Evaluation in Australian child and family organisations

Understanding how community organisations engage with evaluation is critical to any discussion about the wellbeing of children, families and communities in the context of the service system. It is increasingly understood that evaluation is a necessary undertaking for mission-driven organisations to understand the difference they are making in areas such as prevention, early intervention and family strengthening. Today, many child and family organisations have incorporated a role for evaluation in their organisational structure and processes, and others are planning to do so, either driven by internal motivation or by external demands. Despite this broad understanding, it remains mostly unknown how Australian child and family welfare organisations are engaging with evaluation.

This research project explores the use of evaluation in Australian child and family organisation, what the barriers and enablers are to this use, and what the attitudes of professionals towards evaluation are.