The Role of Consent Decrees in Reforming Child Welfare Systems

Class action lawsuits have become an increasingly common way to facilitate institutional reform. However, schools of social work tasked with education and preparing the future child welfare workforce rarely teach on the roles, tools, and processes of judicial reform. This research project focused on providing introductory information to social workers and social students on legal tools such as consent decrees and class action lawsuits used in reforming some of the child welfare system in the United States. Related studies, both currently under review and published, in this area of research include:

• Lee, J. Y., Steelesmith, D., Chaiyachati, B., Kirsch, J., Rao, S., & Fontanella, C. (2023). Child welfare system-level factors associated with all-cause mortality among children in foster care in the United States, 2009-2018. Child Maltreatment. https://doi.org/10.1177/10775595231177313
• ​Lee, J. Y. (2021). Child welfare reform: The role of federal court oversight in child protective service workers’ caseloads. Child Abuse Review, 30(2), 155-165. https://doi-org.proxy.lib.ohio-state.edu/10.1002/car.2644 
• Lee, J. Y., Gilbert, T., Lee, S. J., & Staller, K. M. (2019). Reforming a system that cannot reform itself: Child welfare reform by class action lawsuits. Social Work, 64(4), 283-291. https://doi.org/10.1093/sw/swz029