NCLN members believe that strategies should be connected to outcomes. NCLN Partners are documenting the theory that quality child representation demands much more than the mere presence of a lawyer in a single court venue. It requires child-centered advocacy within a broad range of courts and social service sectors, pressing for interventions and services that might strengthen the vulnerable child and his or her family. By tracking and studying case strategies, investment of time and other resources, and the assessment of outcomes, we will be able to inform and influence practice.
The web-based Legal Services Outcomes Database offers a complex array of fields in a relational database that can correlate a variety of factors. The model tracks cases by:
Qualitative research will be facilitated through use of numerous narrative fields to be completed by the assigned case handler. Reports can be extracted by each NCLN Partner on their own data or in the aggregate for the entire group. Following extensive consultation with electronic security experts, numerous security measures have been implemented.
The NCLN Legal Services Outcomes Database will allow the NCLN Partners to input case data and allow others to explore the model for their own use. The NCLN model is structured as a retrospective study of strategies employed by lawyers for children. Through intensive design activities addressing the range of issues from confidentiality to definition of terminology, the initiative is demonstrating the process of legal outcomes development while simultaneously creating a useful tool. NCLN Partners will continue to work to improve their data collection and assessment methods and document their experiences with the model. Eventually, NCLN will make its Legal Services Outcomes Database accessible for study by the national and international community of child advocates.
NCLN and its Legal Services Outcomes Database were made possible with a major lead grant from an anonymous funder and generous grants from the American College of Trial Lawyers Foundation, McDermott Will and Emery Foundation, and the Annie E. Casey Foundation. We continue to need and seek financial support for our work; please contact Frank Cervone at frankc@advokid.org for additional information about how you can help.
NCLN’s database supports our efforts to develop outcomes measures and better data collection methods in order to improve legal services for children.