By D. James Greiner, Michelle Blouin, & Eric Krebs
Image by Courtney Chrystal, J.D. candidate, Harvard Law School
Conducting randomized control trials (RCTs) in the law can be a decade-long (or longer) process. Our “Child Welfare” project, officially called Embedded Legal Services as a Child Welfare and Justice System Primary Prevention Strategy, has reached its fifth year since early discussions in 2020 prompted the project formation. Rather than wait five more years to discuss it, we are sharing its origin story and insight into the process.
The Staff, the Funders, and the Field Partners
Spearheaded by Renee Danser, Associate Director of Research and Strategic Partnerships at the A2J Lab, the project evaluates whether holistic legal services, meaning a combination of social worker services and a traditional attorney-client relationship, can resolve in poverty-related legal and social challenges among families with children, thereby avoiding unnecessary entries into the child welfare system. The project, funded by Arnold Ventures and Duke Endowment, includes as field partners University of South Carolina School of Law’s “CHAMPS” Clinic (Carolina Health Advocacy Medicolegal Partnership) and Kansas Holistic Defenders (KHD), which serves Shawnee County, KS (the Topeka region).
The Setting
So-called “mandated reporters” are most commonly educators, health care professionals, or social workers. By law, report to state child welfare agencies circumstances leading them to suspect a case of child neglect or abuse. Failure to do so could result in loss of a professional license or even criminal liability. Legal definitions of abuse or neglect, and of the circumstances requiring triggering a mandated reporter’s obligation, are vague. Perhaps practicing something akin to defensive medicine, or perhaps desiring to help in some way but lacking other options, mandate reporters may be over-reporting. At least 70 percent of cases mandated reporters refer to state child welfare systems result in a finding of “unfounded,” meaning the agency investigated but concluded that there was in fact no abuse or neglect. Some allege that the investigation itself creates a negative relationship between the family and the agency. Families of color are overrepresented in the child welfare system. And the misallocation of resources is undeniable: “The agency is spending lots of resources addressing reports, most of which will go unfounded,” Renee said. “And that really diverts agency resources away from helping families that do need…their comprehensive and more intense suite of services that they have and offer.”
The Theory of Change
The A2J Lab is testing the impact of embedding legal services in schools and hospitals, two locations featuring mandated reporters. The theory of change: Perhaps the problems in mandated reporters see stem not from lack of desire or capability among parents to care for children but rather from poverty, insufficient support, and inadequate social networks. If so, then (for example) counseling on how to parent will do little to resolve the situation, but holistic legal services might be effective. If about 70 percent of the unfounded cases turn out to be poverty-related, families who could be using time to address poverty are instead focusing on complying with agency investigations (because failure to comply risks further system entanglement).
Renee’s examples of issues that that may pose as neglect but represent poverty include:
- Inadequate nutrition, suggesting a need for food assistance benefits (but struggling with the application)
- Inadequate healthcare, suggesting a need for Medicaid (but struggling with the application or the benefit suspension and denial process)
- Inadequate housing security or homeless, suggesting a need for public housing or Section 8 (but needing help finding subsidized housing or navigating housing legal issues)
- Lack of educational thriving, which might suggest a need for an IEP (but struggling to navigate the administrative side of obtaining educational support)
The Project’s Origin and Operation
Five years ago, Renee got the project idea — “unscientifically,” she noted — after reading in a newsletter about the possibility that embedded legal services may be preventing child welfare reports. A chain of contacts connecting the A2J Lab with professors from the University of Michigan and Emory University – led to conversations with the eventual research partners, CHAMPS and KHD. South Carolina began enrolling participants last year, and Kansas will launch this June.
In the RCT, participants are families with children who are on the margin of a report to a child welfare agency. In other words, the family’s circumstances do not, in the view of a mandated reporter, definitively trigger a requirement to report. But those circumstances are nevertheless concerning, and, absent the study, a report might well have ensued (see above for why). Participants randomized to the enhanced services condition receive traditional professional relationships with a lawyer and social worker, as well as self-help materials tailored to the family’s particular issues. Participants randomized to the standard services condition receive self-help materials tailored to their needs. This self-help material, which the A2J Lab as well as undergraduate and law students from Harvard, the University of Virginia, and Dartmouth all helped design, did not exist before the study. Thus, all participants receive a level of assistance above what they would have received had the study not gone forward.
The study’s hypotheses include that the enhanced services group will experience lower rates of reports to child welfare agencies as well as better health, financial wellbeing, housing security, and family stability, with all of the latter circumstances measured via surveys..
While the results of the study will certainly get attention from the child welfare system, who stand to benefit from data that may lighten their burden, the A2J Lab also expects interest from mandated reporters. As suggested above, those in school and medical environments who do not always know for sure whether to contact child welfare agencies, but uncertainty regarding how to proceed, could benefit from another option. The results of this study may also affect future legislation as well.
Still, because this is about a decade-long project, patience is key. Results from this project will likely become available in 2029. The Proof Over Precedent blog and podcast will provide updates. If you’re interested in more details of this project, listen to our Proof Over Precedent podcast episode on the topic.