Past Activities of the Gamble-Skogmo Chair
Dr. Wells participated in a panel discussion at the 2004 Minnesota
Children's Summit. L-R: Geller, Wells, LaFleur, Nguyen.
Research
Preventing Placement Disruptions in Foster Care
Community Partners: PATH Wisconsin Inc. and the University of
Minnesota's Center for Advanced Studies in Child Welfare
The project, funded by the Bremer Foundation, is a year-long research
collaboration aimed at identifying ways of preventing placement
disruptions in foster care. The first phase of the project consisted of
a comprehensive review of the literature on preventing placement
disruptions in foster care. The second phase of the project will focus
on an examination of how the research findings can apply to PATH
Wisconsin's current service delivery and outcome evaluation processes.
PDF of the comprehensive review of
literature
Racial Disparities in the Minnesota Public Child Welfare System
Community Partners: Minnesota Department of Human Services (DHS)
and four Minnesota counties
This study was a continuation of the work begun with the African
American Racial Disparities Committee of the Minnesota DHS. Analysis of
the data from the original case record reading study continued along
with a qualitative study of the information.
Minnesota Child Welfare Research Agenda
This work was done in collaboration with the Minnesota Department of
Human Services, the Center for Advanced Studies in Child Welfare, and
the Children, Youth and Family Consortium With the help of researchers,
agencies, and other industry stakeholders, Minnesota developed a
research agenda to inform researchers and sponsors about what is needed
to help guide future activities and inquiries in child welfare in the
state.
PDF of Child Welfare Research
Agenda abstract
PDF of Minnesota Child Welfare Research
Agenda
Exploration of Child Welfare Case Typologies, Associated Worker
Activities and Case Outcomes
Funded by U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
This study used administrative data to identify clusters of
characteristics that more closely approximated the complexity of cases
seen in the field.
PDF of Case Typologies
Project abstract
Destination 2010 Evaluation
Community Partner: Minneapolis Foundation
This project provided research design, data collection procedures,
data analysis, and reporting for the evaluation of the Destination 2010
program, an initiative funded and administered by the Minneapolis
Foundation, conducted in partnership with the Minneapolis and St. Paul
public school districts. Destination 2010 seeks to enhance high school
graduation rates by supporting students and parents with programs and
referrals and by providing as an incentive a post-secondary scholarship
to the students. Dr. Wells established a formative evaluation of the
initiative to aid in guiding the program as well as reporting on program
outcomes.
PDF of Destination 2010 Evaluation
abstract
Racial Disparities in Foster Care
Community Partner: Minnesota Department of Human Services (DHS),
Minnesota African American Disparities Advisory Committee
This project of the African American Racial Disparities Committee
conducted by the Minnesota DHS and four counties was established to
investigate the overrepresentation of African American children in
foster care. The Minnesota DHS, in collaboration with the African
American Disparities Advisory Committee, conducted a four-county case
record review, for which Dr. Wells provided consultation on the design
and implementation of the study. After the case record review was
completed, Dr. Wells conducted an analysis of the data from the review
and from other state information systems. Her report was presented to
the African American Disparities Advisory Committee in September 2004.
PDF of Racial Disparities Study abstract
Link to the 2005 Report on
Racial Disparities
Title IV-E Eligibility Determination Project
Evaluation
Community Partner: University of Minnesota Eligibility
Determination Training Project (EDTP)
Dr. Wells provided consultation
with and supervision of a research assistant assigned to the evaluation.
Their final report reviews the activities of the EDTP and provides
recommendations for training and administrative tasks. The report
examined the efforts of the project in relation to Title IV-E content
requirements, reviewed the perceptions of county staff who participated
in EDTP activities, and provided information on outcomes regarding the
Title IV-E ratio in Minnesota.
Re-entry into Foster Care
Community
Partner: Hennepin County, Minnesota Department of Human Services
This
study is part of the Minnesota Department of Human Services Results
Initiative conducted in cooperation with Hennepin County. Because rates
of re-entry into foster care in Minnesota exceeded the national rate,
the state and county sought to better understand the discrepancy by
investigating reasons for re-entry into care. By identifying and
targeting certain variables, it is hoped that Minnesota's high re-entry
rate can be explained and/or reduced. In a resource sharing agreement,
the Chair provided consultation to the project as well as data analysis
and a final report.
Placement Stability in Foster Care
Community
Partners: Hennepin County, Center for Advanced Studies in Child Welfare
The main goal of this study, on which the Gamble-Skogmo Chair served as
an outside consultant, was to understand if there is a point in the
provision of care involving multiple placements after which the children
begin to have more problems than they had when they first entered
out-of-home care. The project, a joint venture between the School of
Social Work and Hennepin County, provided a county child welfare worker
with experience in research while offering the county insight into a
topic of interest to them.
Presentations and Meetings
Wells, S. J. (2007,
June). Evidence-based practice in child welfare in
the context of
cultural competency. A presentation at a national
invitational forum of
the same name held at the University of
Minnesota, St. Paul, MN. Proceedings available.
Wells, S. J., & Griesgraber, M. M. (2007, January). Establishing Case
Typologies in Foster Care. A presentation at the 11th annual
conference
of the Society for Social Work and Research, San
Francisco, CA.
Wells, S. J. (2006, October). Unintended consequences of child
welfare
policies. A presentation at Children Uniting Nations “Keeping
the
Promise to At-Risk Youth”, Washington, DC.
Wells, S. J. (January 2006) Racial disparities in child welfare
services. A
presentation at the 10th Annual Conference of the Society
for Social
Work and Research. San Antonio, TX.
Wells, S. J., Myers, S. L., Jefferys, M., & Stephens, M. (December
2005)
Separated unequally: An examination of racial disparities in
Minnesota's child welfare system. A presentation at the 22nd Annual
Conference of the Minnesota Department of Human Rights. St. Paul,
MN.
Wells, S. J. & Rockymore, M.(June 2005). A Comparative Study of Child
Welfare Services for African American and Caucasian Children. One
Child,
Many Hands: A Multidisciplinary Conference on Child Welfare. A
Conference of the Field Center for Children¿s Policy, Practice &
Research at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA.
Wells, S. J., Rockymore, M., Edmonds, J. & Sedlak, A. (April 2005).
Understanding and responding to racial disparities in child welfare
service. A roundtable discussion at the 15th National Conference on
Child Abuse and Neglect. Boston, MA.
Rockymore, M., Edmonds, J. & Wells, S. J. (April 2005). Addressing
racial
disparities in child protection: Minnesota's response. A workshop
at
the 15th National Conference on Child Abuse and Neglect. Boston,
MA.
(January, February & March 2005). Developing a framework to address
the well being of children receiving services for the next 10 years. A
series of panel meetings sponsored by the MN Association of County
Social Service Administrators and the MN Department of Human
Services.
(December 2004). Breakthrough Series Collaborative: Disproportionality
in the Child Welfare System. An expert panel meeting
on racial
disproportionality sponsored by the Casey Family Foundation,
Washington, DC.
Wells, S. J., Myers, S. L., Jefferys, M. & Stephens, M. (December
2004).
Separated Unequally: An Examination of Racial Disparities in
Minnesota's Public Child Welfare System. A workshop session at the
Human
Rights Day and Forum sponsored by the Minnesota
Department of Human
Rights, St. Paul, MN.
(November 2004). Keeping Children Safe: The Child Protection System
Challenge. A conference sponsored by the Juvenile Protective
Association, the Davis Family Fund, the Children and Family Research
Center, and the Johnson Foundation, Racine, WI.
Wells, S. J. & Pfohl, M. (September 2004). Final report: Examination
of
Racial Disparities in the Minnesota Child Welfare System. A
presentation to the African American Racial Disparities Committee of
the
Minnesota Department of Human Services, St. Paul, MN.
Stewart, D. & Wells, S.J. (June 2004). Final report: Title IV-E
eligibility
determination project evaluation. A presentation at the
Minnesota
Department of Human Services, St. Paul, MN.
Wells, S.J., Geller, J., Nguyen, T.S., & Robinson, P. (June 2004).
Renovating and Innovating: Maximizing Impact. A panel discussion
focusing on middle childhood at the 2004 Minnesota Children's
Summit,
Minneapolis, MN.
Wells, S.J., Nesmith, A., & Cowan, C. (January 2004). Re-entry into
foster care. A presentation at the eighth annual conference of the
Society for Social Work and Research, New Orleans, LA.
Wells,S.J. (November 2003) Child welfare in Minnesota: Examples of
community-university collaboration. A presentation at the Human
Ecology
Today visits by legislative staff members to the College of
Human
Ecology. University of Minnesota. Minneapolis, MN.
Wells, S.J. (June 2003). Potential sources of racial disparities in
child
welfare. A plenary presentation to the African American Children
and
Domestic Violence Conference on Prevention and Intervention.
Institute on Domestic Violence in the African-American Community,
University of Minnesota Minneapolis, MN.
Baugher, S. & Wells S. J. (May 2003) Homeland insecurities: Families
and communities in uncertain times. A scholarship dialogue at the
College of Human Ecology Community Forum. University of Minnesota.
Minneapolis, MN.
Wells, S.J. & Maxwell, S. (May 2003) Serving children & families
through
research partnerships. A workshop presented at the College of
Human Ecology Community Forum. University of Minnesota.
Minneapolis, MN.
Wells, S.J. (March 2002). Neglect, research to practice. Panel member
for statewide invitational roundtable discussion for supervisors,
managers and community leaders on: What is best in best practices;
A
focus on chronically neglecting families. Center for Advanced
Studies in
Child Welfare, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN.
Rooney, G.D. (2000). Breaking the silence: A candid discussion on the
disproportionality of African American children in out-of-home
placement. A lecture and issues forum at the University of
Minnesota,
Minneapolis, MN. Proceedings available.
