Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services

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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 9, 2009

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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).

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DCFS OUTCOMES THROUGH JUNE 2008

• Good news since 2002, for the most part
• No Recurrence of Maltreatment 3.4
• Reunification Within 12 Months 39.4
• Median time to Reunification -38.1
• Adoption Within 24 Months 136.8
• Median Time to Adoption -35.3
• Reentry Following Reunification 108.0

Data source CWS Outcomes Systems Summary for Los
Angeles County, April 2009 Report (Data Extract
Q3 2008). UC Berkeley's Center for Social
Services Research.
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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 2.0

Data source CWS Outcomes Systems Summary for Los
Angeles County, April 2009 Report (Data Extract
Q3 2008). UC Berkeley's Center for Social
Services Research.
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DCFS OUTCOMES THROUGH OCTOBER 31, 2008
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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.

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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.

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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 Childrens Social
  Worker (SCSW) and six Generic Childrens 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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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

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Data Source CWS Systems Summary for Los Angeles
County, April 2009 Report (Data Extract Q3 2008).
UC Berkeleys 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 Berkeleys Center for Social Services
Research.
24
Data Source CWS Systems Summary for Los Angeles
County, April 2009 Report (Data Extract Q3 2008).
UC Berkeleys 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 Berkeleys Center for
Social Services Research.
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(No Transcript)
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Data Source Data Source CWS Systems Summary for
Los Angeles County, April 2009 Report (Data
Extract Q3 2008). UC Berkeleys Center for
Social Services Research.