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October 9, 2008 Beth Locker Deputy Project Director

Ground Truth: Using Data to Explore What’s Really Happening at the Local Level Hall County Justice for Children Summit. October 9, 2008 Beth Locker Deputy Project Director GA Supreme Court Committee on Justice for Children). The New Child Welfare Environment.

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October 9, 2008 Beth Locker Deputy Project Director

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  1. Ground Truth:Using Data to Explore What’s Really Happening at the Local LevelHall County Justice for Children Summit October 9, 2008 Beth Locker Deputy Project Director GA Supreme Court Committee on Justice for Children)

  2. The New Child Welfare Environment Child and Family Services Review, aka the CFSR, aka the “Federal Review” • Transforming from a compliance-driven system to an outcome-driven system. • Process Target: 80% of investigations completed in 90 days. • Outcome Target: 94.6% of victims are safe from re-abuse within 6 months. • This requires the field to learn to use data to manage toward positive outcomes for children and families. • 7/16/2001: GA’s first on-site review • 5/14/2007: GA’s second on-site review

  3. A couple questions… • Is Georgia adequately measuring outcomes now? • Is Hall County? How do you think Hall County is doing compared to other parts of the state?

  4. So what data are we focusing on today?

  5. AFCARS: Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System Federal DHHS/ACF requirement Cover the Foster Care half of the business Adoption & foster care data records for “most recent removal episode” NCANDS: National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System Covers the Child Protection side of the business (sometimes called the Safety data) Data records of children with disposed maltreatment reports As of 2005(?) “Child File” (certain fields) Federal DHHS/ACF requirement 45 out of 52 (states+DC+PR) sent Child File to DHHS in 2005 AFCARS & NCANDS Datasets

  6. Advantages: Already being collected (Most states sending data every 6 months, March/September, since 1997) Can calculate outcome measures, beyond process measures. Gives us standardized definitions, e.g.: Date of Latest Removal: Date the child was removed from his/her home for the purpose of being placed into foster care Discharge Reason #1: Reunified with parent or primary caretaker (child returned to his/her principal caretaker’s home) We are able to compare across geographies (county, state) and many years -- the value of that is HUGE. Why Use AgencyAFCARS & NCANDS Data?

  7. Georgia DFCS provided us (FCI, OCA & J4C) with data from 10/1998 through 3/2008 Processed into a longitudinal file and reported for major geographic regions: counties, DHR regions, court circuits and districts 231 geographic regions, 1400 web pages containing 15000 charts (and that’s just Georgia) The website is for building these presentations. It is not user-friendly, not for a general audience, does not have technical explanations. How Do We Use the Agency Data?

  8. FCI Summary StatisticsHall County stats on handout ...

  9. Raw Reports Investigation Substantiation as Victim A Child’s Contact Points with Hall’s Child Welfare System • Removal to Foster Care • Time in State Custody • Discharge from Foster Care • Re-Report • Re-Substantiation(Re-Victimization) • Reentry to Foster Care

  10. Child Welfare Dashboard

  11. Child Protective Services ... • CPS • Entries • In Care • Exits

  12. Investigations of Maltreatment • Hall County investigates 23.3 children per 10,000 in the population (per month) • Peak: near80 in Q1 2004 • 7-Year Average: 39 • Statewide, we investigate a similar number, 22.9 children per 10K Hall: Children Investigated

  13. Victims of Maltreatment • Hall County DFCS substantiates 10.7 children per 10,000 in the population (per month) as victims • Peak: near 35 in Q1 2004 • 7-Year Average: 17 • Statewide, we substantiate at the same rate (10.7)

  14. Victims of Repeat Maltreatment • First 6 months of CY2007:32 of Hall’s 744 victims of maltreatment (4.3%) were re-victimized within 6 months. • Statewide, 3.2% are re-victimized within 6 months. • National Std. <= 5.4%

  15. Victims of Repeat Maltreatment • Another look at this: % re-victimized by months from initial victimization • Slightly different time frame, and historical vs. most recent data. • Re-victimization in Hall is much lower than in the previous 6 years. Hall Historical Hall Recent

  16. Victims of Repeat MaltreatmentRemoval Status • Yet another look at this: • Comparing removed(to foster care) vs. non-removed children’s rates of re-victimization during latest 12 months. • The 2 groups are re-victimized at similar rates. Is removal more protective? Hall Non-Removed Hall Removed

  17. On to Foster Care Entries ... • CPS • Entries • In Care • Exits

  18. Removals to Foster Care • Hall County removes about 4 children per month, that’s 0.8 per 10,000 in the population per month • Lowest among the larger counties • Hall substantiates at the state rate, but removes only 8% of their substantiated victims. • Statewide, we remove 2.5 children per 10K

  19. Reentry to Foster Care Of the 49 children removed from April 2007 to March 2008: 8.2% (4 children),had been previously discharged from foster care during the preceding 12 months 12.2% (6 children),had ever been previously discharged from foster care Both lower than statewide rates of 8.5% and 16.4% respectively Chart shows full calendar year data, to minimize variability, but numbers are most recent 12 months

  20. Length of Stay of New Entries • Here’s some perspective: • A Hall child entering care in early 1999 could expect to spend close to 40 months in foster care. • Today, new entries can expect a stay of 12 months.

  21. On to the In-Care Cohort ... • CPS • Entries • In Care • Exits

  22. Foster Care Population Hall County had 101 children in care on 3/31/2008 That’s 20 children per 10,000 in the population in foster care 43 per 10K statewide, so Hall is less than half

  23. Foster Care Length of Stay Minimizing not just the number, but also the time children spend in care ... Hall: 36 of the 111 children in care on 3/31/2007 (32%) achieved permanency by 3/31/2008. Statewide = 42% Below state since late 2005

  24. Foster Care Placement Settings Congregate Care Utilization: Group Homes + Institutions Hall = 30%, well above state rate of 19% Has been higher than state for many years

  25. Foster Care Placement Settings Young Children in Group Settings: Group settings mostly for teens 83% are over 12 years old (79% statewide) In 1999-2000 less than half of children in group settings were teens. Huge improvement in 8 years

  26. Foster Care Placement Stability Two or Fewer Placement Settings: Assessment + Recommended Placement = 2 Stability of new entries dipped below the national 75th percentile but is back up in last year. Stability of long term care placements is well above state and national 75th percentile.

  27. And Finally, Exits from Foster Care ... • CPS • Entries • In Care • Exits

  28. Exits to Permanency Hall reunifies and adopts near state rate. Exits without Permanency? Hall emancipates (11% vs. 8%) and discharges to runaway (4% vs. 1%) above state rates. Actual numbers are small but potentially at great cost to those children

  29. Reunification Last year, Hall reunified 29 children (out of 61 discharged, 48%) Start slow, accelerate after 6 months 0 within 72 hours 20 (69%) within 12 months (s.w. 71%, nat. target 75%) Median time to reunificaition = 10.4 months (s.w. 7.1)

  30. Termination of Parental Rights (TPR) • Median time to TPR = 12.1 months (22.4 s.w.) • 72% of children in non-relative care over 24 months have both TPRs (vs. 38% s.w.) Major Public Policy Debate 32 • 16% of those with TPR on 3/31/2007 achieved permanency w/i 12 months (vs. 32% s.w.)

  31. Adoption Last year 7 DFCS children were adopted in Hall County (out of 61 discharged, 11%). 3 (43%) within 24 months (s.w. 22%, nat. target 37%) All were adopted within 48 months Median time = 25.0 months (s.w. 33.4 months)

  32. Hall County Data Summary Strengths Challenges

  33. Data and charts (including semi-annual updates) available at: www.FosteringCourtImprovement.org/ga Contact Beth anytime for assistance with interpreting them… Beth Locker 404-463-5227 lockerb@gaaoc.us

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