Given the governmental structures and multiple funding sources and agency functions involved, budget, fiscal management, and financing work can be highly complex and vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. Agencies must navigate this complexity in a manner that keeps those at the local office or county level, operating closest to those being served, directly involved in identifying the best use of resources to achieve desired outcomes.
In the past several years, there has been increased attention to the use of data and information to improve performance in public child welfare administration, policy development and direct service provision. Child welfare research is a process that helps turn data into information and practical knowledge. This contrasts with information management, which focuses on developing systems to manage the input and output of data.