Re: Client evaluation of services

[Julia Littell <jlittell@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

As Tino Holden suggests, it is curious that there is so little literature
on this topic. Here are a few additional references:

1) An interesting, but very small (N=13) study of clients' views of CPS is
reported by: Diorio, W. (1992). Parental perceptions of the authority of
public child welfare caseworkers. Families in Society: The Journal of
Contemporary Human Services, 73(4), 222-235.

2) A study of foster children's views of their experiences was conducted by
Penny Johnson, Carol Yoken, and Ron Voss. Their report, "Family Foster Care
Placement: The Child's Perspective" (1995) is available from Chapin Hall
Center at the University of Chicago (773/753-2740). 

3) Parents' views of family preservation services and regular child welfare
services are reported in: Schuerman, J.R., Rzepnicki, T.L., and Littell,
J.H. (1994). Putting Families First: An Experiment in Family Preservation
(New York: Aldine de Gruyter).

There are probably some "consumer satisfaction" surveys of which I am not
aware. My impression is that these tend to be quite superficial and are of
little practical value.


Julia H. Littell, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Graduate School of Social Work and Social Research
Bryn Mawr College
300 Airdale Rd.
Bryn Mawr, PA 19010
610/520-2619
FAX 610/520-2655
jlittell@brynmawr.edu