title: An empirical typology of private child and family serving agencies.
abstract: Differences in how services are organized and delivered can contribute significantly to variation in outcomes experienced by children and families. However, few comparative studies identify the strengths and limitations of alternative delivery system configurations. The current study provides the first empirical typology of private agencies involved with the formal child welfare system. Data collected in 2011 from a national sample of private agencies were used to classify agencies into five distinct groups based on internal management capacity, service diversification, integration, and policy advocacy. Findings reveal considerable heterogeneity in the population of private child and family serving agencies. Cross-group comparisons suggest that differences in agencies' strategic and structural characteristics correlated with agency directors' perceptions of different pressures in their external environment. Future research can use this typology to better understand local service systems and the extent to which different agency strategies affect performance and other outcomes. Such information has implications for public agency contracting decisions and could inform system-level assessment and planning of services for children and families.
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Policy and Management, University of California Los Angeles, 650 Charles E Young Drive South, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1772, USA, Telephone: 310-825-8908.
authors.forename: Emmeline
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Chuang
authors.affiliation: Kent School of Social Work, University of Louisville, Louisville, KY 40292, USA.
authors.forename: Crystal
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Collins-Camargo
authors.affiliation: School of Social Work and Hatfield School of Government, Portland State University, 1800 SW 6 Ave., Portland, OR 97201, USA.
authors.forename: Bowen
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: McBeath
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Policy and Management, Texas A&M Health Science Center, 1266 TAMU, College Station, TX 77843, USA.
authors.forename: Rebecca
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Wells
authors.affiliation: College of Social Work, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210, USA.
authors.forename: Alicia
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bunger
keywords: child welfare; management; private agencies; strategy