Strengthening Federal Child Welfare Compliance Through Data Integrity and Continuous Quality Improvement

ABSTRACT : This study examined the influence of data integrity and continuous quality improvement on federal child welfare compliance in the United States. A survey descriptive research design was adopted for the study. The population consisted of professionals involved in child welfare data management, compliance monitoring, and service delivery, while a sample size of 250 respondents was selected using snowball sampling technique. Primary data were collected using a structured questionnaire administered electronically via Google Forms, and analysed using frequencies, mean, and Spearman Rank Order Correlation at 5% significance level. The findings indicated that: data integrity had a positive and statistically significant influence on federal child welfare compliance in the United States (rho = 0.159; p = 0.012); continuous quality improvement had a strong positive and statistically significant influence on federal child welfare compliance in the United States (rho = 0.803; p = 0.000). The study concluded that child welfare agencies are more likely to meet federal standards when they maintain accurate, complete, and reliable data systems while also engaging in regular review and improvement of service delivery processes. It was recommended that federal child welfare agencies and state child protection departments should strengthen their data management systems by introducing regular data verification procedures, standardized reporting formats, and periodic staff training on accurate record keeping. This would help improve the accuracy, completeness, and reliability of child welfare records used for compliance monitoring and decision making.

KEYWORDS: Federal Child Welfare Compliance, Data Integrity, Continuous Quality Improvement