Skip to main content
Key Specialties
Cardiology Diabetology Endocrinology Gastroenterology Geriatrics and Gerontology Gynecology and Obstetrics Hematology Infectious Disease Internal Medicine Nephrology Neurology Oncology Pediatrics Respiratory Medicine Rheumatology Surgery
Congress Coverage
2024 ACC Congress 2023 ESMO Congress 2023 EASD Congress 2023 ERS Congress 2023 ESC Congress
Clinical Collections
Advances in Alzheimer’s

At a glance: The STEP trials

A round-up of the STEP phase 3 clinical trials evaluating semaglutide for weight loss in people with overweight or obesity.
ADVANCED SEARCH
Log in
Top
Administration and Policy in Mental Health and Mental Health Services Research
Published in: Administration and Policy in Mental Health and Mental Health Services Research 1/2011

01-01-2011 | Original Paper

A Strategy for Assessing Costs of Implementing New Practices in the Child Welfare System: Adapting the English Cost Calculator in the United States

Authors: Patricia Chamberlain, Lonnie R. Snowden, Courtenay Padgett, Lisa Saldana, Jennifer Roles, Lisa Holmes, Harriet Ward, Jean Soper, John Reid, John Landsverk

Published in: Administration and Policy in Mental Health and Mental Health Services Research | Issue 1/2011

Login to get access

Abstract

In decisions to adopt and implement new practices or innovations in child welfare, costs are often a bottom-line consideration. The cost calculator, a method developed in England that can be used to calculate unit costs of core case work activities and associated administrative costs, is described as a potentially helpful tool for assisting child welfare administrators to evaluate the costs of current practices relative to their outcomes and could impact decisions about whether to implement new practices. The process by which the cost calculator is being adapted for use in US child welfare systems in two states is described and an illustration of using the method to compare two intervention approaches is provided.
Literature
Aarons, G., Hurlburt, M., & Horwitz, S. M. (2010). Advancing a conceptual model of evidence-based practice implementation in public service sectors. Administration and Policy in Mental Health and Mental Health Services Research (in press).
Barnett, W. S. (1993). Economic evaluation of home visiting programs. The Future of Children, 3, 95.CrossRef
Barth, R. P., & Reid-Johnson, M. (2000). Outcomes after child welfare services: Implications for the design of performance measures. Children and Youth Services Review, 22, 763–787.CrossRef
Beecham, J. (2000). Unit costs - not exactly child’s play. A guide to estimating unit costs for children’s social care. University of Kent: Joint publication from the Department of Health, Dartington Social Research Unit and the Personal Social Services Research Unit.
Chamberlain, P. (2003). The Oregon multidimensional treatment foster care model: Features, outcomes, and progress in dissemination. In S. Schoenwald & S. Henggeler (Series Eds.) Moving evidence-based treatments from the laboratory into clinical practice. Cognitive and Behavioral Practice, 10(4), 303–312.
Chamberlain, P., Price, J., Leve, L., Laurent, H., Landsverk, J., & Reid, J. (2008). Prevention of behavior problems for children in foster care: Outcomes and mediation effects. Prevention Science, 9(1), 17–27.CrossRefPubMed
Compton, W. M. (2006, May). Enhancing drug abuse prevention through type 1 and 2 translation research. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Society of Prevention Research, San Antonio, TX.
Courtney, M. E. (1995). Reentry to foster care of children returned to their families. Social Service Review, 69, 226–241.CrossRef
Courtney, M. E. (1998). The costs of child protection in the context of welfare reform. The Future of Children, 8, 88–103.CrossRefPubMed
Curtis, L., & Netten, A. (2005). Unit costs of health and social care 2005. University of Kent, Canterbury: Personal Social Services Research Unit.
Department of Health. (2003). Direct payments guidance. Community care, services for carers and children’s services (direct payments) guidance England. London: Department of Health.
Dishion, T. J., McCord, J., & Poulin, F. (1999). When interventions harm: Peer groups and problem behavior. American Psychologist, 54, 755–764.CrossRefPubMed
Drummond, M. F., Stoddard, G. I., & Torrance, G. W. (1987). Methods for economic evaluation of health care programs. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Fanshel, D., Finch, S. J., & Grundy, J. F. (1990). Foster children in a life course perspective. New York: Columbia University Press.
Farmer, E. (1996). Family reunification with high-risk children: Lessons from research. Children and Youth Services Review, 18, 403–424.CrossRef
Fisher, P. A., Kim, H. K., & Pears, K. C. (2009). Effects of multidimensional treatment foster care for preschoolers (MTFC-P) on reducing permanent placement failures among children with placement instability. Child and Youth Services Review, 31, 541–546.CrossRef
Foster, E., & Holden, E. (2002). Benefit–cost analysis of the child welfare demonstration projects: Understanding the resource implications of the IV–E waivers. Children and Youth Services Review, 24, 431–453.CrossRef
Hoagwood, K., Burns, B. J., Kiser, L., Ringeisen, H., & Schoenwald, S. K. (2001). Evidence-based practice in child and adolescent mental health services. Psychiatric Services, 52, 1179–1189.CrossRefPubMed
Holmes, L., Westlake, D., & Ward, H. (2008) Calculating and comparing the costs of multidimensional treatment foster care, England (MTFCE): Report to the Department for Children, Schools and Families. Loughborough: Centre for Child and Family Research, Loughborough University.
Jackson, S., & Thomas, N. (1999). Children on the move: Stability and continuity for looked after children. Childright, 158, 9–10.
Newton, R., Litrownik, A., & Landsverk, J. (2000). Children and youth in foster care: Distangling the relationship between problem behaviors and number of placements. Child Abuse and Neglect, 24, 1363–1374.CrossRefPubMed
Price, J. M., Chamberlain, P., Landsverk, J., Reid, J., Leve, L., & Laurent, H. (2008). Effects of a foster parent training intervention on placement changes of children in foster care. Child Maltreatment, 13, 64–75.CrossRefPubMed
Rubin, D. M., Alessandrini, E. A., Feudtner, C., Mandell, D. S., Localio, A. R., & Hadley, T. (2004a). Placement changes and emergency department visits in the first year of foster care. Pediatrics, 114, 1354–1360.CrossRef
Rubin, D. M., Alessandrini, E. A., Feudtner, C., Mandell, D. S., Localio, A. R., & Hadley, T. (2004b). Placement stability and mental health costs for children in foster care. Pediatrics, 113, 1136–1341.CrossRef
Smith, D. K. (2004). Risk, reinforcement, retention in treatment and reoffending for boys and girls in multidimensional treatment foster care. Journal of Emotional and Behavioral Disorders, 12, 38–48.CrossRef
van der Kolk, B. A. (1987). The drug treatment of PTSD. Journal of Affective Disorders, 13, 203–213.CrossRefPubMed
Ward, H. (2009). Patterns of instability: Moves within the English care system: Their reasons, contexts and consequences. Children and Youth Services Review, 31, 1113–1118.CrossRef
Ward, H., & Holmes, L. (2008). Calculating the costs of local authority care for children with contrasting needs. Child and Family Social Work, 13(1), 80–90.
Ward, H., Holmes, L., & Soper, J. (2008). Costs and consequences of placing children in care. London: Jessica Kingsley Publishers.
Wells, K., & Guo, S. (1999). Reunification and reentry of foster children. Children and Youth Services Review, 21(4), 273–294.CrossRef
Metadata
Title
A Strategy for Assessing Costs of Implementing New Practices in the Child Welfare System: Adapting the English Cost Calculator in the United States
Authors
Patricia Chamberlain
Lonnie R. Snowden
Courtenay Padgett
Lisa Saldana
Jennifer Roles
Lisa Holmes
Harriet Ward
Jean Soper
John Reid
John Landsverk
Publication date
01-01-2011
Publisher
Springer US
Published in
Administration and Policy in Mental Health and Mental Health Services Research / Issue 1/2011
Print ISSN: 0894-587X
Electronic ISSN: 1573-3289
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10488-010-0318-8

Other articles of this Issue 1/2011

Administration and Policy in Mental Health and Mental Health Services Research 1/2011 Go to the issue

Original Paper

Methodological Issues in Child Welfare and Children’s Mental Health Implementation Research

Original Paper

Advancing a Conceptual Model of Evidence-Based Practice Implementation in Public Service Sectors

Original Paper

Mixed Method Designs in Implementation Research

Original Paper

Toward the Effective and Efficient Measurement of Implementation Fidelity

ORIGINAL PAPER

Design Elements in Implementation Research: A Structured Review of Child Welfare and Child Mental Health Studies