National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being
General Release

NSCAW General Release contains NSCAW I General Release (Dataset number 132) and NSCAW II General (Dataset number 155) -users receive both:

Title: NSCAW I, Waves 1-4 and Wave 5 Follow-up, General Release
Dataset Number: 132
Investigator(s): Research Triangle Institute
Abstract: The Administration on Children, Youth, and Families and the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation have undertaken the National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being (NSCAW I). NSCAW I makes available, for the first time, nationally representative longitudinal data drawn from first-hand reports of children and families or other caregivers who have had contact with the child welfare system. Data from service providers are also collected. NSCAW I is the first national study to provide detailed information on the experiences of children and families with the child welfare system and to collect measures of well-being for this population.

The NSCAW I is designed to address the following questions:

• What paths do children follow into and through the child welfare system?
• What factors affect investigation, services, placements, and length of involvement?
• What are the long- and short-term outcomes for children and families in the child welfare system in terms of safety, well-being, and permanence?

The target population for the NSCAW I includes all children and families that enter the child welfare system. Two samples were drawn from the population in 92 participating county child welfare agencies throughout the nation. The CPS sample includes 5,501 children, ages 0-14, who had an investigation closed between October 1, 1999 and December 31, 2000. The second sample consists of an additional 727 children, who were in out-of-home care for about 12 months at the time of sampling. This second group, referred to as the One Year in Foster Care (OYFC) Sample, was selected to allow special analysis related to the experience of out-of-home care.

Waves 2, 3, and 4 took place 12, 18, and 36 months after the initial interviews, respectively.

The NSCAW Research Group has made available a slide presentation entitled “National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being: Overview of NSCAW and NSCAW II, and Main Findings.”

Download the "Introduction to the NSCAW I Wave 1 General and Restricted Releases": PDF

Second National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being
General Release (NSCAW II)

Title: NSCAW II
Dataset Number: 155
Investigator(s): Research Triangle Institute
Abstract: Introduction to NSCAW II

The second National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being (NSCAW II) is a longitudinal study intended to answer a range of fundamental questions about the functioning, service needs, and service use of children who come in contact with the child welfare system. The study is sponsored by the Administration for Children and Families (ACF), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS). It examines the well-being of children involved with child welfare agencies; captures information about their families; provides information about child welfare interventions and other services; y; and describes key characteristics of child development. Of particular interest to the study are children’s health, mental health, and developmental risks, especially for those children who experienced the most severe abuse and exposure to violence.

The NSCAW II study design essentially mirrors that of NSCAW I. The NSCAW II cohort includes 5,873 children, aged birth to 17.5 years old, who had contact with the child welfare system within a 15-month period that began in February 2008. Children were sampled from investigations closed during the reference period.

The cohort of 5,873 children was selected from 81 of the original NSCAW 92 Primary Sampling Units (PSUs) in 83 counties nationwide that agreed to participate in NSCAW II. Retaining most of the NSCAW I PSUs will allow researchers to assess the change in context from the late 1990s, and enable longitudinal analysis of organizational measures such as staff turnover, climate, and work environment The sample of investigated/assessed cases includes both cases that receive ongoing services and cases that are not receiving services, either because they were not substantiated or because it was determined that services were not required. The sample design—with oversampling of infants and children in out-of-home placement, and undersampling of cases not receiving services to ensure appropriate representation among subgroups—allows in-depth analysis of subgroups of special interest (e.g., young children, adolescents in foster care) while providing national estimates for the full population of children and families entering the system.

Like NSCAW I, NSCAW II is a longitudinal study with multiple informants associated with each sampled child, to get the fullest possible depiction of that child. Face-to-face interviews or assessments were conducted with children, parents, and nonparent adult caregivers (e.g., foster parents, kin caregivers, group home caregivers), and investigative caseworkers. Baseline data collection began in March 2008 and was completed in September 2009. The second wave of the study, 18 months after the close of the NSCAW II index investigation, began in October 2009 and was completed in January 2011. The estimated release date for the Waves 1-2 data is July 1, 2011.