Measuring Client Satisfaction with Child Welfare Services

This article examines the role of client satisfaction indicators in child welfare agency performance measurement. It examines both research and performance measurement efforts to understand client perspectives on child protection and out-of-home care services. It highlights the value of obtaining data from clients about their experience of the service delivered by the agency and its impact on their lives. Conceptual, methodological and ethical issues in implementing routine, standardized data collection on client satisfaction are discussed. Measuring client satisfaction within a suite of performance indicators is an example of how practitioners and managers can use one of the tools of managerialism in the interests of clients and good practice.