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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMINUTES - 01082013 - C.179RECOMMENDATION(S): ACCEPT report from the Employment and Human Services Department on the Child Welfare System Improvement Plan as recommended by the Family and Human Services Committee. FISCAL IMPACT: None - report only. BACKGROUND: At the December 4, 2013 meeting of the Family and Human Services Committee the Director of Children's Services within the Employment and Human Serivces Department presented an update on the efforts to redesign the child welfare system and their system improvement plan. The attached slide presentation was provide with the exception that this attachment has one additional slide requested by the Committee. CONSEQUENCE OF NEGATIVE ACTION: The Board and the public will not receive this informaiton. CHILDREN'S IMPACT STATEMENT: The services provided by the Children and Family Services Bureau of the Employment and Human Services Department impacts all areas of children's lives. APPROVE OTHER RECOMMENDATION OF CNTY ADMINISTRATOR RECOMMENDATION OF BOARD COMMITTEE Action of Board On: 01/08/2013 APPROVED AS RECOMMENDED OTHER Clerks Notes: VOTE OF SUPERVISORS AYE:John Gioia, District I Supervisor Candace Andersen, District II Supervisor Mary N. Piepho, District III Supervisor Karen Mitchoff, District IV Supervisor Federal D. Glover, District V Supervisor Contact: Dorothy Sansoe, 925-335-1009 I hereby certify that this is a true and correct copy of an action taken and entered on the minutes of the Board of Supervisors on the date shown. ATTESTED: January 8, 2013 David Twa, County Administrator and Clerk of the Board of Supervisors By: STACEY M. BOYD, Deputy cc: C.179 To:Board of Supervisors From:Family and Human Services Committee Date:January 8, 2013 Contra Costa County Subject:Child Welfare System Improvement Plan Update ATTACHMENTS Memo Presentation System Improvement Plan2012Contra Costa County, Children & Family ServicesDec. 3, 2012Family & Human Services CommitteeValerie Earley, Director, Children & Family  Services Background• Assembly Bill 636 know as  the Child Welfare System  Improvement and Accountability Act of 2001, is also  known as the California Child And Family Services  Review (C‐CFSR).   • The legislation directed counties to undergo a process  of self‐assessment and system improvement in order  to improve performance on key child welfare outcome  indicators.  • Modeled after the Federal Child and Family Services  Review process which was designed to assess state‐ level performance on child welfare outcomes, the C‐ CFSR process consists of three components. Components of C‐CFSR• Peer Quality Case Review (PQCR)This collaborative process between Children & Family Services (CFS), Juvenile Probation, Bay Area Academy and California Department of Social Services and is designed to highlight a practice area on which CFS and Probation would like to focus to better understand each agency’s performance and to plan how to improve services.• County Self‐Assessment (CSA)The self-assessment process presents an opportunity to learn what is and what is not working in the delivery of child welfare services within that county. The self-assessment process is conducted by the county with input from stakeholders that include parents, youth, child welfare staff, and partners from other child-serving departments such as probation, education, mental health, public health, and prevention network partners.• System Improvement Plan (SIP)This is the plan developed as a result of the self-assessment and PQCR process. Each SIP component looks much like a case plan or an action plan; encompassing an identified area for improvement, an improvement goal, strategies and rationales for each strategy and a list of milestones to be attained in completion of the strategy.• Annual Update on SIP Progress (***)This annual progress report documents Contra Costa’s performance for the Systems Improvement Plan submitted to California Department of Social Services in April 2010. The Systems Improvement Plan was originally slated as a tri-annual plan, however in May 2012, CDSS revised the schedule and extended all existing plans to five years. Thus this current Systems Improvement Plan will now end in December 2014 Complete  A Peer Quality  Case ReviewConduct a Self AssessmentReview Current  System  ImprovementDevelop System  Improvement PlanImplement and Monitor  System ChangeComplete Annual  Updates of Outcome Step 1Step 2Step 3Step 4 The goal of the child welfare system is to improve outcomes for children and  families in the areas of safety, permanency, and well‐being.  The entire  community is responsible for the child, youth and family welfare, not just the  child welfare agency. The child welfare agency has the primary responsibility to  intervene when a child’s safety is endangered. ƒTo be effective, the child welfare system must embrace the entire continuum of child welfare services, from prevention through after care services. ƒEngagement with consumers and community is vital to promoting safety, permanency and well‐being. ƒFiscal strategies must be considered that meet the needs identified in the County Self‐Assessment (CSA) and included in the SIP. ƒTransforming the child welfare system is a process that involves removing traditional barriers within programs, within the child welfare system, and within other systems. Guiding Principles of the Systems Improvement Plan Increasing Timely Social Worker Visits (Safety)Exit to Permanency (24 Months in Care) Increasing the percentage of youth who have been in care at least 2 years who exit to permanency (Permanency)Decreasing the disproportionate number of African American children who enter foster care (Systemic Factors)2010-2014 System Improvement Measures Timely Social Worker Visits with Child (Safety)Measure2C Timely Social Worker Visits with ChildMethodologyThe percent of children who received a monthly visit. National StandardTimeliness of Social Work Contacts is not a national measure and therefore a National Standard is not set. Target Improvement Goal (as stated in the 2010 SIP)“Though Contra Costa ultimately seeks to have 100% compliance in Social Worker contacts, the goal set for this Improvement Plan period is a sustained 90% or greater compliance for the at the final year of the SIP.”Current PerformanceMonth 1: 92.8%Month 2: 93.0%Month 3: 90.9%This performance meets the Target Improvement goal as stated in the 2010 Systems Improvement Plan. It’s important to note that at the time the SIP was written, performance was at 78.7%, thus the performance improvement is significant. Timely Social Worker Visits (Safety)2C Timely Social Worker Visits with Child405060708090100BaselineOct-09Jan-10Apr-10Jul-10Oct-10Jan-11Apr-11Jul-11Oct-11Jan-12Apr-12Jul-12Oct-12Percent of CasesContra Costa Month 1Contra Costa Month 2Contra Costa Month 3 Timely Social Worker Visits Improvement StrategiesEnhance use of Safe Measures by staff to manage visits; provide ongoing training to staff and supervisors¾Assess ongoing use of Safe Measures by SW’s and Supervisors.¾Retrain all staff in the use of Safe Measures to ensure they have a full understanding of the way the tool can assist in managing their caseload.Continue Geographical assignment of cases and/or explore ways of reducing travel while increasing contact compliance.¾Provide caseload data with location of families/children to staff.¾Assess ability to manage visits for out of county placements which ensures primary assigned worker completes 75% visits. ¾Monitor/refine geographic assignment considering workflow and different needs based on geographic area and strategy (i.e. TDM, DR, etc). Timely Social Worker Visits Improvement StrategiesTrain Staff to policy changes regarding face to face contacts and waivers/exceptions and implement changes¾Assess training needs for social worker contacts.¾Develop and train staff on regulations & policies related to timely SW contacts.¾Provide visit exception report for mgrs and sups.Develop Quality Assurance program for timeliness and quality of contacts and develop a recognition program for staff and supervisors demonstrating excellence in performance. ¾Recognize staff for compliance in timeliness of contacts¾Evaluate quality of contacts. ¾Develop strategies for supervisors to monitor and increase quality of SW visits.¾Determine criteria for ongoing staff recognition that incorporates timeliness, quality of visits, and acknowledges appropriate staff for performance Exits to PermanencyMeasureC3.1 Exits to Permanency after 24 months in CareMethodologyThe percentage of children who have been in Foster Care for the 24 months or longer who are discharged to a permanent home prior to turning 18 and by the last day of the year before the child’s 18th birthday. A home is considered permanent when the child reunifies with parents or primary caretakers, establishes a guardianship, or adoption.National Standard29.1%Contra Costa Target Improvement Goal (as stated in the 2010 SIP)“Increase the percentage of youth reaching permanency by 5% the first year and 10% the following years. At the end of year 3, performance would be 18.1%.”Current PerformanceContra Costa’s performance when the SIP was written was 14.2%; the October 2012 quarter report shows current performance at 13.3%. This is below the National Standard of 29.1% and below the state average of 24.2% for the same year . C3.1 Exits to Permanency (24 Months in Care)05101520253035BaselineOct-09Jan-10Apr-10Jul-10Oct-10Jan-11Apr-11Jul-11Oct-11Jan-12Apr-12Jul-12Oct-12Percent of ChildrenContra CostaNational StandardExits to Permanency Strategies to Improve Exits to Permanency (24 Months in Care)Enhance family and caregiver engagement activities to support reunification and facilitate discussions about permanency options should reunification not be effective.¾Develop staff training/education focusing on permanency options and conversations about permanency with parents and caregivers.¾Increase use of team meetings to enhance permanency¾Implement visitation policy including transition from supervised to unsupervised for enhanced family reunification.Improve individualized, culturally competent reunification services with multi-agency case coordination¾Continue Linkages; develop partnerships for streamlining services for families preparing to reunify.¾Increase use of wrap around services.¾Continue work on cultural awareness through use of Parent Partners.Identify at least one relative and send Notification of Relative information.¾Develop and train staff team responsible for family finding activities.¾Maintain contract with internet database search engine to search for relatives and absent parents.¾Train staff on how to have permanency discussions with located families. Strategies to Improve Exits to Permanency (24 Months in Care)Develop strategies and practice expertise in early and continuous Concurrent Planning.¾Maintain continuous focus on permanency & concurrent planning process ¾Identify challenges and delays in concurrent planning and address issues.¾Measure performance in concurrent planning and Permanency Outcomes Engage fathers and extended families of fathers.¾Develop and implement fatherhood initiative survey.¾Using survey results, plan strategies and train staff to engagement of fathers and families of fathers.¾Measure contacts and listings of father relationships in CWS/CMS to evaluate effectiveness of strategy.¾Provide education/training to Bench and Bar on Father involvementProvide transition planning meetings for youth including assessment of educational needs.¾Develop coordinated data exchange to sups and staff regarding youth age 17 or older.¾Hold life planning/transition meeting with youth within 6 months of emancipation.¾Utilize CWS/CMS to track accurate educational outcomes for youth. Strategies to Improve Exits to Permanency (24 Months in Care)Increase recruitment of families that can offer permanence¾Complete a demographic profile and data analysis for children currently in care for 24 months or longer to support recruitment planning.¾Increase use of community partners and regional offices in recruiting families to offer permanence.Engage incarcerated parents to support case planning and permanency.¾Establish working relationship with detention facilities to facilitate engagement of incarcerated parents¾Provide training and support for incarcerated parents.¾Support staff communication with incarcerated parents. Establish Learning Community environment to facilitate staff discussions relevant to family engagement and permanency (new)¾Implement ongoing Learning Community meetings; plan conversations to support best practice, family engagement, and permanency. Exits to Permanency Exits to Permanency Systemic FactorsMeasureReducing Disparity, Entries of African American Children to Foster CareNational StandardA National Standard has not been set to track Disproportionality/Disparity.Contra Costa Target Improvement Goal as stated in the 2010 SIP“Reduce the incidence rate of removals for African American children by 5% per year. Performance when SIP created was 11.4/1000 children removed; goal at end of 3-year SIP is 10/1000.”Current PerformanceReports for disparity/disproportionality are adjusted annually. For 2011, entries for black children entering care are at a rate of 8.42 per 1,000 children. This appears to be down from the performance at the beginning of the SIP but the 2011 Census shifted population counts. Current reports indicate a rate of 7.2 for 2010 so, disparity may, be increasing. Further analysis is needed to see if this shift upwards is similar to all ethnicities or if this is, in fact, an increase in disparity. Systemic FactorsThe following chart displays the Baseline data (from January 2004) Disparity Entries of Black Children to Foster Care024681012BaselineJul-04Apr-05Jan-06Oct-06Jul-07Apr-08Jan-09Oct-09Jul-10Apr-11Jan-12Oct-12Rate per 1,000 ChildrenContra Costa Systemic FactorsDisparity (Entries to Foster Care)02468101214162004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011Rate per 1000 Children by Ethnicity in CensusTotalBlackWhiteHispanicAsianNative AmericanOther/Missing Continue to support staff in culturally and ethnically competent Family Engagement.¾Provide ongoing training for cultural knowledge and competence in communication and engagement of families, peers, and community partners including family culture not just ethnicity/race.¾Explore non-traditional resources and services relevant to case plan goals and support families in attaining goals in a manner that best matches the cultural values of the family.¾Develop conversation guides for supervisors to lead staff in discussions of disproportionality at all unit and review meetings every other month.Strategies to Reduce Disparity, Entries of African American Children to Foster CareUtilize feedback from consumers (parents and youth) to assist in improving culturally informed services¾Develop feedback mechanism from parents and youth who have been in our system.¾Analyze consumer information and look for ways to improve service delivery and service gaps. Strategies to Reduce Disparity, Entries of African American Children to Foster CareAfrican American children ages 5 and under will receive a TDM prior to entering care or within 7 days of being in care. ¾Continue TDM’s for African American children under age 5 who are at risk of removal or immediately following removal.¾Review compliance with children eligible for TDM vs. those served.¾Explore reasons TDM’s not held and address issues.¾Develop case review process for African American children who have been removedProvide a forum for discussion cultural and ethnic issues. Raise disproportionality and disparity awareness of staff, community and agency partners, legal entities, and community members.¾Reconvene the Cultural Competency Oversight Committee¾Address issues of personal bias and support staff in strength based language in written case documentation.¾Present information to mandated reporters to enhance awareness of how bias may impact families reported within their own organizations.¾Present regular data reports to staff on topics of disproportionality.¾Re-establish regular training which addresses staff personal biases related to poverty vs. neglect and standards for adequate care of children. Questions? 1 EMPLOYMENT AND HUMAN SERVICES CONTRA COSTA COUNTY TO: Family and Human Services DATE: Dec. 3, 2012 Committee Members cc Theresa Speiker David Twa FROM: Valerie Earley, Director of Children & Family Services Bureau SUBJECT: Child Welfare System Improvement Plan Update Recommendation Accept this presentation from the Employment and Human Services Department; and continue to support the Children and Family Services Bureau efforts on Child Welfare Redesign and implementing the System Improvement Plan required by the State's Child Welfare Performance Outcomes and Accountability Act. Background As the Committee may recall, Contra Costa Children & Family Services Bureau began a formal process in 2001 to “redesign” many of our Child Welfare practices with the goal of improving outcomes for children. The Federal government also passed the Adoptions and Safe Families Act which requires all states to address specific federal child safety, permanence and well-being outcomes in order to receive Federal Child Welfare funding. California passed the Child Welfare Performance Outcomes and Accountability Act which sets specific performance goals for all California counties, and requires self assessments, program audits, system improvement plans, and outcome measurement data collection and reporting. In the latter half of 2009 and Spring of 2010 as Contra Costa was completing the Peer Quality Case Review and County Self Assessment, budgetary constraints continued to be a primary factor in the workplace environment. Recovery from severe staff cut-back and changes in procedures and organizational structure to address the reduced staff impacted bureau decisions and direction. Focus for performance was directed at a basic level: assuring safety of children, sustaining improvement in timely compliance of response for referrals and visits to children, and meeting court objectives and timelines. The disruption to service delivery was minimal only due to the dedication of staff. Those areas that had been targeted as best and innovative practice were put on temporary hold as staff learned new jobs and adjusted to the revised work structure. Measures selected for the Systems Improvement Plan included continued efforts to assure all children were seen each month, to improve the measure where we had the poorest performance in Permanence, and to not loose the forward momentum we had gained in addresses racial disparity and disproportionality. Summary/Conclusion The CFS Bureau continues to meet Federal and State performance improvement expectations and goals. We have been able to continue our Redesign efforts by utilizing funding from a 2 variety of sources: State Redesign Pilot grant, Promoting Safe and Stable Families, Federal Comprehensive Family Assessment Grant, and smaller grants from the Stuart Foundation and Hedge Funds Care. With the Board’s continuing support and the commitment of our CFS staff, we are confident that Contra Costa will lead Child Welfare System changes that will positively impact outcomes for children and families.