Higher performance with increased risk of undesirable outcomes: the dilemma of U.S. child welfare services privatization

Dallas J. Elgin and David P. Carter

Public Management Review, 2020, vol. 22, issue 11, 1603-1623

Abstract: This paper examines the performance implications of privatization in U.S. child welfare service systems. We combine insights from contracting and nonprofit management literatures with a ‘deficit model’ of privatization to posit that fully-privatized systems delivered by nonprofits outperform their governmental counterparts. Due to resource constraints, however, we expect nonprofits to prioritize the greatest good for the greatest number of clients over client-specific outcomes. We use a quasi-experimental research design and a national administrative dataset, finding that full-scale privatization increases children’s likelihood of achieving the most desirable outcome and simultaneously places her at greater risk for the least desirable outcome.

Date: 2020
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DOI: 10.1080/14719037.2019.1637013

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