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Agency-based Program Evaluation: Lessons from Practice, by Stephen A. Kapp and Gary R. Anderson, serves as a core textbook in the advanced undergraduate and graduate social work program evaluation courses. It combines the methodology of program evaluation with the reality of working with agencies and organizations to describe the effectiveness of their services and programs. Students will gain an understanding of the political and social context and pressures in which a program is developed, implemented and evaluated. This book offers a practice-oriented approach to evaluation. While many program evaluation methods texts often add a chapter or brief sections that describe organizational and political factors, this book begins with the context of an agency-based evaluation and describes the method within that context. Students will gain a more complete understanding of this contextual challenge and will learn techniques for operating in the face of these challenges.

ABSTRACTAlthough client satisfaction information is often ignored, it is a critical piece of the picture when evaluating the service experience of parents who have had their children placed in foster care. This article describes the development of a client satisfaction instrument and information generated from its use. The findings describe the psychometrics of the instrument, a descriptive profile of the satisfaction scores of the respondents, and some intriguing relationships between distinct aspects of client satisfaction. The service implications of these findings are considered and discussed.

The authors describe network characteristics and support resources from a clinical sample of 40 families. Data were obtained by family workers during the first two weeks of intervention. Case vignettes illustrate the multiple uses to which this information was put. Implications for future research and practice are discussed.