The Edgewood Institute for the Study of Community-Based Services (Edgewood Institute) focuses on research and evaluation of Edgewood services and those of similar programs nationwide with the goal of continuously improving services to children and families.
location
The Edgewood Institute works accross all Edgewood programs. It is based at the agency's San Francisco Family Center.
Who It Helps
Edgewood's research agenda includes both original funded research projects and research relevant to Edgewood programs and services. Edgewood also contributes to the development of best practices nationally by sharing data with partner agencies.
Publications
Cohon, D., and Cooper, A.B., 1993 "A First Look: Foster Parents of Medically Complex, Drug-Exposed and HIV+ Infants", Children and Youth Services Review, V.15, No. 2,105-131.
Cohon, D., and Cooper, B. A., 1999. "Edgewood's Kinship Support Network: Program Model and Client `Characteristics", Children and Youth Services Review, Vol. 21, No 4, 331-338.
Cohon, D., Fritz, D., Brady, M., Cooper, B. A., Needell, B. & Smith, K. 2001 "Specialized foster Care for Medically Complex, Drug-Exposed, HIV Positive Infants: The Baby Moms Program", Children and Youth Services Review. Vol. 23, No. 11, 831-863
Brown, S., Cohon, D. & Wheeler, R. 2002. "African American extended families and kinship care: How relevant is the foster care model for kinship care?" Children and Youth Services Review Vol. 24 Nos. 1/2, 53-77.
Cohon, D., Hines, L., Cooper, B., Packman, W. & Siggins, E. (2003). "A preliminary study of an intervention with kin caregivers", Journal of Intergenerational Relationships, V. 1, No 3. 49-72.
Youngblood, D. C. (2005). "Missing Mothers in a Mother-Centered World: Adolescent Girls Growing Up in Kinship Care" in Unbecoming Mothers: The Social Production of Maternal Absence. Edited by Diana Gustafson. Haworth Press, New York.
Cohon, D., Hines, L., Cooper, B., Packman, W. & Siggins, E. (2005). "Preserving family: Themes from a qualitative study of kin caregivers", Family Preservation Journal, Vol. 8, 43-63.
Rosenthal, M. & Youngblood, D. (In Press) "Creating Relatives You Don't Have: Kinship Care, Social Services, and Fictive Kin", Practicing Anthropology.
partners and funders
Edgewood Institute projects and funders:
1993-1997 Maternal & Child Health Bureau Project, Fragile Infant Special Care Program, Grant #MCJ-065080, Edgewood Center for Children & Families. ($766,044)
1994-1999 Kinship Support & Resources Program, Stuart Foundations of San Francisco Research Grant, Edgewood Center for Children & Families. ($286,549)
1997 AB1193 Kinship Supportive Services legislation passed by the California legislature. Data from Stuart project used by Children's Lobby to educate legislative staff and policymakers.
1997-2000 National Center for Child Abuse and Neglect Innovative Demonstration Grant, Edgewood's Kinship Model. Grant # 90CA1599. ($507,251)
1997-2001 Edgewood's Abuse Reactive African American Youth Kinship Project, California Office of Criminal Justice Planning, Grant # AR96011613. ($280,000)
October 1997 Institute for the Study of Community-Based Services formally becomes operational at Edgewood.
1998 AB1901 Kinship Guardianship Assistance Program (Kin-GAP) passed by California legislature. Data from several Institute projects used to educate legislative staff and policymakers.
1998-2000 Zellerbach Family Fund for graduate student internship stipends. ($41,738)
1999-2001 The William Randolph Hearst Foundation, study using youth as interviewers, Children's Views of Kinship Care. ($100,000)
1999-2003 The David and Lucile Packard Foundation ($611,038) and The California Endowment ($387,331)—Children in Edgewood's Kinship Support Network.
2000-2001 Zellerbach Family Fund for stipends for youth interviewers in the Hearst Foundation study on Children's Views of Kinship Care. ($5,000)
2000-2003 Kinship Permanency Project, Administration on Children Youth and Families, Children's Bureau.($892,635)
2001-2004 AB1193 HealthyKin Project, The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation #038106 ($1.1 million) and The California Endowment #20011022. ($659,000)
2001-2005 Contract for Institute to evaluate Family Support Services of the Bay Area Kinship Legal Services, Abandoned Infants Assistance Program, Children's Bureau. ($6,000 annually for 4 years)
2001-2006 The David and Lucile Packard Foundation to modify and re-engineer the Kinship Support Network database. ($50,000)
2002-2005 Contract for Institute to evaluate Family Support Services of the Bay Area Regional Respite Program for Adoptive Parents, Administration on Children Youth and Families, Children's Bureau. ($45,000 annually for 4 years)
2004-2005 The Stuart Foundation to study kinship youth transition to adulthood—The Bridge Project. ($15,000)
2004-2007 The William Randolph Hearst Foundation to build and evaluate the development of a learning organization at Edgewood. ($100,000)
2004-2008 The Willow Springs Foundation to study Edgewood's school-based CHAMPS intervention and expand outcomes research. ($115,000 annually for 4 years)
October 2004 Institute assumes responsibility for Edgewood agency-wide outcomes.
2005-Ongoing Alumni Follow-up Study of former Edgewood clients begins.
2005-2011 Contract for Institute to evaluate Family Builders by Adoption Federal project Dumisha Jamaa, a collaboration to provide permanency services to youth in out-of-home care in Alameda County. ($45,000 annually; increase to $60,000 annually in 2007).
key facts
- As part of Edgewood's overall goal of becoming a learning organization, the Institute is responsible for conducting internal evaluations of Edgewood programs. We are utilizing the CHQ-PF50 and the BERS-2 with our intensive services programs. We compile these data using charts to make them more understandable for line staff and work with staff to interpret the findings.
Institute Director responsible for screening and approving in conjunction with Edgewood's Medical Director all external requests for studies of Edgewood clients. This includes periodic reviews of external proposals from agencies for program collaborations with Edgewood.
- The Institute has had post-doctoral interns from University of California San Francisco; California School of Professional Psychology; and San Francisco State University.
- Family Needs Scale assessment instrument based on the work of Carl Dunst and modified by the Institute with the author's permission is being used in several states as an outcome measure and also in a 9-site national Abandoned Infants Assistance kinship evaluation.
- Institute Director trained as Master Trainer by Stanford Patient Education Research Center in Chronic Disease Self-Management Program (CDSMP), and Edgewood becomes registered as a Leader's Training Site. Institute funds supported two nurses from KSN health team and two kin caregivers to attend CDSMP training at Stanford in order to begin offering the program to KSN clients and to train leaders from other California KSSP sites.
- Since 2000, the Institute's Director has served as a member, California Children's Justice Act Task Force, Office of Emergency Services, State of California.
contact us
Don Cohon, Ph.D., Director
Edgewood Institute for the Study of Community-Based Services
Edgewood Center for Children and Families
415.383.2273
