Until recently, there were no validated measures of quality practice standards for youth residential programs, thus leaving a gap in the understanding of how residential programs are performing and ways to improve practice. The aim of this research was to test the validity of the Quality Standards Assessment (QSA) for youth residential programs and present evidence in a way that is accessible to practitioners and applicable to daily practice.

In place of the state, a nonprofit association has regulatory authority over about two dozen of the facilities.

New York Times, by Laura C. Morel
Laura C. Morel is examining maternity homes and other social services in Florida as a part of The Times’s Local Investigations Fellowship.

COVID-19 mandates required residential youth care providers to quickly adapt services while adhering to state and local mandates, impacting family visitation, stress, and potential disruption to reunification efforts. This mixed-methods study utilized data from a larger study of residential group homes in one southeastern state, utilizing he Quality Standards Assessment (QSA).

Unregulated homes are proliferating amid abortion restrictions and a housing crunch. Some limit residents’ movements, contacts and day-to-day decisions.

New York Times, by Laura C. Morel

The 2024 extramural research funding program supports research on using the Child and Caregiver Outcomes Using Linked Data (CCOULD) dataset and focusing on policy implications for child welfare and Medicaid services administered by HHS.

Institute for Research on Poverty – UW-Madison (wisc.edu)