Giving Compass' Take:

• A RAND Corporation study outlines a package of child-welfare reform policies that could reduce the long-term costs of such programs while improving outcomes for children. 

• Why has money been directed away from preventative policies like the package suggested by RAND? How can policies be changed to reflect the best available research? 

• Learn how policy changes around child support can increase payments. 

The study provides a first-of-its-kind look at how the system works, and how it could work better. It found that a greater emphasis on preventing maltreatment before it happens, and on keeping children within their own extended families when it does, could improve the lives of thousands of children every year.

There's never been much question that the system could work better; the question has always been how. It costs around $30 billion a year to investigate abuse reports, counsel and support families, and provide foster homes for children at most risk. About half the money comes from the federal government, with legal strings attached that make it hard to use for anything other than foster care and other response services.

Child-welfare advocates have sought in recent years to shift some of the focus and funding toward preventing child abuse and neglect before it happens. They point to a growing body of research that has shown that carefully designed parenting programs and home visits can save families and keep children out of the system.

RAND researchers found that investing more in prevention programs, and placing more children with relatives rather than foster families, could drive down episodes of maltreatment by about 4 percent. That meant less money spent on investigations and out-of-home placements, and better outcomes for the children involved—even into adulthood. They were several percentage points less likely to end up homeless, underemployed, drug-addicted, or in jail.

Read the full article about child welfare reforms by Doug Irving at RAND.