New Books from Urban Institute Press

Meet the Author

Olivia Golden, author of Reforming Child Welfare, answers five questions about the book and her time as former director of the District of Columbia's Child and Family Services Agency. In the book, Golden analyzes the strategies behind significant reform in troubled child welfare systems—recounting her own experience and that of administrators in Alabama and Utah in the context of national research about children and public management. Her research, insights, and practical recommendations can also be applied to reform of other public agencies in challenging times.

Golden: People may not admit to thinking reform is easy, but they do often say there's just one thing to fix—high caseloads or scant resources or social workers who just don't care enough. This thinking demands instant results, and that’s counterproductive.

The other myth is that reform is impossible. And it's not. Families' lives can get better and cities and states can improve the results they achieve for children and families. I give some examples of both in the book. Alabama, Utah, and the District were able to serve children and families far better by the end of the reform periods I studied. They had a lot left to do, but children were much better off in important and measurable ways. For example, social workers visited children far more frequently, knew children and families better, and worked more closely with them and people important in their lives to develop plans for their futures. More services became available and children in foster care were less likely to live in big institutions and more likely to live in families. more