Marna Miller - March 2004

The 2001 Washington State Legislature directed the Institute to investigate how reductions in court delays may influence foster care costs. In the courts, child dependency cases range in duration from a single day to five years or more. Over the course of a case, children may be placed in multiple, temporary settings. Logic suggests that the longer a dependency is open in the court, the more time children will spend in state-paid foster care. Court continuances (the postponement of hearings or trials) could be expected to extend the life of a court case, and hence, the time a child spends in foster care. This study examines how court continuances in dependency cases affect the time children spend in state foster care, and also examines the effects of continuances on the length of dependency and termination cases.

Marna Miller - February 2004

In 2001, the Washington State Legislature adopted recommendations from the Professional Educator Standards Board (PESB) and created three alternative routes to certification for prospective teachers in Washington. The legislation directed the Institute to evaluate the programs and produce a final report by December 2004. This update describes the evaluation steps undertaken in 2003 and plans for 2004.

Steve Lerch - February 2004

In response to a performance audit of the state’s mental health system, the 2001 Washington State Legislature passed ESSB 5583, which calls for the development of an outcomes-based performance system to be implemented by the Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS). This legislation also directs the Institute to conduct a longitudinal study of long-term state-funded mental health client outcomes. This report describes the research steps involved in the longitudinal study and provides preliminary information on the sample of individuals to be analyzed.

Marna Miller - February 2004

The Dependency and Termination Equal Justice Committee (DTEJC) was established by the Office of Public Defense, at legislative direction, to study several aspects of child dependency cases. To inform itself about service providers and practices of the courts and of DSHS, the DTEJC elected to survey five populations. This report focuses on the survey of chemical dependency treatment providers.

For reports on related surveys click on the links below.

Court Survey
Evaluator Survey
Service Provider Survey
Social Work Supervisor Survey
Timing of Services to Parents

Marna Miller - February 2004

The Dependency and Termination Equal Justice Committee (DTEJC) was established by the Office of Public Defense, at legislative direction, to study several aspects of child dependency cases. To inform itself about service providers and practices of the courts and of DSHS, the DTEJC elected to survey five populations. This report focuses on the survey of the juvenile courts.

For reports on related surveys click on the links below.

Chemical Dependency Treatment Provider Survey
Evaluator Survey
Service Provider Survey
Social Work Supervisor Survey
Timing of Services to Parents

Marna Miller - February 2004

The Dependency and Termination Equal Justice Committee (DTEJC) was established by the Office of Public Defense, at legislative direction, to study several aspects of child dependency cases. To inform itself about service providers and practices of the courts and of DSHS, the DTEJC elected to survey five populations. This report focuses on the survey of facilities that provide psychological evaluations of parents in child abuse and neglect cases.

For reports on related surveys click on the links below.

Chemical Dependency Treatment Provider Survey
Court Survey
Service Provider Survey
Social Work Supervisor Survey
Timing of Services to Parents

Marna Miller - February 2004

The Dependency and Termination Equal Justice Committee (DTEJC) was established by the Office of Public Defense, at legislative direction, to study several aspects of child dependency cases. To inform itself about service providers and practices of the courts and of DSHS, the DTEJC elected to survey five populations. This report focuses on the survey of a subset of facilities that provide services other than chemical dependency to parents in child abuse and neglect cases.

For reports on related surveys click on the links below.

Chemical Dependency Treatment Provider Survey
Court Survey
Evaluator Survey
Social Work Supervisor Survey
Timing of Services to Parents

Marna Miller - February 2004

The Dependency and Termination Equal Justice Committee (DTEJC) was established by the Office of Public Defense, at legislative direction, to study several aspects of child dependency cases. To inform itself about service providers and practices of the courts and of DSHS, the DTEJC elected to survey five populations. This report focuses on the survey of social work supervisors.

For reports on related surveys click on the links below.

Chemical Dependency Treatment Provider Survey
Court Survey
Evaluator Survey
Service Provider Survey
Timing of Services to Parents

Marna Miller - February 2004

The Dependency and Termination Equal Justice Committee (DTEJC) was established by the Office of Public Defense, at legislative direction, to study several aspects of child dependency cases. To inform itself about service providers and practices of the courts and of DSHS, the DTEJC elected to survey five populations. This report draws information from the surveys for a visual display of times required to complete various services and mandated court timelines.

For reports on the individual surveys, click on the links below.

Chemical Dependency Treatment Provider Survey
Court Survey
Evaluator Survey
Service Provider Survey
Social Work Supervisor Survey

Robert Barnoski - January 2004

In 1997, the Washington State Legislature passed the Community Juvenile Accountability Act (CJAA) to reduce juvenile crime by establishing “research-based” programs in the state’s juvenile courts. The CJAA funded the nation’s first statewide experiment concerning research-based programs for juvenile justice. Because selected treatment programs had already been researched elsewhere in the United States, usually as small scale pilot projects, the question here was whether they work when applied statewide in a “real world” setting. This report indicates that the answer to this question is yes— when the programs are competently delivered.