Chapin Hall's applied research is characterized by an independent perspective that looks across government systems—child protection, human services, juvenile justice, health, housing, and public education—in order to learn how such institutions do or do not interact with each other. Our work includes proposals for fiscal and management reforms in child welfare systems; studies of children's maltreatment, foster care, and placement experiences; research on how cash and noncash governmental supports affect children and families; explorations of indicators of child well-being; and evaluations of child abuse prevention, early intervention, and family preservation initiatives.

Chapin Hall has developed pioneering strategies for using administrative data—the data gathered routinely by human services agencies—as a resource for policy, management, and evaluation. Chapin Hall's Integrated Database on Child and Family Programs in Illinois makes it possible to produce a multilayered picture of the entire network of relationships linking children and public services. It consolidates data from more than 30 statewide and city programs, serving more than 4 million children. This database extends back 20 years for some programs and allows researchers to track individuals or populations as they pass from one program to the next. The Integrated Database and the methods used to assemble it have become a model that is being replicated in other jurisdictions, both nationally and internationally.

Similarly, Chapin Hall's Multistate Foster Care Data Archive—with the individual case histories of more than 1.5 million foster children—is widely viewed as a national model for the aggregation and analysis of administrative data. It forms one of the core resources of the Center for State Foster Care and Adoption Data, a partnership of Chapin Hall, the American Public Human Services Association, a growing number of states, and other universities.

Chapin Hall also develops analytic tools and systems to monitor outcomes for children and youth. In many instances, we guide managers both in how to use such tools and work directly with information resources, as well as how to apply that information to improve performance within their organizations.

A seminal area of work for Chapin Hall is in the area of primary supports for children—a term we coined to refer to the array of activities and resources needed by all young people to develop into productive, caring adults. We initially focused on shaping the concept into a coherent field of research. We then turned to broadening the understanding of the role that primary supports can play in the lives of young people. We explore topics in child and youth development; study organizational capacity; and research, document, and evaluate various initiatives, such as literacy programs, public libraries, and afterschool programs.

Chapin Hall also devotes attention to the importance of community in the policy debate around fostering child and family well-being. Our work in this area comprises evaluation of comprehensive community-building initiatives, the study of community capacity, and examinations of the philanthropic practices that shape community-building endeavors.