PROBLEM: Limited understanding of factors that lead to placement disruption and entry into higher levels of care has been a longstanding problem in child welfare research and practice. While prior research has successfully identified some variables that are associated with placement instability, these findings are limited by methodological shortcomings and limited evidence of predictive utility. METHOD: This study attempts to use child, caseworker, and caregiver factors to predict placement type and change in level of care over an 18 month period using random forest modeling. Data from the NSCAW I LTFC sample were used to train and evaluate predictive models. RESULTS: Models predicting placement type performed fairly, while models attempting to predict changes in level of care were unsuccessful. CONCLUSIONS: Future research should continue to consider nonlinear methods for evaluating child welfare outcomes. Consideration of a broader range of variables, localized data, and alternative measurement approaches are suggested. / A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Family and Child Sciences in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Spring Semester 2017. / March 23, 2017. / child welfare, placement outcomes, random forest, statistical learning / Includes bibliographical references. / Ming Cui, Professor Directing Dissertation; Carter Hay, University Representative; Lenore McWey, Committee Member; Francis Fincham, Committee Member.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_507627 |
| Contributors | Benesh, Andrew S. (Andrew Scott) (authoraut), Cui, Ming, 1971- (professor directing dissertation), Hay, Carter H. (university representative), McWey, Lenore M. (committee member), Fincham, Frank D. (committee member), Florida State University (degree granting institution), College of Human Sciences (degree granting college), Department of Family and Child Sciences (degree granting departmentdgg) |
| Publisher | Florida State University, Florida State University |
| Source Sets | Florida State University |
| Language | English, English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text, text, doctoral thesis |
| Format | 1 online resource (133 pages), computer, application/pdf |
| Rights | This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s). The copyright in theses and dissertations completed at Florida State University is held by the students who author them. |
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