Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services

1. Los Angeles CountyDepartment of Children and Family Services Child Welfare Outcomes: Service Delivery System Reform and the Title IV-E Waiver Capped Allocation Demonstration Project July 16, 2009

2. FIRST SEQUENCE WAIVER INITIATIVES • Expansion of Team Decision Making (TDM) Conferences to Permanency Planning Conferences (PPC). • Specialized Youth Permanency (YP) Units. • Up-Front Assessments on High Risk Cases for Domestic Violence, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Issues, and immediate services linkage.

3. TITLE IV-E WAIVER FIRST YEAR ACCOMPLISHMENTSJULY 2007- JUNE 2008 DCFS and the Probation Department implemented critical system changes in the way child welfare services were provided to children and families in the County which: • Tested the advantages of a capped allocation strategy with increased flexibility in the use of Title IV-E funds by implementing a redesign of child welfare strategies at the organization, process and service delivery levels. • Generated an additional $28.9 million in Waiver reinvestment funds. These funds will be used to expand and enhance Waiver initiatives to further improve services to children and families.

4. RESULTS: EXPANSION OF TEAM DECISION MAKING • Between July 2008 and December 2008, TDM facilitators completed 460 Permanency Planning Conferences (PPC) for youth in group homes. Recommended Transition Plans included: • Family Based Setting: • Home of Parent – 48 youth. • Relative Placement – 44 youth. • Adoption – 13 youth. • Foster Family Agency – 14 youth. • Foster Family Home – 24 youth. • D-Rate Foster Home – 16 youth. • Group Home Setting • Lower Level of Care – 48 youth. • Same Level of Care – 181 youth. • Higher Level of Care – 12 youth. • Emancipation • THPP – 9 youth. • Emancipation/Termination of Jurisdiction – 51 youth.

5. RESULTS: YOUTH PERMANENCY (YP) UNITSMETRO NORTH OFFICE Since May 2008, when the Metro North YP Unit began operating as a YP Unit with reduced caseloads, etc., 75 youth have been served: • 53 have regular visitation with siblings or other family members; • 11 have returned home; • 13 have been placed with relatives; • 4 have been placed with legal guardians; • 17 have been replaced into a lower level of care; • 22 have adoption plans; and, • 4 have legal guardianship plans.

6. RESULTS: YOUTH PERMANENCY UNITSPOMONA OFFICE • Since May 2008, the Pomona Office has served 72 high need youth. • 9.7% of the youth have exited foster care. • 2 were adopted; • 1 was placed with a legal guardian; • 3 emancipated with lifelong connections; and, • 1 exited due to incarceration. • Of the 60 youth currently being served: • 55 have regular visitation with siblings and other family members, and • 16 have been replaced into a lower level of care.

7. RESULTS: UP-FRONT ASSESSMENTS (UFA) • From July 2007 - December 2008, approximately 908 families with 1666 children have received assessments during investigations (based on data received from BIS 3/17/09). • With the implementation of a web-based UFA system on November 1, 2008, DCFS has been able to track data more closely to determine follow-up services provided. • Data indicate that approximately 17% of the families that were referred for UFAs also received referrals for Alternative Response Services and 21% received Family Preservation Services.* * Data based on the population served since November 1, 2008.

8. DCFS OUTCOMES THROUGH DECEMBER 31, 2008 Good news since 2002, for the most part • No Recurrence of Maltreatment +2.7% • Reunification Within 12 Months +38.9% • Median time to Reunification -37.3% • Adoption Within 24 Months +143.8% • Median Time to Adoption -34.1% • Reentry Following Reunification +114.1% Data source: CWS Outcomes Systems Summary for Los Angeles County, July 2009 Report (Data Extract Q4 2008). UC Berkeley's Center for Social Services Research.

9. DCFS OUTCOMES SINCE WAIVER IMPLEMENTATION Since the implementation of the Waiver: • No Recurrence of Maltreatment +.5% • Reunification Within 12 Months +1.8% • Median time to Reunification +1.2% • Adoption Within 24 Months -8.2% • Median Time to Adoption -3.3% • Reentry Following Reunification + 5.9% Data source: CWS Outcomes SystemsSummary for Los Angeles County, July 2009 Report (Data Extract Q4 2008). UC Berkeley's Center for Social Services Research.

10. DCFS OUTCOMES THROUGH DECEMBER 31, 2008

11. SECOND SEQUENCE WAIVER INITIATIVES • Expansion of Family Team Decision Making (FTDM) Conferences; • Expansion of Family Finding and Engagement through Specialized Permanency Units in Three Offices; • Up-front Assessments for Mental Health, Substance Abuse and Domestic Violence for High Risk Families, with Expanded Family Preservation Services; • Promoting Safe and Stable Families (PSSF); • Implementation of Differential Response; and, • Regional Office Community Partnering.

12. EXPANSION OF FAMILY TEAM DECISION MAKING CONFERENCES (FTDM) • Expansion of FTDM conferences to families investigated by the Emergency Response Command Post (ERCP), which handles investigations of child abuse and neglect after normal business hours, on weekends, and on County holidays. • An additional eight FTDM facilitators and one manager to supervise the facilitators will be hired. • This expansion is expected to reduce the number of entries into foster care by identifying safe alternative plans and immediate services linkages for families investigated by ERCP.

13. EXPANSION OF FAMILY FINDING AND ENGAGEMENT THROUGH SPECIALIZED PERMANENCY UNITS IN THREE OFFICES • During this second Waiver sequence, the Metro North and Pomona offices will be brought up to full staffing, and a third fully-staffed Unit will be added to the Santa Clarita Office. • Each fully-staffed Youth Permanency (YP) Unit will include a Supervising Children’s Social Worker (SCSW) and six Generic Children’s Social Workers (CSWs) with a reduced caseload of 15 high need youth • High need youth defined as: • no or limited family connections; • multiple recent replacements; • heavy substance abuse; • recent psychiatric hospitalization; or, • repeat runaways. • CSWs in these units receive extensive training and utilize intensive family finding and engagement strategies.

14. UP-FRONT ASSESSMENTS FOR MENTAL HEALTH, SUBSTANCE ABUSE AND DOMESTIC VIOLENCE FOR HIGH RISK FAMILIES, WITH EXPANDED FAMILY PRESERVATION SERVICES • Expansion of Up-front Assessments (UFA) to all regional offices and Emergency Response Command Post • UFA prevent unnecessary foster placements through more thorough investigation and assessment of high-risk Child Protection Hotline referrals of alleged child abuse and neglect involving substance abuse, domestic violence and/or mental health issues and linkage to treatment and ancillary services in the community.

15. PROMOTING SAFE AND STABLE FAMILIES (PSSF) • Utilize Waiver funding in FY 2008-09 to restore federal cuts made to existing PSSF contracts for these vital services: • Family Support; • Family Preservation; • Time-limited Family Reunification Services; and, • Adoption Promotion Services and Support (APSS). • These services are effective in reducing the number of foster care entries, preserving placements, and shortening timelines to permanency.

16. IMPLEMENTATION OF DIFFERENTIAL RESPONSE • Differential Response diverts appropriate Child Protection Hotline (CPHL) referrals to community agencies before family needs escalate and child safety becomes a concern. • Families will have access to services, activities, and supports that strengthen their well-being through enhanced community response and collaboration. • This approach increases shared responsibility for child safety in the community and decreases the number of referrals to regional offices. • Only children and families that require a formal child protection response will receive intervention by DCFS.

17. REGIONAL OFFICE COMMUNITY PARTNERING • Waiver funding provided to regional offices to: • Promote collaboration via events to deepen the work with community partners on key reform initiatives; and, • Expand prevention services such as eliminating racial disproportionality and disparity, increasing child safety and reducing timelines to permanency.

18. EVALUATION OF LASERVICE DELIVERY SYSTEM IMPROVEMENT • In Los Angeles, local evaluations will focus on the Point of Engagement (POE) and Prevention Initiative Demonstration Project (PIDP). • Qualitative data will be gathered from the families served, DCFS line social workers who engage families and carry cases, and line staff from community-based partner agencies and organizations. • The key areas to be assessed are direct interactions with families, public agency and CBO partnership, and office specific conditions enabling/hindering outcomes. • Quantitative data will be gathered on office specific outcomes.

19. No. of removals contains removals resulted from referrals. • No. of referrals excludes evaluated-out referrals. • Data source is DCFS March 2009 – Executive Report

20. Data Source: CWS Systems Summary for Los Angeles County, April 2009 Report (Data Extract Q3 2008). UC Berkeley’s Center for Social Services Research.

21. Data Source: LAKids – DCFS Fact Sheet as of April 14, 2009. Total number of children their own homes and in out of home placement as of the last reporting day of each reporting year.

22. Data Source: Removal – DCFS Executive Report – March 2009. No. of removals includes removals from referrals and open cases. If a child was removed from home several times in the same year, each removal would be counted.

23. Data Source: CWS Systems Summary for Los Angeles County, April 2009 Report (Data Extract Q3 2008). UC Berkeley’s Center for Social Services Research.

24. Data Source: CWS Systems Summary for Los Angeles County, April 2009 Report (Data Extract Q3 2008). UC Berkeley’s Center for Social Services Research.

25. Data Source: Data Source: CWS Systems Summary for Los Angeles County, April 2009 Report (Data Extract Q3 2008). UC Berkeley’s Center for Social Services Research.

27. Data Source: Data Source: CWS Systems Summary for Los Angeles County, April 2009 Report (Data Extract Q3 2008). UC Berkeley’s Center for Social Services Research.