Knowing the Numbers: Accessing and Using Child Welfare
This brief, written by Child Trends for First Focus State Policy Advocacy and Reform Center (SPARC), provides an overview of useful data sources for the child welfare community, including what the major data sources are, what can be done with the data, and how they may be accessed.
Federal data sources described include: Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting Systems (AFCARS), National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System (NCANDS), National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being (NSCAW), and National Youth in Transition Database (NYTD). Other federal datasets are summarized along with additional resources for child welfare data. (September 2014)