Catawba County Social Services (CCSS) child welfare operations, in response to increased national emphasis on child well-being and healthy life-time family connections for youth exiting foster care, has pioneered an approach to post-permanency support services. The Child Wellbeing Project, as it is called, was initially designed to investigate which long-term social services would be most effective to improving life outcomes of children and their families once exiting foster care. This case study reveals how partnering with “evidence experts” strengthened both process and results by helping county staff fully understand the needs of the target population, examine the fit and feasibility of various identified programs, involve stakeholders, and then operationalize the county-developed, evidence-informed interventions that emerged and make decisions for implementation.
