"... it was such a pleasure to open Reforming Child Welfare by Olivia Golden, just published by the Urban Institute. The book is not only timely and topical, but eminently readable."
—Jonathan Walters, "Reforming in a Whirlwind," Governing, August 11, 2009
“Operating the child welfare system is one of government’s toughest—and saddest—jobs. Unfortunately, the only time the public pays attention to it is after some horrific tragedy happens to a child the system has failed. That is why this clear-eyed look at the system and how to improve it is so welcome. Reading Olivia Golden’s inside view and her reporting on best practices creates a perfect opportunity for policymakers to prevent tragedies, not just react to them.”
—Geoffrey Canada, President and Chief Executive Officer,
Harlem Children’s Zone
“Wow! This is the most important social welfare/public administration book in a generation. Olivia Golden brings the careful rigor of a scholar together with her brilliant experience as an administrator and policymaker at the federal, state, and, most recently, the local level. Her conclusion is straightforward: even the most complex issues of our society—like child welfare services—can be strengthened with a careful mix of leaders, patience, and a disciplined, evidence-based strategy.”
—Donna E. Shalala, President, University of Miami
“Olivia Golden’s firsthand experience turning around a public child welfare system is a sobering reminder of the complexities of reform. Yet she offers hope because we know what needs to be done to improve the lives of children and families. All of us working together can play a role in keeping children safe and in permanent families. Dr. Golden defines the essential steps, partnerships, and strategies required to help our most vulnerable children. We should not delay a moment in responding to her call for action.”
—Marian Wright Edelman, President, Children’s Defense Fund
“Our nation’s child welfare systems struggle with inherent tensions in their goals, with a lack of resources, and with intense but temporary public attention during tragedies. Olivia Golden clearly articulates the many challenges to reforming these systems and to improving other complex public systems in crisis. She draws on the best current thinking in child welfare and other fields such as health care and sends a clear signal that persistent efforts driven by vision, action, and information can pay off. Only someone with her range of experience—including research, advocacy, federal policymaking, and local administration—could pull together this broad and, ultimately, hopeful analysis full of keen insights and useful recommendations.”
—Matthew Stagner, Executive Director, Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago
“Olivia Golden’s Reforming Child Welfare integrates research and practice in a way that no other volume on overcoming implementation challenges has yet done. This book is generously sprinkled with pithy observations, each robust enough to make a significant difference to human service program designers, managers, policymakers, and evaluators. Perhaps because of her broad background in practice, academia, and child welfare and other human services, she has written a book that crosses boundaries and can help troubled agencies onto a pathway to success. Each reader will soon see an abundance of excellent sections to choose from. Across the chapters, this is riveting reading—not just because of the skilled storytelling about turning around child welfare agencies but also because of the convincing observations and recommendations in these pages.”
—Richard P. Barth, Professor and Dean, School of Social Work, University of Maryland
