The National Partnership for Child Safety (NPCS), initially formed in 2018, is a quality improvement collaborative whose aim is to improve child safety and reduce child maltreatment fatalities through the application of safety science and shared data. Members of the collaborative have a shared goal of strengthening families, promoting innovations and a public health response to reducing and preventing child maltreatment and fatalities.

The NPCS currently includes the participation of state, county and tribal child and family-serving child welfare jurisdictions who are assessing and applying safety science principles in their agencies. Participating agencies include:

• Arizona Department of Child Safety
• Arkansas Children & Family Services
• Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services, California
• Connecticut Department of Children and Families
• Georgia Division of Family & Children Services
• Illinois Department of Children and Family Services
• Indiana Department of Child Services
• Kentucky Department for Community Based Services
• Michigan Department of Health and Human Services
• Nebraska Division of Children & Family Services
• Clark County Department of Family Services, Nevada
• New Hampshire Division for Children, Youth and Families
• New Jersey Department of Children and Families
• New Mexico Children Youth and Families Department
• New York City Administration for Children’s Services
• New York State Office of Children and Family Services
• Franklin County Children Services, Ohio
• Hamilton County Job & Family Services, Ohio
• Oklahoma Department of Human Services
• Oregon Department of Human Services
• Philadelphia Department of Human Services, Pennsylvania
• Allegheny County Department of Human Services, Pennsylvania
• South Carolina Department of Social Services
• Spirit Lake Tribe, Spirit Lake Social Services
• Tennessee Department of Children’s Services
• Vermont Department for Children and Families, Family Services Division
• Virginia Department of Social Services (10/16)
• Washington State Department of Children, Youth, and Families
• West Virginia Bureau for Social Services
• Wisconsin Department of Children and Families

The strategies of the NPCS reflect many of the recommendations of the Federal Commission to Eliminate Child Abuse and Neglect Fatalities, established by Congress as part of the Protect Our Kids Act of 2012. In its groundbreaking 2016 report, the commission emphasized that fatalities are preventable and identified three fundamental components to improving our child welfare systems based on a public health approach: 1) leadership and accountability; 2) decisions grounded in better data and research; and 3) multidisciplinary support for families. In response to the Commission’s findings, a national group of child welfare and public health leaders, foundations, policy makers, and other members of the child welfare ecosystem came together in 2019 to strategize on the best ways to support creation of a shift from child welfare systems to 21st century child and family well-being systems.

The partnership is supported by Casey Family Programs, the nation’s largest operating foundation focused on safely reducing the need for foster care in the United States. The Center for Innovation in Population Health at the University of Kentucky heads the technical assistance team, led by Michael Cull, PhD. Cull and his team work with partners around the world and represent 25+ years of clinical and research experience in public child welfare, systems-theoretical approaches to critical incident review, and systems improvement. The National Center for Fatality Review and Prevention at MPHI serves as the data warehouse for the partnership.

Safety science provides a framework and processes for child protection agencies to understand the inherently complex nature of the work and the factors that influence decision-making. It also provides a safe and supportive environment for professionals to process, share and learn from critical incidents to prevent additional tragedies. The Commission to Eliminate Child Abuse and Neglect Fatalities recommended in its final report, that safety science be explored as an approach to better understand and prevent fatalities. “Child protection is perhaps the only field where some child deaths are assumed to be inevitable no matter how hard we work to stop them. This is certainly not true in the airline industry, where safety is paramount and commercial airline crashes are never seen as inevitable,” the Commission wrote. Health care, aviation and other safety critical fields have all demonstrated approaches that prevent harm and reduce risks, and can serve as a model for national quality improvement efforts focused on child welfare.

To date, the partnership has implemented a system-focused critical incident review process, utilizing the Safe Systems Improvement Tool (SSIT). In support of data sharing efforts, the NPCS launched a data warehouse at MPHI and developed a data dictionary to provide consistent definitions around critical incident reviews. NPCS also provides a broad range of peer-to-peer learning opportunities, technical assistance and strategic planning around communications and integrating the voice of lived experience into the work of the partnership.