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Permanency Roundtables: Challenging Barriers to Permanency for Children in Out-of-Home Care

Permanency Roundtables are an important component of Allegheny County’s strategy to improve permanency outcomes for children in child welfare out-of-home placements. Roundtables engage practitioners, caseworkers, providers and permanency experts in […]

Inua Ubuntu: An Assessment of Implementation, Program Process and Child Welfare Involvement

Inua Ubuntu, designed to provide culturally-based intervention with a goal of reducing the rate of out-of-home placement for African American males, was implemented by the Allegheny County Department of Human […]

Psychotropic Medication Use by Allegheny County Youth in Out-of-Home-Placement

Focus groups with youth and caregivers identified a number of concerns about the way in which psychotropic medications were prescribed to youth in a child welfare out-of-home placement. A quantitative […]

Brief Wraparound Residential Model and In-Community Stabilization Process: Description, Implementation and Future Plans

The Brief Wraparound Residential model emphasizes working with youth on what they need to be successful following their stay in residential care; that is, at home, in school and in […]

Family Group Decision Making: A Quantitative Analysis of the Impact on Out-of-Home Placement

Family Group Decision Making (FGDM), an intervention designed in New Zealand to improve safety and permanency for maltreated children, was implemented in Allegheny County in 1999.  From 2001 through 2010, […]

From Almshouses to Excellence: A History of Child Welfare in Allegheny County

To commemorate 50 years during which Allegheny County government has been responsible for providing public child welfare services, DHS commissioned this historical overview of child welfare in the county. Click […]

Quality Services Review

PA Department of Public Welfare Click to read the full report.

Aging Up, Not Out: Moving Youth from Foster Care to Employability

When youth in child welfare reach their 18th or 21st birthday, they are no longer eligible for child welfare services.  Unfortunately, they are also too often unprepared emotionally, financially or […]

Aging Out of the Child Welfare System in Allegheny County: Descriptive Analysis, Challenges and Implications

Eighty percent of youth in child welfare foster care leave the child welfare system within six months of turning 18.  Unfortunately, many are not ready for the challenges of adulthood.  […]

Showing the Way Out: Youth Support Partners Use their Personal Experiences to Support Other Youth

In 2008, the Allegheny County Department of Human Services hired four Youth Support Partners (YSP), young adults with lived experiences in human services, to serve as positive role models and […]

Residential Enhancement Service Planning Opportunities for New Directions Program (RESPOND): A Program Evaluation

RESPOND is an intensive treatment program designed to serve youth whose multiple needs (intellectual disability and significant behavioral challenges) are not able to be met through DHS’s current array of […]

The Role of Race in Child Welfare System Involvement in Allegheny County

This study documents the service paths of African American and white children following referral to Allegheny County child welfare services, to identify and examine the factors related to service disparities. […]

Time for Reform: Investing in Prevention, Keeping Children Safe At Home

Kids Are Waiting (KAW), the Pew Charitable Trusts Explores how the child welfare system in Allegheny County focuses on prevention services to successfully reduce the number of children in out-of-home […]