Center activities are based on results-oriented accountability derived from five principles of care.

The identification of desired outcomes reflects a broad consensus that has developed about basic principles of care and protection. Although there are variations, considerable agreement exists in policy, professional literature, historical documents, and law about the importance of the following sets of principles that identify the general aims of child welfare intervention^[1]. It is on these principles that the Center bases its research activities.

Child Welfare Principles - Substantive Accountability

• Safety: Children deserve to grow up in a safe and nurturing home.
• Stability: Children are entitled to a stable and lasting family life and should not be deprived of it except for urgent and compelling reasons.
• Continuity: If alternative care is necessary to foster or protect children, children should be placed in the least restrictive (most family like) setting that conserves existing sibling, kinship, and community ties.
• Well-Being: Children’s developmental opportunities for health, education, emotional, and financial well-being should not be unduly compromised by state intervention.
• Permanence: Children have a right to permanent guardianship of the person, either natural guardianship by birth or adoption or legally appointed guardianship by the court.

Standards of Protection and Care - Procedural Accountability

To advance the safety, stability, continuity of care, well-being, and family permanence of our nation’s foster children, it is necessary not only to certify the effectiveness of service interventions (substantive accountability) but also to ensure that service provision occurs in a socially approved manner (procedural accountability). While not exhaustive, the Center has identified the following procedural principles for guiding its research on management and accountability:

• Efficiency: Children are entitled to receive care and services that are efficiently and economically supported by state and federal financing incentives that are aligned with the outcomes the system intends to achieve.
• Accountability: Children are entitled to receive care and services that are results-oriented and based on the best available research evidence and accredited standards of quality.
• Equity: Children have a right to fair and equal protection and care without regard to gender, race, culture, sexual orientation, language, national origin, ethnicity, and religion.
• Voice: Children who are capable of forming their own views shall be assured the right to express those views openly in all matters affecting their protection and care with due consideration given to those views in accordance with their age and maturity.