About the agenda
Building a 21st Century Research Agenda
Building a 21st Century Research Agenda
Building a 21st Century Research Agenda
Revolutionizing the Future of Child, Family, and Societal Well-Being
Developed with national organizations and backed by Casey Family Programs, Annie E. Casey Foundation, and William T. Grant Foundation, this agenda fills critical gaps in knowledge, practice, and policy.
Guided by diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) principles, and co-designed with lived experience experts, we revolutionize support for families and communities using innovative research methods.
Executive Summary
The executive summary is a concise overview of the project and the 23 high-priority research gaps.
Revolutionizing the Future of Child, Family, and Societal Well-Being
Revolutionizing the Future of Child, Family, and Societal Well-Being
Developed with national organizations and backed by Casey Family Programs, Annie E. Casey Foundation, and William T. Grant Foundation, this agenda fills critical gaps in knowledge, practice, and policy.
Guided by diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) principles, and co-designed with lived experience experts, we revolutionize support for families and communities using innovative research methods.
Developed with national organizations and backed by Casey Family Programs, Annie E. Casey Foundation, and William T. Grant Foundation, this agenda fills critical gaps in knowledge, practice, and policy.
Guided by diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) principles, and co-designed with lived experience experts, we revolutionize support for families and communities using innovative research methods.
Executive Summary
Executive Summary
The executive summary is a concise overview of the project and the 23 high-priority research gaps.
Why Create a Research Agenda?
Why Create a Research Agenda?
A 21st Century Research Agenda is needed because, as a collective, we can do better to:
A 21st Century Research Agenda is needed because, as a collective, we can do better to:
Why is this Important?
A 21st Century Research Agenda is needed because, as a collective, we can do better to:
Improve Child Safety
If we define child safety as the absence of harm or threat of serious harm, then to evaluate safety, we need a detailed definition and consistent measurement of harm.
Keep Children in Family Settings
As voices in the field of Child Welfare, we must prioritize keeping families together. If there is a need to intervene, children should be placed with kin whenever possible.
Promote Key Protective Factors
Ensure that community supports promote key protective factors (resiliency, social support, concrete supports, attachment) for child and family well-being.
Eliminate Inequities
Address discrimination and other social determinants of health while honoring family diversity and promoting culturally appropriate services.
Transform How Research is Conducted
Expanding the way we conduct research has the potential to answer questions more effectively and lead to change. Research needs to be more inclusive, both in who is part of the research team, who comes up with the research questions and what methods are used.
Diversify Funding Opportunities
In order to transform research, we must reevaluate who, what, and how we fund. We developed a series of model Requests for Proposals corresponding to our 23 high priority gaps for funders to download, adapt, and issue.
Improve Child Safety
If we define child safety as the absence of harm or threat of serious harm, then to evaluate safety, we need a detailed definition and consistent measurement of harm.
Keep Children in Family Settings
As voices in the field of Child Welfare, we must prioritize keeping families together. If there is a need to intervene, children should be placed with kin whenever possible.
Promote Key Protective Factors
Ensure that community supports promote key protective factors (resiliency, social support, concrete supports, attachment) for child and family well-being.
Eliminate Inequities
Address discrimination and other social determinants of health while honoring family diversity and promoting culturally appropriate services.
Transform How Research is Conducted
Expanding the way we conduct research has the potential to answer questions more effectively and lead to change. Research needs to be more inclusive, both in who is part of the research team, who comes up with the research questions and what methods are used.
Diversify Funding Opportunities
In order to transform research, we must reevaluate who, what, and how we fund. We developed a series of model Requests for Proposals corresponding to our 23 high priority gaps for funders to download, adapt, and issue.
Guiding Values
Guiding Values
Guiding Values
What does it take to carry out a 21st Century Research Agenda?
What does it take to carry out a 21st Century Research Agenda?
Be Bold and Transformative
One challenge of the current system is the scarcity of programs and policies that allow for the imagining of a transformed environment or approach. However, there are pockets of innovation that must be evaluated more, elevated, and scaled up. As new innovations arise, research priorities must evolve to meet additional needs. Our work should also include high standards of rigor so findings can be translated into policies and practices that support child and family well-being.
Read More
Center Lived Experience Expertise
A transformative approach to research is co-designed with individuals with diverse lived experiences. Lived experience experts are integral partners in this work. Six lived experience experts participated in the development and dissemination of this research agenda and serve as full voting members of our steering committee. These partners represented the voices of those impacted by child welfare and other systems for all project activities and when crafting all project products – including this website.
Read More
Meaningfully Apply a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Framework
Constructing a 21st Century Research Agenda required centering diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). Project workgroups agreed to maintain equity as the end goal, and to consider the consequences and implications for those who have long been at the mercy and hands of those who have traditionally held power. As diversity and inclusion are necessary components equity, ensuring diverse people and perspectives have the power and voice to define, interpret, decide, and change must drive what we see as pressing gaps, how we name problems, and who and what is needed to address those problems.
While researchers may strive to be neutral and objective, they have biases, values, backgrounds, and experiences that affect the way research is conducted and evidence is cultivated. To address this reality, we invited three DEI experts to join this project. They constructed a comprehensive DEI framework that guided each aspect of our work. The framework consists of four guiding principles for identifying where inequities exist, examining our own biases, contextualizing findings, and guarding against implicit or explicit assumptions:
Recognize, assess, reassess, and respond to our internal biases, assumptions, and privileges that we bring to identification of research questions
Avoid further harm, marginalization, and oppression
Contextualize differences across groups when analyzing data
Scrutinize programming and services through a DEI lens
This Research Agenda is the result of the genuine inclusion of diverse and divergent voices and perspectives, including but not limited to diversity in ability, experiences, racial and ethnic identity, nationality and tribal status, culture, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression (SOGIE), education and employment background, socioeconomic class, religion, and geography (e.g., rural, urban; various U.S. regions).
Read More
"Three workgroups, three nationally known DEI Experts, six nationally recognized child welfare researchers, six lived experience experts, and over 40 special advisors took a daring approach to research, working collaboratively to identify over 300 knowledge gaps, ultimately uplifting 23 high priority research gaps in 4 major topic areas that, when championed by others, will propel family-serving agencies into a 21st century system for child and family well-being."
"Three workgroups, three nationally known DEI Experts, six nationally recognized child welfare researchers, six lived experience experts, and over 40 special advisors took a daring approach to research, working collaboratively to identify over 300 knowledge gaps, ultimately uplifting 23 high priority research gaps in 4 major topic areas that, when championed by others, will propel family-serving agencies into a 21st century system for child and family well-being."
"Three workgroups, three nationally known DEI Experts, six nationally recognized child welfare researchers, six lived experience experts, and over 40 special advisors took a daring approach to research, working collaboratively to identify over 300 knowledge gaps, ultimately uplifting 23 high priority research gaps in 4 major topic areas that, when championed by others, will propel family-serving agencies into a 21st century system for child and family well-being."
Peter J. Pecora, Casey Family Programs and the University of Washington
Project Roadmap
Project Roadmap
Project Roadmap
2018
Dynamic Partnership: Three National Organizations Collaborate to Build a National Research Agenda
Conceptualizing the Research Agenda
The Annie E. Casey Foundation, Casey Family Programs, and the William T. Grant Foundation began discussions about how to create a modern-day National Research Agenda.
The first step was to administer a national survey of what stakeholders view as knowledge gaps in child welfare.
2018
Dynamic Partnership: Three National Organizations Collaborate to Build a National Research Agenda
Conceptualizing the Research Agenda
The Annie E. Casey Foundation, Casey Family Programs, and the William T. Grant Foundation began discussions about how to create a modern-day National Research Agenda.
The first step was to administer a national survey of what stakeholders view as knowledge gaps in child welfare.
Read More
2018
Dynamic Partnership: Three National Organizations Collaborate to Build a National Research Agenda
Conceptualizing the Research Agenda
The Annie E. Casey Foundation, Casey Family Programs, and the William T. Grant Foundation began discussions about how to create a modern-day National Research Agenda.
The first step was to administer a national survey of what stakeholders view as knowledge gaps in child welfare.
Read More
2019
Imagining the Future: Project Leadership Outline the Process
Building the Team
A process for identifying research gaps was created, which included:
Forming expert workgroups for three child welfare system processes:
(1) Community-based prevention
(2) Child Protective Services and prevention of foster care
(3) Out-of-home care and prevention of re-entry
Engaging subject matter experts, policy experts, community/agency practitioners or administrators, and foundation staff.
Hiring six lived experience experts to join the researchers, policy experts, funders, and practitioner partners in each group. This group was engaged to provide first-hand experiences that informed gaps and shape the project’s direction.
Inviting three Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) experts to craft a DEI framework and join the workgroups in generating research gaps.
Read More
2019
Imagining the Future: Project Leadership Outline the Process
Building the Team
A process for identifying research gaps was created, which included:
Forming expert workgroups for three child welfare system processes:
(1) Community-based prevention
(2) Child Protective Services and prevention of foster care
(3) Out-of-home care and prevention of re-entry
Engaging subject matter experts, policy experts, community/agency practitioners or administrators, and foundation staff.
Hiring six lived experience experts to join the researchers, policy experts, funders, and practitioner partners in each group. This group was engaged to provide first-hand experiences that informed gaps and shape the project’s direction.
Inviting three Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) experts to craft a DEI framework and join the workgroups in generating research gaps.
Read More
2019
Imagining the Future: Project Leadership Outline the Process
Building the Team
A process for identifying research gaps was created, which included:
Forming expert workgroups for three child welfare system processes:
(1) Community-based prevention
(2) Child Protective Services and prevention of foster care
(3) Out-of-home care and prevention of re-entry
Engaging subject matter experts, policy experts, community/agency practitioners or administrators, and foundation staff.
Hiring six lived experience experts to join the researchers, policy experts, funders, and practitioner partners in each group. This group was engaged to provide first-hand experiences that informed gaps and shape the project’s direction.
Inviting three Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) experts to craft a DEI framework and join the workgroups in generating research gaps.
Read More
2020
From Values to Reports: Expert Workgroups Identify Research Gaps
Workgroups Drafted Initial Research Gaps
The three project workgroups:
Established a set of workgroup values to support creating gaps
Identified 300 gaps and prioritized roughly 20
Drafted reports describing the process and content of the research agenda
Product Advisory Team Critically Reviewed Research Gaps
A broad group of partners including lived experience experts, scholars, practitioners, policy-makers and others provided input on the research gaps.
Read More
2020
From Values to Reports: Expert Workgroups Identify Research Gaps
Workgroups Drafted Initial Research Gaps
The three project workgroups:
Established a set of workgroup values to support creating gaps
Identified 300 gaps and prioritized roughly 20
Drafted reports describing the process and content of the research agenda
Product Advisory Team Critically Reviewed Research Gaps
A broad group of partners including lived experience experts, scholars, practitioners, policy-makers and others provided input on the research gaps.
Read More
2020
From Values to Reports: Expert Workgroups Identify Research Gaps
Workgroups Drafted Initial Research Gaps
The three project workgroups:
Established a set of workgroup values to support creating gaps
Identified 300 gaps and prioritized roughly 20
Drafted reports describing the process and content of the research agenda
Product Advisory Team Critically Reviewed Research Gaps
A broad group of partners including lived experience experts, scholars, practitioners, policy-makers and others provided input on the research gaps.
Read More
2021
Powerful Partnership: Leading Associations Unite to Bridge Gaps in Child Welfare
National Association Partners were Engaged to Provide Feedback
The Child Welfare League of America (CWLA), American Public Human Services Association (APHSA), and American Academy of Social Work & Social Welfare (AASWSW) joined as partners and engaged nearly 20 agencies and hundreds of lived experience experts, scholars, practitioners, and others to review gaps and provide feedback in listening sessions.
Steering Committee Formed
A Steering Committee was established from lived experience experts, staff from each of the three foundations, leadership from the national association partners, and members of other stakeholder organizations and tasked with coordinating presentations, engaging funders and partners, refining project goals and products.
Consensus Convenings Unveil the Research Agenda
Nearly 400 stakeholders including lived experience experts, scholars, practitioners, policy-makers and others attended Consensus Convenings to affirm the need for a 21st Century Research Agenda and contribute to refinements.
Read More
2021
Powerful Partnership: Leading Associations Unite to Bridge Gaps in Child Welfare
National Association Partners were Engaged to Provide Feedback
The Child Welfare League of America (CWLA), American Public Human Services Association (APHSA), and American Academy of Social Work & Social Welfare (AASWSW) joined as partners and engaged nearly 20 agencies and hundreds of lived experience experts, scholars, practitioners, and others to review gaps and provide feedback in listening sessions.
Steering Committee Formed
A Steering Committee was established from lived experience experts, staff from each of the three foundations, leadership from the national association partners, and members of other stakeholder organizations and tasked with coordinating presentations, engaging funders and partners, refining project goals and products.
Consensus Convenings Unveil the Research Agenda
Nearly 400 stakeholders including lived experience experts, scholars, practitioners, policy-makers and others attended Consensus Convenings to affirm the need for a 21st Century Research Agenda and contribute to refinements.
Read More
2021
Powerful Partnership: Leading Associations Unite to Bridge Gaps in Child Welfare
National Association Partners were Engaged to Provide Feedback
The Child Welfare League of America (CWLA), American Public Human Services Association (APHSA), and American Academy of Social Work & Social Welfare (AASWSW) joined as partners and engaged nearly 20 agencies and hundreds of lived experience experts, scholars, practitioners, and others to review gaps and provide feedback in listening sessions.
Steering Committee Formed
A Steering Committee was established from lived experience experts, staff from each of the three foundations, leadership from the national association partners, and members of other stakeholder organizations and tasked with coordinating presentations, engaging funders and partners, refining project goals and products.
Consensus Convenings Unveil the Research Agenda
Nearly 400 stakeholders including lived experience experts, scholars, practitioners, policy-makers and others attended Consensus Convenings to affirm the need for a 21st Century Research Agenda and contribute to refinements.
Read More
2022 - Present
Building Bridges: Engaging New Champions of the Research Agenda
Outreach to Funders and Additional Partners
With a focus on engagement and dissemination of the Research Agenda, Project Leadership and Steering Committee members have and continue to:
Engage private and public funders at the state, tribal, and national levels, leveraging connections of the various organizations, foundations, and entities involved.
Present the Research Agenda and related products at several national conferences, to audiences comprised of researchers, policymakers, and practitioners.
Hired one of the lived experience experts as the Project Coordinator for the Research Agenda.
Built a website to reach a larger audience and make more accessible the cutting edge work resulting from the Research Agenda.
Developed and revised a strategic plan for the initiative.
Read More
2022 - Present
Building Bridges: Engaging New Champions of the Research Agenda
Outreach to Funders and Additional Partners
With a focus on engagement and dissemination of the Research Agenda, Project Leadership and Steering Committee members have and continue to:
Engage private and public funders at the state, tribal, and national levels, leveraging connections of the various organizations, foundations, and entities involved.
Present the Research Agenda and related products at several national conferences, to audiences comprised of researchers, policymakers, and practitioners.
Hired one of the lived experience experts as the Project Coordinator for the Research Agenda.
Built a website to reach a larger audience and make more accessible the cutting edge work resulting from the Research Agenda.
Developed and revised a strategic plan for the initiative.
Read More
2022 - Present
Building Bridges: Engaging New Champions of the Research Agenda
Outreach to Funders and Additional Partners
With a focus on engagement and dissemination of the Research Agenda, Project Leadership and Steering Committee members have and continue to:
Engage private and public funders at the state, tribal, and national levels, leveraging connections of the various organizations, foundations, and entities involved.
Present the Research Agenda and related products at several national conferences, to audiences comprised of researchers, policymakers, and practitioners.
Hired one of the lived experience experts as the Project Coordinator for the Research Agenda.
Built a website to reach a larger audience and make more accessible the cutting edge work resulting from the Research Agenda.
Developed and revised a strategic plan for the initiative.
Read More
Project Contributors
Project Contributors
Project Contributors
This major project is the result of the efforts of many individuals in several unique capacities throughout each project stage.
This major project is the result of the efforts of many individuals in several unique capacities throughout each project stage.
Steering Committee
Our project steering committee meets monthly to set goals, plan project activities, and review progress. The steering committee was formed in 2021 to oversee the finalizing and dissemination of the Research Agenda.
Show More
Steering Committee
Our project steering committee meets monthly to set goals, plan project activities, and review progress. The steering committee was formed in 2021 to oversee the finalizing and dissemination of the Research Agenda.
Show More
Steering Committee
Our project steering committee meets monthly to set goals, plan project activities, and review progress. The steering committee was formed in 2021 to oversee the finalizing and dissemination of the Research Agenda.
Show More
Expert Workgroups
The Research Agenda itself was developed by three workgroups – each of which focused on a different aspect of child welfare system involvement.
Show More
Expert Workgroups
The Research Agenda itself was developed by three workgroups – each of which focused on a different aspect of child welfare system involvement.
Show More
Expert Workgroups
The Research Agenda itself was developed by three workgroups – each of which focused on a different aspect of child welfare system involvement.
Show More
National Product Advisory Committee
After the workgroups developed the initial research agenda, it was critically reviewed by a National Product Advisory committee, comprised of the following experts:
Show More
National Product Advisory Committee
After the workgroups developed the initial research agenda, it was critically reviewed by a National Product Advisory committee, comprised of the following experts:
Show More
National Product Advisory Committee
After the workgroups developed the initial research agenda, it was critically reviewed by a National Product Advisory committee, comprised of the following experts:
Show More
The Research Agenda includes valuable resources for funding, collaboration, and policy impact.
Look Inside the Agenda.
Research Agenda Process Delivers Valuable Products for Funding, Collaboration, and Policy Impact.
Read about what's Inside the Agenda.
Explore Now
The National Research Agenda for a 21st Century Child and Family Well-Being System
researchagenda@casey.org
The National Research Agenda for a 21st Century Child and Family Well-Being System
researchagenda@casey.org