DEE WILSON CONSULTING
SOUNDING BOARD
COMMENTARY
Dee Wilson's Sounding Board has been published monthly for more than a decade
The entire depth and breadth of Dee's work can be found below.
All commentaries listed here were written by Dee Wilson except were noted
Columns are arranged by topic with the most recent on top
SPECIAL REPORT:
Substance Abuse and Child Welfare
√ Substance Abuse and Child Safety: Assessment and Decision
Making (April 2024)
√ Reflections on Child Welfare History 1985-2024 (March 2024)
SPECIAL SERIES:
SOCIAL JUSTICE IN CHILD WELFARE
√ Advancing Social Justice in Child Welfare Reform (Oct. 2020)
√ Mistaken Ideas in Child Welfare Social Justice Agendas (Sept. 2020)
√ Permanent Planning in a Social Justice Framework (Aug. 2020)
√ Reunification Policy and Practice (July 2020)
√ Poverty, Race and Power in Child Welfare (June 2020)
CHILD MALTREATMENT FATALITIES
√ The Erosion of Child Protection in Washington State (Dec. 2023)
√ Do Child Fatality Reviews Prevent Maltreatment Deaths? (July 2023)
√ Lessons from Child Fatality Reviews in Washington State (June
2023)
√ How to Reduce All-Cause Child Mortality in Child Welfare
(July 2021)
√ All-Cause Child Mortality Among Children with Child Welfare
Involvement (June 2021)
√ Emotional Maltreatment (May 2019)
√ Effects of the Nurturing Environment in Maltreating Families
(April 2019)
√ Hidden in Plain Sight: The Path Away From Child Maltreatment
Fatalities (April 2016)
√ Commission to Eliminate Child Abuse and Neglect Fatalities:
Final Report (March 2016)
√ Counting Child Maltreatment Deaths (Oct. 2015)
√ Addressing Child Maltreatment Deaths and Serious Injuries
(Sept. 2012)
CHILD NEGLECT
√ Poverty, Neglect and Cultural Denial (Dec. 2020)
√ What is Chronic Neglect? (Nov. 2020)
√ Defining Child Neglect (Sept. 2018)
√ Cracking the Code of Chronic Neglect (April 2015)
√ Preventing Child Maltreatment: How is Neglect Different?
(April 2014)
√ The Experience of Neglect (Feb. 2013)
√ Chronically Referring Families: Patterns, Dynamics and Interventions (Jan. 2011)
CHILD PROTECTION
√ In-Home Safety Planning (Nov. 2023)
√ How to Stop and Prevent Drug Epidemics (Feb. 2020)
√ Causes and Consequences of a Drug Epidemic (Jan. 2020)
√ Expertise in Child Protection (March. 2019)
√ Evaluating Differential Response (Nov. 2018)
√ Effects of Differential Response on Child Protection (Oct. 2018)
√ The Torture of Children (March 2018)
√ Protecting Children in Homeless Families: Mission
Impossible? (Nov. 2016)
√ Correcting Design Flaws in Child Protection (May 2016)
√ Explaining and Preventing Chronic Maltreatment (Feb. 2016)
√ Protecting High Risk Infants (Jan. 2016)
√ Child Protection Systems in Crisis: Developing More Effective
√ Fundamentals of Child Protection (July 2015)
√ In-Home Safety Planning: the Achilles Heel of Child Protection
(March 2015)
√ Great Expectations (Jan. 2015)
√ The Substance Abuse Challenge in Child Welfare (Oct. 2014)
√ The Two Worlds of Child Protection (Aug. 2014)
√ The Meaning of Empowerment (Feb. 2014)
√ Child Protection Systems in Crisis: Developing More Effective
Responses (Dec. 2013)
√ Pathways from Childhood Adversities to Health Outcomes
(Oct. 2013)
√ 10 Ways to Improve Child Protection (June 2013)
√ How Effective is Child Protection: Design and Workforce Issues
√ How Effective Is Child Protection? (April 2013)
√ What If Child Protection Was Organized Around Neglect?
(Feb. 2012)
√ Child Maltreatment 2009: Trends in CPS Reporting and Response (Dec. 2010)
√ Does CPS Help Families? (Oct. 2010)
√ Trends in Child Protection (July 2010)
CHILD WELFARE PRACTICE
√ Leadership vs. Management in Child Welfare (Feb. 2024)
√ Leadership and Mismanagement of Child Welfare (Jan. 2024)
√ Providing Poverty Related Services in Child Welfare: Guidelines
and New Developments (Sept. 2023)
√ Transforming Child Welfare Through Poverty-related Services (Aug.
2023)
√ The Increase in Hotel Placements (March 2023)
√ The Use of Predictive Analytics in Allegheny County's Child
Protection System (Jan. 2023)
√ The Strange History of Risk Assessment (Dec. 2022)
√ When Things Fall Apart (Sept. 2022)
√ Abolish Child Welfare: What Then? (April 2022)
√ Learning Survival Skills in Child Welfare (March 2022)
√ The "Dirty Work' of Child Welfare (Feb. 2022)
√ The Child Welfare Workforce Crisis (Jan. 2022)
√ "Noise" in Child Welfare Judgment (Oct. 2021)
√ Cross-recidivism and Chronic Maltreatment (Sept. 2021)
√ Child Welfare During a Pandemic (April 2020)
√ The Infinite Game (Dec. 2019)
√ The Tyranny of Metrics (Dec. 2018)
√ Servant Leadership in Child Welfare (Aug. 2018)
√ Bullying and Intimidation in Child Welfare Management (July. 2018)
√ Collaborations that Work (June 2018)
√ Models of Excellence in Child Welfare: Three Offices
√ Tell a Better Story (April 2018)
√ Pendulum Swings In Child Welfare (Dec. 2017)
√ Effects of Excessive Workloads on Child Welfare (Jan. 2017)
√ Emotional Challenges in Child Welfare (June 2017)
√ Trustworthiness and Skill in Child Protection (Nov. 2013)
√ Scarcity and Workload Management (June 2013)
√ Surviving and Thriving in Child Welfare (March 2013)
√ When Is Reunification Safe? (Nov. 2012)
√ Increasing Stable Reunifications (Oct. 2012)
√ Preventing Psychological and Moral Injury in Child Welfare
Aug. 2012)
√ Restoring Self Efficacy (March 2012)
CHILD WELFARE REFORM
√ Developing an Effective Response to Multitype Child Maltreatment
(Oct. 2022)
√ Estimating the Costs of a Reimagined Child Welfare System (May
2021)
√ Potential Game Changers in Child Welfare (Feb. 2019)
√ The Winter of Discontent (Dec. 2017)
√ Do Something Different (Sept. 2017)
√ Correcting Design Flaws in Child Protection (May 2016)
√ Charting a New Path for Child Welfare (June 2015)
√ Have Child Welfare Systems Improved (May 2015)
√ Imagining Child Welfare (July 2012)
√ Three Axioms of Child Welfare Reform (June 2011)
√ Effects of Moral Outrage on Child Welfare Reform (March
√ The Munro Report on Child Protection (Feb. 2011)
Evaluating Differential Response
COMMUNITY & SOCIAL CAPITAL
√ Moderating Harmful Effects of Psychotropic Medications
(Oct. 2019)
√ The Bitter Pill (Sept. 2019)
√ The Community Loss Index (Nov. 2017)
√ Despair and Early Death (Nov. 2015)
√ $2.00 a Day: Living On Almost Nothing In America
√ Our Kids: The American Dream in Crisis (Aug. 2015)
√ Post-Recession Blues (Sept. 2014)
√ Trends in Health and Well Being (Jan. 2013)
√ The Power of Community (April 2012)
√ The Social World of Methamphetamine (Aug. 2010)
√ The Decline in Child Maltreatment (June 2010)
√ Kids Count Indicators, 2004-2005 (Oct. 2008)
CRITICAL THINKING
√ Community Empowerment and Collective Efficacy In Suicide
and Violence Prevention (August 2022)
√ Restoring Social Connection: How to Respond to the
Children’s Mental Health Crisis (July 2022)
√ Pattern Recognition: The Mark of Expertise (May 2021)
√ Critical Thinking in Child Welfare (April 2021)
√ How to Reduce Tort Claims in Child Welfare (March 2020)
√ Controlling Heuristic Biases (Jan. 2014)
√ The Best Books in Child Welfare (Dec. 2012)
√ Thinking Fast and Slow (June 2012)
√ Pattern Recognition in Child Welfare (Nov. 2010)
√ Is There a Minimal Standard of Care? (Sept. 2010)
EVIDENCE-BASED PRACTICES
√ Common Elements in Evidenced Based Practice (July 2014)
FOSTER CARE
√ How to Reduce Foster Care without Endangering Children
(May 2023)
√ The Reduction of Foster Care in Washington State (April 2023)
√ Therapeutic Foster Care: What Would It Take? (Dec. 2021)
√ U.S. Foster Care Systems: Three Crossroads (Nov. 2021)
√ Rightsizing Foster Care (March 2021)
√ Repurposing Foster Care to Support Birth Families (May 2020)
√ Foster Care: 1980 vs. 2019 (Nov. 2019)
√ Mitigating Design Flaws in Family First (July 2019)
√ Family First: Risks and Opportunities (June 2019)
√ Dissecting U.S. Foster Care Systems (Jan. 2018)
√ Foster Care for Young Children: Outcomes and Costs
(Feb. 2018)
√ Can Foster Care be Prevented? (Oct. 2017)
√ Competing Solutions to the Foster Care Crisis (May 2017)
√ Alternatives to Foster Care (Sept. 2016)
√ Foster Care as a Mental Health System (Aug. 2016)
√ The Foster Care Recruitment and Retention Crisis (July 2016)
√ Is Foster Care Safe? (June 2016)
√ To the End of June (Sept. 2013)
√ The Quality of Foster Care (Jan. 2012)
√ Unconditional Care (Sept. 2011)
√ Residential Treatment Services: Is it Time for a
Critical Review? (July 2011)
√ Infants in Out- of- Home Care (April 2011)
INTERNATIONAL PERSPECTIVES
√ Poverty and Child Maltreatment in the UK : Lessons for the
U.S. (Jan. 2021)
√ Safeguarding Children in England and Northern Europe
POVERTY AND CHILD WELFARE
√ Homeless Children and Destitute Families (Nov. 2014)
√ Economic Interventions in Child Neglect (May 2010)
PREVENTION OF ABUSE AND NEGLECT
√ Prevention and Social Norms (Jan. 2019)
√ Intergenerational Transmission of Child Neglect (March 2017)
√ Safe, Stable and Nurturing Relationships (May 2014)
√ Preventing Child Maltreatment: How is Neglect Different?
√ The Physical Punishment of Infants and Toddlers
√ Pathways from Childhood Adversities to Health Outcomes
√ A Public Health Approach to Preventing Maltreatment Related Child Deaths (Aug. 2011)
√ Residential Treatment Services: Is it Time for a
Critical Review? (July 2011)
√ Chronically Referring Families: Patterns, Dynamics and
Interventions (Jan. 2011)
ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE AND BUREAUCRACY
√ An Ethos of Public Service (March 2021)
√ Changing Organizational Culture (Aug. 2017)
√ Coping with Bureaucracy (July 2017)
√ Workload Management in Child Protection Systems
(Feb. 2017)
√ Can a Separate Department Reinvigorate Child Welfare?
√ Creating Learning Organizations (Feb. 2015)
TRAUMA
√ Reflections on Resilience (April 2017)
√ The Body Keeps the Score (Dec. 2014)
√ Developmental Repair (Nov. 2011)
√ Emotional Regulation in Traumatized and Severely Neglected
Children (Oct. 2011)