N E W Y O R K S TAT E U N I F I E D C O U R T S Y S T E M
CHILD WELFARE COURT IMPROVEMENT PROJECT
PROMOTING CONTINUOUS QUALITY IMPROVEMENT THROUGH “COLLECTIVE IMPACT”
The Child Welfare Court Improvement Project (CWCIP) is a federally funded initiativei of the New York State Unified Court
System. The mission of the CWCIP is to support the Family Court's mandate to promote the safety, permanence and well
being of children who are the subject of abuse, neglect, foster care, termination of parental rights and adoption proceedings.
Currently the CWCIP, in collaboration with the state executive branch Office of Children and Family Services, is developing
a data-driven, continuous quality improvement (CQI) process focused on improving practice at the intersection of the legal/
judicial and child welfare systems in New York City and the 16 largest jurisdictions outside the city. Our approach is based
on the premise that courts can't make significant progress in improving the legal/judicial processing of child welfare matters
solely thorough unilateral action. Nor can child welfare agencies achieve all their objectives unless legal/judicial processes
improve. Instead, efforts to improve practice at the intersection of these complex, interdependent systems are most effective
when we strive to marshal the commitment of all the important actors to a common agenda.
Intervention at the Point of Intersection Between Interdependent Systems
Interdisciplinary
Legal/ Judicial System
“Enhanced
Practices”
Child Welfare System
Collaboratives
This approach to systems change is described in an article entitled “Collective Impact,” which appeared in a recent edition
of the Stanford Social Innovation Reviewii. In their article, authors John Kania and Mark Kramer describe five conditions
that are typically the hallmarks of successful collective impact initiatives: a common agenda, shared measurement systems,
mutually reinforcing activities, continuous communication, and a backbone support organization. The authors argue that
when these conditions exist they together have the potential to produce true alignment and lead to powerful results. The
definition of each condition (excerpted from “Collective Impact”) and our efforts to nurture the conditions is discussed
below:
1) Common Agenda
Collective impact requires all participants to have a shared vision for change, one that includes a common ????????????)????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????)Q???????e???????
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