s youth. Consider the Alternatives is part of a multi-year, multi-site project conducted by the Annie E. Casey Foundation. Called the Juvenile Detention Alternatives Initiative (JDAI), the project aimed to do just what its name suggests: Identify more effective, efficient alternatives to juvenile detention. Read More
Effective Language for Communicating Children’s Issues This report addresses the media’s depictions of children’s issues and outlines the effective use of strategic communications to change the way these issues are framed in order to support policy and outreach work. Read More
Controlling the Front Gates Effective Admission Policies and Practices This report is packed with examples and suggestions to help jurisdictions to make fair, efficient and rational decisions about the detention center admission process. It is part of a series that shares lessons learned from a multi-year, multi-site project conducted by the Annie E. Casey Foundation. Called the Juvenile Detention Alternatives Initiative (JDAI), the project aimed to do just what its name suggests: Identify more effective, efficient alternatives to juvenile detention. Read More
Collaboration and Leadership in Juvenile Detention This report explores the roles of teamwork and leadership in advancing complex detention reform. It shares the journeys, regrets and field-tested tips of sites participating in Casey's Juvenile Detention Alternatives Initiative (JDAI). Read More
