impact A R e p o r t o f T h e M E N TO R N e t w o r k C h a r i ta b le Fo u n d a t i o n F Y 2 0 1 0
PROOF:
Transforming human services through evidenced-based research When is the best time to do things? Who is the most important one? What is the right thing to do? Russian novelist Leo Tolstoy famously posed these philosophical brain teasers in his 1903 short story “The Three Questions.” In that tale, the powerful Tsar creates a deep connection with his enemy by unwittingly saving his life. Today, literature reaches across time and space to capture the practical dilemmas of the modern human services delivery system. These same three questions nag at caregivers. They nag at policymakers. And they nag at family members. Finite resources, quality concerns and professional ethical imperatives to deliver the best care add a sense of urgency to finding the answers. Consequently, there is a new push to research and document evidenced-based practices. “The whole move toward community-based services has evolved,” explained Sally Bachman, Associate Professor at Boston University’s School of Social Work. “As that evolution has occurred, practitioners in the field are asking the question: ‘How can we do this better?’ There is an acknowledgement that there is something to know.” But acknowledging a need and being able to meet it are often two different things. Enter The MENTOR Network Charitable Foundation. Seeing an opportunity to have a significant impact on the field, the Foundation is funding a landmark study of the policy and financing trends of communitybased child welfare services in all 50 states.
Conducted by Boston University’s School of Social Work, The 50 State Guide to CommunityBased Child Welfare Services will offer policymakers, service providers and advocates up-to-date information on programmatic and financing trends in each state with an emphasis on best practices. Professor Judith Gonyea will serve as the principal investigator and Bachman as the co-principal investigator. “For the first time, states will have the ability to benchmark their own services against those of other states and explore what innovations are happening around the country,” said Dwight Robson, President of the Foundation. “This data will help them move forward with new models of care and service delivery. The Foundation is thrilled to be a catalyst for that kind of change.” The study will place a special emphasis on state financing for children in therapeutic foster care. “Therapeutic foster care provides an important and nuanced intersection of children who are quite vulnerable,” explained Bachman. “They receive services in the child welfare system, and they also have complex needs that require placements in therapeutic settings.”
© 2011 The MENTOR Network Charitable Foundation
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