Fostering Accountability presents a model of child welfare decision making that holds public officials answerable for the integrity and validity of the actions they take on behalf of the children and families in their care. It operationalizes the concept of results-oriented accountability, which demands that administrators and practitioners show valid evidence of their success in improving child and family outcomes, not merely demonstrate mechanical procedural compliance.
Drawing on the experiences of directors, staff, and evaluators, this timely and practical book describes the emergence of results-oriented accountability in child welfare with a special focus on the editors' role in establishing a university-agency research partnership under a federal consent decree. Chapters elaborate on the five successive stages of the results-oriented accountability framework-outcomes monitoring, data analysis, research review, evaluation, and quality improvement-and provide examples of applications of each stage for agency managers. By refocusing the emphasis on developing policies based on agency data, instead of purely reactive approaches that grasp at solutions and often fall short, Fostering Accountability guides administrators in monitoring outcomes, using evidence to select interventions to enhance results, and applying management strategies to evaluate and improve these efforts.
The result is a pragmatic implementation guide for administrators seeking to bring safety, stability, continuity, permanence, and well-being to the lives of abused and neglected children in the United States.

This important book is the first to make an explicit link between management practices and service outcomes in social welfare agencies. Managing for Service Effectiveness in Social Welfare Organizations is based on the premise that the primary responsibility and distinctive competency of social welfare management is delivering high quality, effective services to clients. Collectively, the book's esteemed contributors have clearly presented a model of administration founded on concepts and strategies for connecting managerial action with service effectiveness. The sections of the book correspond to the core functions and tasks in an effective approach to management, including measuring performance, program and organizational design, managing people, managing information, managing environmental relations, and the ethics of managing for effectiveness.

Textbook of Social Administration equips social programs managers with the skills they need to produce mutually desired outcomes for their consumers/clients and for their staff. This comprehensive resource is a how-to guide to developing the management abilities needed to maintain an effective client-centered approach by using a social programs framework that uses information, personnel, and additional resources to support and direct the interaction between social workers and their clients. How does a social administrator structure an organization so that consumers achieve desired benefits and the work still gets done in an efficient manner? This hands-on, practical guide shows how, demonstrating both the basic principles of consumer/client-centered management through a micro-skills approach and effective personnel management that produces satisfied workers-and consumers. Textbook of Social Administration demystifies human services management with a simple but powerful approach that is both passionate and informed. Textbook of Social Administration includes: frameworks for organizing social administration skills strategies for initiating change through persuasion principles of consumer-centered management the elements of the social program analytic framework framework requirements for goals, objectives, and expectations helping behaviors examples of program elements that enhance consumer benefits applying the wrap-around approach to school-based mental health services managing information selecting and measuring performance indicators personnel management fiscal management the inverted hierarchy and much more Textbook of Social Administration is essential as a classroom resource for social work students interested in administration and as a professional resource for administrators in social service agencies.

Textbook of Social Administration equips social programs managers with the skills they need to produce mutually desired outcomes for their consumers/clients and for their staff. This comprehensive resource is a how-to guide to developing the management abilities needed to maintain an effective client-centered approach by using a social programs framework that uses information, personnel, and additional resources to support and direct the interaction between social workers and their clients. How does a social administrator structure an organization so that consumers achieve desired benefits and the work still gets done in an efficient manner? This hands-on, practical guide shows how, demonstrating both the basic principles of consumer/client-centered management through a micro-skills approach and effective personnel management that produces satisfied workers-and consumers. Textbook of Social Administration demystifies human services management with a simple but powerful approach that is both passionate and informed. Textbook of Social Administration includes: frameworks for organizing social administration skills strategies for initiating change through persuasion principles of consumer-centered management the elements of the social program analytic framework framework requirements for goals, objectives, and expectations helping behaviors examples of program elements that enhance consumer benefits applying the wrap-around approach to school-based mental health services managing information selecting and measuring performance indicators personnel management fiscal management the inverted hierarchy and much more Textbook of Social Administration is essential as a classroom resource for social work students interested in administration and as a professional resource for administrators in social service agencies.

This important book is the first to make an explicit link between management practices and service outcomes in social welfare agencies. Managing for Service Effectiveness in Social Welfare Organizations is based on the premise that the primary responsibility and distinctive competency of social welfare management is delivering high quality, effective services to clients. Collectively, the book s esteemed contributors have clearly presented a model of administration founded on concepts and strategies for connecting managerial action with service effectiveness. The sections of the book correspond to the core functions and tasks in an effective approach to management, including measuring performance, program and organizational design, managing people, managing information, managing environmental relations, and the ethics of managing for effectiveness.