State Court Improvement Program (Child Protection)

Continuous Quality Improvement

"Continuous quality improvement (CQI)" means that data is used to identify, inform, monitor and improve progress toward outcomes in an ongoing fashion. State courts may design systems and approaches to ensure continuous quality improvement that meet their particular needs with available resources.

A significant body of research literature now highlights the importance of using data to identify, inform and systematically monitor the implementation and results of programs and interventions in an ongoing fashion. Rather than one-time assessments and interventions, efforts to implement Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI) have proven more effective in achieving positive outcomes.

The federal Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), Children’s Bureau (CB) has determined that CQI is critical to improving outcomes for children and families for both the DCF and State courts. Consistent with CB’s focus on continuous improvement, State courts receiving CIP grants are required to implement approaches for CQI to ensure that proceedings related to child abuse and neglect promote:

The Connecticut State Court Improvement Program began developing a comprehensive CQI data analysis and reporting system in December 2011. The first step in the process was to meet with and discuss performance outcome measures with key stakeholders who are members of the SCIP Multidisciplinary Task Force discuss existing data collection and reporting capacity within the Judicial Branch and partner agencies. Currently, all data that the CQI relies on will be derived from the court’s data system.

For more information about the CQI process for SCIP, contact SCIP@jud.ct.gov

Performance Outcome Measures - SFY 2010-2011 and SFY 2011-2012 - (PDF)

Performance Outcome Measures - SFY 2012-2013 - (PDF)