This report provides a cross-sectional national overview of child welfare services as reported by 46 state administrators who participated in the State Agency Discussion Guide interview. Data were analyzed within four major categories: 1. factors affecting child welfare policies and services 2. child welfare agency organization and service delivery 3. innovative programs 4. the future of child welfare. Key findings include the following: *Two-thirds of the respondents reported that the Adoption and Safe Families Act (ASFA) has resulted in enhancements or changes in at least one of the following four areas: child safety, permanency, collaboration with the courts, and data collection. *Although there have always been informal collaborations to provide services to clients and their families, administrators report an increased emphasis on formal collaborations between agencies and groups providing services to those children and families served by child welfare agencies. *Child welfare providers report increasing participation in multidisciplinary teams. Case teams have long existed, but these innovative programs (1) involve many more partners, including families and (2) begin at an earlier stage in the assessment of children and families. *State administrators identified several areas of concern about the future of child welfare, including insufficient funding, increasingly complex caseloads, and workforce issues (e.g., high turnover, low salaries, and insufficient training).
