Daniel Webster

Bio/CV: 

DANIEL WEBSTER is a project scientist and principal investigator of the California Child Welfare Indicators Project (CCWIP). The project carries out quarterly production and statewide dissemination of federally and state-mandated performance measures that support the California Outcomes and Accountability System at the state and county level.

Dr. Webster has provided technical assistance for more than a decade in the understanding and use of longitudinal data to promote system improvement to public child welfare agencies in jurisdictions across the country. He served as the evaluation liaison for the California grantee (California Partners for Permanency) of the Federal Permanency Innovations Initiative to reduce long-term foster care, and he regularly co-instructs courses through the Regional Training Academies on the application of advanced analytics for public child welfare administrators from state and county agencies.

Expanded Publications

Putnam-Hornstein, E., Ahn, E., Prindle, J., Magruder, J., Webster, D., & Wildeman, C. (2021). Cumulative Rates of Child Protection Involvement and Terminations of Parental Rights in a California Birth Cohort, 1999-2017. American Journal of Public Health, 111(6), 1157-1163.

Wulczyn, F., Parolini, A., Schmits, F., Magruder, J., & Webster, D. (2020). Returning to Foster Care: Age and other risk factors. Children and Youth Services Review, 116, Article 105166.

Parolini, A., Shlonsky, A., Magruder, J., Lane, A., Wulczyn, F., & Webster, D. (2018). Age and Other Risk Factors Related to Reentry to Care from Kin Guardian Homes. Child Abuse & Neglect, 79, 315-324.

Parolini, A., Shlonsky, A., Magruder, J., Lane, A., Wulczyn, F., & Webster, D. (2018). Relative permanence: Statistical analysis of subsidized legal guardianship for kinship caregivers. Data in Brief, 18, 1457-1461.

Putnam-Hornstein, E., Hammond, I., Eastman-Lane, A., & Webster, D. (2016). Extended foster care for transition-age youth: An Opportunity for Pregnancy Prevention. Journal of Adolescent Health. 58(4), 485-487.

Crampton, D., Usher, C.L., Wildfire, J., Webster, D., & Cuccaro-Alamin, S. (2011). Does community and family engagement enhance permanency for children in foster care? Findings from an evaluation of the Family to Family initiative. Child Welfare, Special Issue on "Taking child and family rights seriously: Family engagement and its evidence in child welfare," 90(4), 61-77. 

Putnam-Hornstein, E., Webster, D., Needell, B., & Magruder, J. (2011). A public health approach to child maltreatment surveillance: Evidence from a data linkage project in the United States. Child Abuse Review, 20, 256-273.

Shaw, T.V., & Webster, D. (2011). A matter of time: The importance of tracking reentry into foster care beyond one year after reunification. Journal of Public Child Welfare, 5, 501-520.

Webster, D., Putnam-Hornstein, E., & Needell, B. (2011). Using data for child welfare system improvement: Lessons learned from the California Performance Indicators Project. Child Welfare 360: Child Welfare and Technology, University of Minnesota. 

Webster, D., Usher, C.L., Needell, B. & Wildfire, J. (2008). Self evaluation: Using data to guide policy and practice in public child welfare agencies.  In D. Lindsey & A. Shlonsky (Eds.)  Child Welfare Research: Advances for Practice and Policy. Oxford Univ. Press; 614-632.

Webster, D.  (2006). Book Review: David Howe, Child Abuse and Neglect—Attachment, Development and Intervention.  Journal of Sociology and Social Welfare, 33(3).

Webster, D., Shlonsky, A., Shaw, T. & Brookhart, A. (2005). The ties that bind II: Reunification for siblings in out-of-home care using a statistical technique for examining non-independent observations. Children and Youth Services Review, 27: 765-782.

Shlonsky, A., Needell, B., & Webster, D. (2003). The Ties that Bind: A Cross-Sectional Analysis of Siblings in Foster Care. Journal of Social Service Research, 29(3), 27-52.

Webster, D., Needell, B., & Wildfire, J.  (2002). Data are your friends: Child welfare agency self-evaluation in Los Angeles County with the Family to Family initiative. Children and Youth Services Review, 24(6/7), 471-484.

Barth, R.P., Webster, D., & Lee, S. (2002). Adoption of American Indian children: Implications for implementing the Indian Child Welfare and Adoption and Safe Families acts. Children and Youth Services Review, 24 (3),139-158.

Jonson-Reid, M., Williams, J., & Webster, D. (2001). Severe emotional disturbance and violent offending among incarcerated adolescents. Social Work Research, 25(4), 213-222.

Webster, D., Barth, R.P., & Needell, B. (2000). Placement stability for children in foster care: A longitudinal analysis. Child Welfare, 79(5), 614-632.

Brooks, D., & Webster, D. (1999). Child welfare in the United States: Policy, practice and innovations in service delivery. International Journal of Social Welfare, 8(4), 297-307.

Research interests: 
  • Child Welfare
Role: