Participation and Influence in Federal Child Welfare Policymaking

Abstract

Very little current empirical evidence exists to guide U.S. child welfare policymaking interventions. This article builds on the knowledge base to determine the factors that best predict a witness' level of influence in federal child welfare policymaking. This content analysis of 150 randomly selected congressional child welfare hearings testimonies from the 10-year period covered by the 106th–110th Congresses (1999–2008) uses a binary logistic regression model. Researchers found that witness affiliation and the Congress in which the witness submitted testimony were significant predictors of a witness' level of influence. The political ideology of Congressional leadership and the committee to which the testimony was submitted were not significantly associated with a witness' level of influence. The article concludes with implications for research and practice.

KEYWORDS:

• child welfare
• congressional hearings
• political participation
• political influence
• policy practice

Notes

^aOverall model: χ²(8) = 102.127, p < .001.

^bGoodness of fit: −2LL = 568.707; χ²(7) = 4.79, p = .686.

*p < .05;

**p < .01.