Dr. Dean Duncan, coordinator
Research in the Program on Human Services Outcomes and Response to Human Trafficking aims to improve the effectiveness of human services to ensure optimal outcomes for children, youth, and adults. This work uses “big data” from human services programs to build longitudinal datasets that follow participants over time and focuses analyses on promoting evidenced-based governance in human services programs.
Projects also use sophisticated techniques to link data between systems such as child welfare, juvenile justice, health, and education to assess cross-system involvement and measure outcomes in multiple domains. Some recent projects examined the factors that affect long-term employment outcomes of former foster youth, investigated racial/ethnic disparities in the child welfare system, and improved human services management.
In addition, several researchers in this program are involved with Project No Rest, a statewide project increasing awareness and prevention around human trafficking by developing, testing, and validating screening instruments and assessment tools to help identify potential victims, confirm trafficking, and create service plans.
