1 / 23

Expedited Family Reunification Project

Expedited Family Reunification Project. Arizona Child Welfare Demonstration Project. Overview of Project. Description of Project Project Outcomes Program Components. Description of Project.

osmond
Download Presentation

Expedited Family Reunification Project

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Expedited Family Reunification Project Arizona Child Welfare Demonstration Project

  2. Overview of Project • Description of Project • Project Outcomes • Program Components

  3. Description of Project Arizona’s project is designed to expedite reunification of children who are placed in out-of-home care through intensive in-home and aftercare services.

  4. Description of Project • Target population are children who are: • in out-of-home placement for no more than 9 months; • in congregate care or licensed foster care settings; • for whom reunification is a case goal; and • for whom the juvenile court concurs with a case plan of expedited reunification

  5. Description of Project • Located in Maricopa County Child Protective Services offices • Implementation in two phases Phase 1 began in April 2006 Phase 2 began in January 2008

  6. Project Outcomes • Reduce children’s length of stay in congregate and licensed foster care settings. • Decrease the likelihood of re-entry into out-of-home care. • Prevent the recurrence of child abuse and neglect. • Improve family-well being and functioning.

  7. Program Components • Child and Family Teams • Home Based Strategies and Interventions • Flexible Funding • Role of the child protection services worker and waiver service provider

  8. Child and Family Teams • Provides strength based framework for reunification • Team includes everyone involved in the case • The team is responsible for all assessment, planning, intervention and aftercare phases of the reunification process

  9. Home Based Strategies and Interventions • Array of services provided based on needs identified • Minimum of 6 hours per week of face-to-face contact with clients • Intensive visitation between parent (s) and children • One provider for all services, monitoring and coordination

  10. Flex Funding Flex funds are used to address needs such as: • Specialized services • Housing/Utilities assistance • Transportation • Job related expenses

  11. Role of Workers • Provider staff (Expedited Reunification Team) • Provider of all services to family • Lead in facilitating CFTs • Coordination of all services

  12. Role of Workers • CPS Worker • Retains legal responsibility • Provide oversight of planning process • Not make independent decisions • Work with the Expedited Reunification Team

  13. Evaluation Design

  14. Phase I: April 2006 – July 2007

  15. Primary Caregiver Characteristics • 94% mothers • 85% Caucasian • 24% Hispanic or Latina/o • 9% African American • 2% American Indian • 33.8 years of age (avg) • 16 to 69 years of age (range)

  16. Target Child Characteristics • 55% males  45% females • 86% Caucasian • 28% Hispanic or Latina/o • 13% African American • 2% American Indian • 7.2 years of age (avg) • 1 to 17 years of age (range)

  17. Safety Related Outcomes • Is there a reduction in the recurrence of child abuse and neglect?

  18. Permanency Related Outcomes • Is the time in out-of-home placement reduced?

  19. Reentry Into Out-of-Home Placement • Is there a reduction in subsequent out-of-home placements?

  20. Child and Family Well-Being • Is there an increase in overall family well-being and functioning?

  21. Summary and Accomplishments • Full implementation of project within nine months of waiver approval • Over 100 children from 88 eligible cases received waiver services • A higher percentage of waiver cases (43%) reunified than comparison cases (17%) for new cases July 1, 2006 and after • Improvements in selected child and family domains for existing waiver families

  22. Lessons Learned • Develop strategies to better integrate waiver and substance abuse services • Explore strategies for continual training on waiver services and procedures • Develop increased management system support • Develop quality measures on key waiver service components • Provide monthly reports to implementation team on process, outcome, and cost indicators

  23. For additional information: • Flora Sotomayor IV-E Waiver Project Director Division of Children, Youth & Families Arizona Department of Economic Security 1789 W. Jefferson Phoenix, AZ 85007 (602) 364-1346 fsotomayor@azdes.gov

More Related