The Center for the Study of Social Policy (CSSP) is a leading organization in promoting reforms toward responsive, progressive child welfare systems across the country.  Our efforts in this direction began in the mid-1980’s with our seminal analysis of federal funding flexibility to support family strengthening agendas, and have extended to promoting family preservation, community partnerships, and racially equitable practice, as well as monitoring and assisting states under court orders.  Throughout, the Center has been guided by a clear set of values grounded in the primacy of families and the responsibility of government to fulfill its charge to ensure safety, well-being and permanency for all children in care.

It remains the Center’s priority to identify, create and test examples of promising practices and policies and to use resulting data to put constructive pressure on national and state directions in the field.  And while all projects speak to our common framework for pursuing child welfare reform, we seek to be ever more purposeful in sharing lessons across projects, defining common learning agendas, and articulating a vision for child welfare that will inspire and inform all our work.