Introduction
Research Questions
- What information is available to judges when making findings of reasonable efforts?
A judge’s reasonable efforts decisions at child welfare hearings may avoid separating families and help children achieve permanency faster. As a result, judges play a critical role in child welfare cases. The Reasonable Efforts Findings Study (REFS) aimed to better understand how judges’ reasonable efforts decisions relate to case outcomes for children.
This infographic highlights the information judges have available to them when making reasonable efforts findings, including information from parties during hearings, documents such as case plans or caseworker reports, and the topics those documents cover.
Purpose
This infographic describes key findings and takeaways from the REFS Study. Specifically, about the information available to judges as they make findings whether the child welfare agency made reasonable efforts to prevent removal of children from their homes and reasonable efforts to achieve permanency.
Key Findings and Highlights
- When making reasonable efforts to prevent removal findings, judges had a range of documents available for review including caseworker reports and court petitions.
- When making first reasonable efforts to achieve permanency findings, judges most commonly had access to the caseworker reports and case plans.
- The most frequent topics discussed in documents provided to judges before the reasonable efforts to achieve permanency findings were—
- How the agency worked with the family
- The permanency goal
- Agency efforts to reunify the family
Methods
We collected data in two ways:
Observing a random sample of recorded initial court hearings to capture information about hearing quality (e.g., judicial engagement of parents, topics discussed).
Reviewing court case files from the same cases to capture information on case characteristics (e.g., child age, petition allegations), reasonable efforts findings, details of findings and documents submitted to the court, timing of hearings, and case outcomes.
We collected data from a random sample of 348 closed child welfare court cases from 5 sites in 3 states.
Citation
Chiamulera, C. & Klain, E. (2024). What Information is Available to Judges When Making Findings of Reasonable Efforts? Key Results from the Reasonable Efforts Findings Study (OPRE Report No. 2024-350). Washington, DC: Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation, Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.