Child Welfare 2010 and Beyond: Better Outcomes, Stronger Families

1. Child Welfare 2010 and Beyond:Better Outcomes, Stronger Families Children’s Services

2. Foster Care Landscape • 850 children at any time • 254 foster homes; down from 450 only 7 years ago • Only 100 homes willing to take children • 80% of children in network homes; 20% in agency homes • Contracts with 30 different providers • Two support managers, one assessor manager and about 20 staff • Support staff visit home every month; duplicating caseworker visits Children’s Services

3. Agency Challenges • Unprecedented financial challenges hit agency in 2009; 40 percent cut in funding for operations from 2007 • Little state funding for Children’s Services; Levy dollars must be maximized (In Hamilton County, 52% of CS funding comes from Levy, 42% from federal government, 6% from state) • Children have more complex problems • Recruiting new foster parents difficult Children’s Services

4. Hamilton County Response • Staff layoffs, job abolishments, staff attrition, division • merging, position merging, realignment: loss of 800 • employees from 2007 • Closed some of our locations • Reduction or elimination of non-mandated contracts • Internal reduction or elimination of non-mandated • services Children’s Services

5. Focus on core competencies • Transitioned non-core businesses to outside • resources • Homeless shelter • TB control • Visitation • Positioning ourselves for worst-case scenarios and to • be effective over the long haul • Find business model that works for each section – • how do we look for TODAY’S families/going forward • Examine new ways of doing business! Hamilton County Response Children’s Services

6. Child Welfare 2010 • An improved way of doing business • Preserving and engaging families • Seeking alternatives for child safety • Reducing (safely) kids in care (5%) • Expanding visitation project • Building capacity for community-based • services • Realigning and regionalizing foster care • Improving outcomes for transitioning foster youth • Increasing use of kinship care • Engaging fathers Children’s Services

7. Realigning foster care • 80% already in network homes • Children not disrupted from placements • Families receive more support and pay • Children increasingly have complex • problems and need therapeutic homes • Still in the foster care business! Children’s Services

8. Realigning foster care • Frees up resources • Money can be used to up-front or reunification services • Personnel can be used for intake and ongoing • Help with community recruitment • Oversight regulations and requirements remain same Children’s Services

9. How we did it • Consultation with network providers, Juvenile court, foster parents association and others • Letters to families • Calls from staff to parents • A Q&A, checklist and other helpful transition documents • Letters to providers • Information on Web site and social media • Provider forum; meet and greet • Follow up letters to parents as deadline approached Children’s Services

10. Results • Families understand challenges and have accepted the change • Providers are happy and recruiting • 150 families attended our providers forums • 66% have given us an indication of transferring • Only a handful of families have requested transfer to a provider we do not contract with; we are preparing contract • JFS workers are slowly transitioning to other agency roles Children’s Services

11. Thank you! Children’s Services