Abstract
Research on outcomes in child care presents formidable conceptual and methodological problems. Probably this is why the majority of publications in the child care field focus on evaluation of service provision. Measures of outcome either relate to short term objectives or use relatively crude indicators such as placement breakdown. This paper proposes a framework for assessing outcomes in child care in a more comprehensive and systematic way. The task is complicated by the many different categories and ages of children in care, the varying lengths of care episodes and the need for any assessment of outcome to be multi-dimensional. And who decides what outcome is desirable? Is it possible to reach a consensus across social class, regional and ethnic groups? The paper addresses some of these questions and describes a scheme in the process of development designed to provide a means of assessing quality of care on key dimensions and the impact of the period spent in care on the child’s experience and future life chances.
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© 1989 Kluwer Academic Publishers
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Jackson, S. (1989). The State as Parent: Assessing Outcomes in Child Care. In: Hudson, J., Galaway, B. (eds) The State as Parent. NATO ASI Series, vol 53. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-1053-9_8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-1053-9_8
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-94-010-6965-6
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