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In 2000, the Ontario Looking After Children (OnLAC) project was developed as a child welfare initiative to monitor and improve the developmental outcomes of youth in out-of-home care through annual assessments. However, challenges remain in child welfare’s use of OnLAC data for service planning and delivery. We established a partnership with several Ontario child welfare agencies to develop, deliver, and conduct a preliminary evaluation of a training curriculum aimed at enhancing child welfare practitioners’ use of OnLAC data for service planning related to young people’s educational outcomes. This study examined training outcomes for practitioners across three Ontario child welfare agencies using a mixed-methods design that made use of post-training feedback questionnaire data (n = 58) and focus groups (n = 14). For reactions to the training, results suggested that the majority of practitioners (85.2–95.2%) responded positively to the content and delivery of the training curriculum. Several reported that the introduction of an evidence-informed practice framework and the use of case examples were particularly beneficial in helping them better understand how OnLAC data can be incorporated into service delivery. Turning to learning outcomes, the majority of practitioners (62.7–65.6%) indicated that the training increased their understanding of and confidence with the OnLAC data, as well as their intention to apply OnLAC data to their service planning. Several also reported that the training challenged their attitudes toward and knowledge of evidence-informed practice and OnLAC data. Suggestions for improving the training included greater use of more complex case examples, and practitioners also indicated that the use of OnLAC data would be increased if information pertaining to an individual youth became available in a timelier manner and was presented as a profile highlighting unique strengths and needs of youth themselves (rather than as aggregate data). Our findings have implications for future training efforts and other initiatives that aim to build child welfare capacity around evidence-informed practice. |
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