Georgia Department of Human Services/ Division of Family & Children Services:

Georgia Department of Human Services/ Division of Family & Children Services:Strategies for Improving Child Welfare Services

Presenter: Sharon L. Hill, PhD, DFCS Division Director

Date: February 20, 2014

Georgia Department of Human Services

Vision, Mission and Core ValuesVision

Stronger Families for a Stronger Georgia.

MissionStrengthen Georgia by providing Individuals and Families access to services that promote self-sufficiency, independence, and protect Georgia's vulnerable children and adults.

Core Values• Provide access to resources that offer support and empower Georgians and

their families. • Deliver services professionally and treat all clients with dignity and respect.

Manage business operations effectively and efficiently by aligning resources across the agency.

• Promote accountability, transparency and quality in all services we deliver and programs we administer.

• Develop our employees at all levels of the agency.

Strategic Leadership Plans for All DFCS Section & Regional DirectorsValues Focus & Outcomes

Child safety and family well-being are at the core of every thing we do.

Focus I. Safety & Well-being of Children DFCS meets or exceeds critical outcomes related to the safety and well-being of the children and families we serve.

A stable, competent, and professional workforce is essential to quality outcomes.

Focus II. Employee Development Staff perform in an exceptional manner and have opportunities for growth because we invest in them.

Our commitments and obligations will be carried out with integrity, quality, and transparency.

Focus III. Accountability, Commitments & Integrity We maintain fidelity to plans and commitments and make adjustments when needed timely and transparently. *The Commitment to OUR Children

We are most effective in achieving our mission when we partner, develop, and maintain strong relationships with our clients, customers and external stakeholders.

Focus IV. Strong External Partnerships We develop and maintain strong partnerships, alliances, and strategic relationships in order to meet shared goals and objectives for children and families..

Strategic Leadership Plans for All DFCS Section & Regional Directors

• We worked together to develop common outcomes for each Focus Area

• All directors have developed strategies, action plans and measurable goals for each Focus Area

• Individual presentations on plans• Personal leadership development goal for each

director• Monthly update on plans

Strategies for Improving Child Welfare Practices• Implement statewide 24/7 centralized intake system in Georgia, creating uniformity and

standardization of response to reports of abuse and neglect (CPS Intake Communication Center)

-System implemented in 8 of the 15 regions -Ability to monitor phone calls -Greater assurance that all reports are documented in SHINESStatus: Currently 8 of 15 regions live; completed hiring of additional staff; readiness plan developed

for future implementation• Review cases that have been “screened out” in the last 12 months Oct 2012 – Oct 2013 / then

ongoing - Quality Assurance Team, Centralized Intake and Regional & County staffStatus: Reviews completed on approximately 2,500 cases; all screen outs to centralized intake are

reviewed• Provide intensive training for staff to improve interviewing and investigative skills -Georgia Child Advocacy Centers will train DFCS case managers on how to interview children to

gain the best information in order to make best decisions regarding their safety Status: Contract finalized; training will begin March 3, 2014

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Strategies for Improving Child Welfare Practices, cont’d• Provide intensive training for staff to improve interviewing and investigative skills -Georgia Public Safety Center will provide training DFCS case managers on how to

interview adults in order to best determine their capacity to provide care for their children.

Status: Contract not yet finalized; anticipated training date for May 2014• Establish internal safety panels to review/staff investigations and Family Support

cases prior to closure to ensure decisions are appropriate for safety of children -DFCS subject matter experts from around the state• Establish an External Review Team to conduct review and provide recommendations

to DFCS for practice enhancements -Tom Rawlings and Melissa Carter (both were formerly in the role of Office of the

Child Advocate)• Predictive Analytics to identify risky factors that may increase likelihood of future

injury to child -Andy Barclay, statistician, working with DFCS on this -

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Strategies for Improving Child Welfare Practices

• Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta (CHOA) -Dr. Jordan Greenbaum and Dr. Nancy Fejma: Child Protection Health Team to provide

training and consultation to staff around medical concerns as well as physical abuse • Casey Family Programs -Permanency Roundtables (multi-disciplinary staffing of children in foster care) -Cold Case Project (review of children who have been in foster care for extended periods

of time)• National Resource Center for Child Protection -Consultation on developing Safety Response System (practice model)

*Staffing plan developed to hire 175 child welfare staff by June 30, 2014; pending legislative approval.

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Federal Outcomes Comparison: Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kansas and

Tennessee

Timeliness of Reunification: FFY2008-FFY2011Exits to reunification in less than 12 months: Of all children discharged from foster care to reunification in the year shown, who had been in foster care for 8 days or longer, what percent was reunified in less than 12 months from the date of the latest removal from home? National median = 69.9%

FFY2008 FFY2009 FFY2010 FFY2011Change

(FFY08-FFY11)Alabama 63.1 61.2 64 67.1 4.0Florida 69.7 69.5 72.3 73.9 4.2Georgia 60.5 58.2 66.4 70.6 10.1Kansas 69.5 63.2 67.2 67.8 -1.7Tennessee 73.0 72.6 78.2 77.0 4.0

Source: FY08-FY11 Child Welfare Outcomes Report Data (12/21/2012)

FFY2008 FFY2009 FFY2010 FFY2011Change (FFY08-FFY11)

Alabama 9.0 9.1 8.3 8.1 -0.9Florida 8.1 8.0 7.9 7.9 -0.2Georgia 10.3 10.7 9.0 7.4 -2.9Kansas 8.2 9.0 8.8 9.0 0.8Tennessee 7.1 7.4 6.5 6.8 -0.3

Timeliness of Reunification: FFY2008-FFY2011

Exits to reunification, median stay: Of all children discharged from foster care to reunification in the year shown, who had been in FC for 8 days or longer, what was the median length of stay (in months) from the date of the latest removal from home until the date of discharge to reunification? National median = 6.5 months (lower score is preferable in this measure)


Timeliness of Reunification FFY2008-FFY2011


Alabama 10.6 8.6 7.8 10.1 -0.5Florida 13.2 15.1 14.1 15.4 2.2Georgia 7.9 3.5 6.1 8.9 1.0Kansas 8.1 7.4 8.8 8.4 0.3Tennessee 13.4 13.0 13.5 11.8 -1.6

Re-entries to foster care in less than 12 months: Of all children discharged from foster care to reunification in the 12-month period prior to the year shown, what percent re-entered foster care in less than 12 months from the date of discharge? National median = 15.0% (lower score is preferable in this measure)


Timeliness of Adoption: FFY2008-FFY2011


Alabama 14.0 21.0 18.1 16.1 2.1Florida 29.1 30.9 33.1 31.7 2.6Georgia 23.2 27.4 30.5 31.1 7.9Kansas 25.2 27.4 25.2 31.1 5.9Tennessee 36.6 36.0 37.1 31.8 -4.8

Children in care 17+ months, adopted by the end of the year: Of all children in foster care (FC) on the first day of the year shown who were in FC for 17 continuous months or longer, what percent was discharged from FC to a finalized adoption by the last day of the year shown?

National median = 20.2%


Achieving Permanency for Children in Foster Care for Long Periods of Time

FFY2008 FFY2009 FFY2010 FFY2011

Change

(FFY08-FFY11)Alabama 94.6 96.9 92.9 89.1 -5.5Florida 92.5 90.7 91.9 91.0 -1.5Georgia 91.5 92.5 92.6 94.9 3.4Kansas 88.3 89.0 87.1 89.4 1.1Tennessee 92.0 91.5 91.1 91.7 -0.3

Exits to permanency for children with TPR (termination of parental rights): Of all children who were discharged from foster care in the year shown, and who were legally free for adoption at the time of discharge , what percent was discharged to a permanent home prior to their 18th birthday? A permanent home is defined as having a discharge reason of adoption, guardianship, or reunification (including living with relative) .

National median 96.8%


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