1

G-FORCE MEETINGOctober 23, 2008

ON THE ROAD TO GREATNESS!

2

OFFICE OF FAMILY INDEPENDENCEHIGHLIGHTS

• Food Stamp Error Rate is 2.13%!

• Increase in the number of TANF & Food Stamp cases.

• Work participation rate decreased from 68.3% to 66.7%.

• All regions meeting Standard of Promptness in TANF, Medicaid and Food Stamp Regular.

3

For May, 2008, Georgia was number FOUR in the nation in Food Stamp lowest amount of

food stamp errors! (up from number 7 in April) Our cumulative error rate was 2.13%!

We were number ONE for the FOURTH month in a row in most improved error rate, improving

by 5.86% over this time last year.

Finally, we have FOUR months to go in QC readings for FFY08.

Congratulations and Keep Up the Great Work!

FOOD STAMP ERROR RATE!

4

LOWEST FOOD

STAMP ERROR RATE

TOP 3 STATES(CURRENTLY)

5Continuing to see an increase in Food Stamp households; increased by 10,224 from August to September and an increase of 17% from September 2007.

6

7The number of TANF adult cases have been increasing since July 2008.

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

CHILD PROTECTIVE SERVICESHIGHLIGHTS

• Increase in the number of CPS cases from August to September 2008 (877 more cases).

• Timeliness of investigation remains at 93% for September; lowest since September 2007.

• Only three regions at 99.5% or above (Regions 6, 9 & 11).

• Increase in the number of family support cases from July to August. Approximately 53% of all intakes reported were provided with family support services.

• Rate of substantiations have increased by 13% from a year ago.

• Recurrence of maltreatment rate is 2.95%; highest since February 2008 but still far below the national standard of 5.40%.

16

17Increase in CPS cases primarily in Investigations.

18

SUMMER TREND FOR INTAKES

0

1000

2000

3000

4000

5000

6000

7000

8000

9000

10000

2006 8732 6408 6024 8586 8132

2007 8656 6054 6196 8593 7731

2008 7120 5828 5705 6236

May June July August September

Consistent pattern of decreasing intakes in June and July and an increase in August. However, the increase for 2008 has not been as steep as in previous years. In 2006, there was a 42% increase and in 2007 there was a 39%; however, in 2008, there was only a 9% increase in the number of cases from July to August.

19

AUTUMN TREND FOR INTAKES

0

1000

2000

3000

4000

5000

6000

7000

8000

9000

2006 8132 8197 7225 6391

2007 7731 8533 7120 6309

September October November December

The trend for 2006 and 2007 has been that of decreasing intakes from October to November and continuing into December. Next month, we will be able to determine whether this trend continues.

20

TIMELINESS OF INVESTIGATION September 2007 – September 2008

94%96% 96%

99%

96%94% 94%

98%98%

93% 93% 93%92%

50%

55%

60%

65%

70%

75%

80%

85%

90%

95%

100%

Sep-07 Oct-07 Nov-07 Dec-07 Jan-08 Feb-08 Mar-08 Apr-08 May-08 Jun-08 Jul-08 Aug-08 Sep-08

Question: What factors continue to contribute to overdue pending investigations? What strategies need to be implemented to improve timeliness of investigations?

21

TIMELINESS OF INVESTIGATION BY REGION FOR SEPTEMBER 2008

97.6% 97.1% 96.8%99.5%

91.5%

79.0%

99.5% 99.0% 100.0% 97.5%

87.9%

79.9%

89.7%91.3%95.9% 95.1%

96.4%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17

Only three regions had timeliness rates of 99.5% or above for September.

22

Note: Of the 726 cases substantiated and opened, 544 or 75% were opened in Family Preservation and 182 or 25% were opened for permanency (foster care).

23

The purpose of this chart is to show the disposition of substantiated investigations. For reports received in August, 1,076 investigations were substantiated. Of those, 544 or 51% were opened for Family Preservation services, and 182 or 17% were opened for Permanency services (foster care). There are 350 or 32% were closed {further research to determine how many of these may have been opened for permanency services/placement}.

24

DISPOSITION OF REPORTSAUGUST 2008

53% of the reports received in August were provided

with Family Support services; 15% were

unsubstantiated/closed; 14% were screened out and

18% were substantiated.

25

FAMILY SUPPORT SERVICESAUGUST 2008

53%

63% 63% 62%

54%

40%

52%

65%

53% 52%

23%

29%

50%

46%

58%

65%

57%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17

State average=53%

Family Support Services ranged from 23% to 65% of dispositions for reports received in August by region.

26

UNSUBSTANTIATED & CLOSEDAUGUST 2008

17%

10%

12%

9%

12%

19%

13%

10%

13% 13%

23%

9%

30%

17%

7%

17%

10%

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17

The percentage of investigations that were unsubstantiated and closed ranged from 7% to 30% across the regions.

State average=15%

27

FAMILY SUPPORT BY UNSUBSTANTIATED CLOSED

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

Family Support 53% 63% 63% 62% 54% 40% 52% 65% 53% 52% 46% 58% 23% 29% 65% 57% 50%

Unsub Closed 17% 10% 12% 9% 12% 19% 13% 10% 13% 13% 23% 9% 30% 17% 7% 17% 10%

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17

Blue line indicates

State averages

The regions who are above the State average of 53% in Family Support cases tend to be below the State average of 15% for unsubstantiated and closed cases.

28

SUBSTANTIATION TRENDAugust 2006 – August 2008

41%

59%

44%

56%

47%

53%

54%

46%

54%

46%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

Aug-06 Feb-07 Aug-07 Feb-08 Aug-08

The percentage of substantiated investigations have risen by 13% over the past two years, how might this percentage be increased over the next six months?

29

REGIONAL SUBSTANTIATION PATTERNAugust 2008

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

Substantiated 48% 64% 54% 59% 46% 60% 59% 53% 60% 62% 51% 61% 45% 55% 64% 42% 60%

Unsubstantiated 52% 36% 46% 41% 54% 40% 41% 47% 40% 38% 49% 39% 55% 45% 36% 58% 40%

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17

Blue line indicates

State averages

Nine regions exceed the state’s rate of substantiated investigations (54%) while several regions have more than 50% unsubstantiated and closed investigations (Regions 1, 5, 13 and 16).

30

SUBSTANTIATION COMPARISONAugust 2007 & August 2008

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

Aug-07 36% 50% 42% 48% 44% 56% 56% 43% 34% 56% 56% 52% 44% 39% 36% 47% 64%

Aug-08 48% 64% 54% 59% 46% 60% 59% 53% 60% 62% 51% 61% 45% 55% 64% 42% 60%

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17

State=54%

State=47%

There has been a 7% increase in the substantiation rate statewide from 2007-2008. However, Regions 2, 9, 14 & 15 have seen a 14% or higher increase in their substantiation rates for August 2008.

3140,896 cases received Family Support Services from October 2007 to September 2008.

32Of the cases that received Family Support services from August 2007 to July 2008, 2.32% have become substantiated CPS cases.

33105,371 cases have received Family Support Services since its implementation in July 2004; 30% of these cases have been in Regions 17, 5 and 2.

34Of the 105,371 cases that have received Family Support services since its implementation, 5.93% of them have become substantiated CPS cases.

35

FAMILY SUPPORT CASES THAT BECAME SUBSTANTIATED CPS CASES

(July 2004 – June 2008)

7.68%

6.82%

5.77% 5.85%

7.42%7.11%

6.58% 6.28%6.02% 6.03% 5.67%

0%

1%

2%

3%

4%

5%

6%

7%

8%

9%

Aug-07 Sep-07 Oct-07 Nov-07 Dec-07 Jan-08 Feb-08 Mar-08 Apr-08 May-08 Jun-08

This graph reflects the percentage of family support cases that have become substantiated CPS cases during the past year. Currently, there is no national standard associated with this measure. Should state establish its own target?

36

INCREASING FAMILY SUPPORT SERVICES & DECREASING UNSUBSTANTIATED/CLOSED CASES

• Ability to devote and invest resources where it is needed most.

• Investigating only those cases that truly require this response.

• Several regions are reviewing their unsubstantiated/closed cases to determine whether appropriate decision was made or if case could have received a family support response and then training staff as necessary.

• Increasing knowledge of staff who are responsible for intakes so they can obtain information necessary to determine the most appropriate response to reports of abuse/neglect.

• Overall, staff are developing a sense of confidence in their skills regarding assessing the most appropriate needs of our families.

• Regions developed Wildly Important Goals related to front door practices and have seen improvements in their outcomes.

37

SAFETY 1

Safety Data: Absence of recurrence of maltreatment

NationalStandard FFY 2005 FFY 2006 FFY 2007

NegotiatedImprovement

Goal

Current Performance

94.6 93.0 95.6 96.56NA met

standard at point of CFSR

September: 97.05%

38

RECURRENCE OF MALTREATMENTAugust 2007 – September 2008

3.58%3.41% 3.37%

3.31%

2.83% 2.83%3.02%

2.86%2.70% 2.61% 2.68% 2.59% 2.63%

2.95%

0.00%

1.00%

2.00%

3.00%

4.00%

5.00%

Aug-07 Sep-07 Oct-07 Nov-07 Dec-07 Jan-08 Feb-08 Mar-08 Apr-08 May-08 Jun-08 Jul-08 Aug-08 Sep-08

National Standard = less than or equal to 5.40%

CAUTION

DANGER! THIN ICE!

39

FOCUS ON

PERMANENCY FOR

CHILDREN

40

PERMANENCY SERVICES FOR CHILDRENHIGHLIGHTS

• The number of children in DFCS custody continue to decrease (11,463 in September).

• Foster care re-entry rate increased slightly to 5.79%; still below the national standard of 8.60%.

• The percent of children reunified in less than 12 months is at 61.2%; below the national standard of 76.2%.

• The number of substantiated cases of maltreatment in care decreased since last month.

41

PERMANENCY FOR CHILDREN

• The belief and value that every child and young person deserves a permanent family relationship is paramount.

• Permanence is about locating and supporting a lifetime family.

• Permanency is not a philosophical process, nor is it intended to last only until the child turns 18.

• Permanency means we are establishing strong, committed, and lasting ties of affection for children.

42

PLANNING FOR PERMANENCY

• Should begin at entry into care

• Be youth-driven

• Family-focused

• Culturally competent

• Continuous

• Approached with urgency

PERMANENCY

43Slight decrease in the number of cases in DFCS custody from August to September. However, there has been an 11% decrease from September 2007 and a 16% decrease from September 2006.

44

FOSTER CARE RE-ENTRIESAugust 2007 – September 2008

8.45%8.16%

9.40%8.93%

7.08%

6.19%

8.23%

5.86%

4.16%

5.82%

4.07%

4.96%

3.60%

5.79%

0.00%

1.00%

2.00%

3.00%

4.00%

5.00%

6.00%

7.00%

8.00%

9.00%

10.00%

Aug-07 Sep-07 Oct-07 Nov-07 Dec-07 Jan-08 Feb-08 Mar-08 Apr-08 May-08 Jun-08 Jul-08 Aug-08 Sep-08

National Standard = less than or equal to 8.60%

CAUTION

DANGER! THIN ICE!

45

PERMANENCY COMPOSITE 1

Permanency Outcome 1: Timeliness and Permanency of Reunification

NationalStandard

FFY 2005 FFY 2006 FFY 2007 NegotiatedImprovement

Goal

Current Performance

122.6 129.0 126.4 119.4NA met

standard at point of CFSR

Items considered: Of the children exiting to reunification, % reunified in less than 12 months from the date of latest removal from home

Of the children exiting to reunification, median number of months in foster care

Of the children entering foster care for the first time in the 6 months prior to the year shown, % exiting to reunification in less than 12 months from the latest removal from home

Of children exiting to reunification in the previous year, % reentering foster care in less than 12 months from discharge

46

State is below the national standard of 76.2% or greater on this measure. In September, of all the children who exited foster care by reunification with their family, only 61.19% were reunified in less than 12 months from their removal date.

47

NUMBER OF CHILDREN IN DFCS CUSTODYSFY 2008

12,600

11,189

10,000

10,500

11,000

11,500

12,000

12,500

13,000

Beginning of SFY08 End of SFY08

The number of children in DFCS custody decreased by 1,411 during State Fiscal Year 2008.

48

FOSTER CARE ENTRIES & EXITSSFY 2008

6,862

8,273

0

1,000

2,000

3,000

4,000

5,000

6,000

7,000

8,000

9,000

Entries During SFY08 Exits During SFY08

During SFY2008, more children exited care than entered.

49

PERCENT OF CHILDREN IN FOSTER CARE BY AGE IN SFY2008

21.7%

15.5%

13.2%

11.3%

15.4%16.8%

6.1%

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

Under 1 1 to 3 4 to 6 7 to 9 10 to 12 13 to 15 16 to 18

50

DISCHARGE REASONS FOR CHILDREN WHO EXITED CARE IN SFY2008

45.4%

21.6%

15.0%

9.5%6.5%

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

40%

45%

50%

Reunification Fit & WillingRelative

Adoption Guardianship Emancipation

Note. An additional 2% of children were on runaway or were transferred to another agency (RYDC) at the time of their 18th birthday. In the future, we will compare this to national measures for the rate of discharge from care by reason to obtain a point of comparison to measure how we are doing.

51

SUBSTANTIATED MALTREATMENT IN CAREMarch – September 2008

21 21

19

10

12

10

8

0

5

10

15

20

25

Mar-08 Apr-08 May-08 Jun-08 Jul-08 Aug-08 Sep-08

The trend for substantiated maltreatment in care had been inconsistent; however, numbers were decreasing for August and September 2008. How do we ensure this decreasing trend continues?

52

SUBSTANTIATED MALTREATMENT IN CAREPLACEMENT TYPE

March – September 2008

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

Mar-08 Apr-08 May-08 Jun-08 Jul-08 Aug-08 Sep-08

Non-DFCS Foster Homes 10 6 3 5 0 3 1

DFCS Foster Homes 5 1 9 2 9 1 4

Group Homes 2 2 6 2 5 4 3

Residential Treatment Facility 1 1 3 1 3 1 0

Residential Treatment Foster Care 3 0 0 2 2 1 0

Mar-08 Apr-08 May-08 Jun-08 Jul-08 Aug-08 Sep-08

The number of substantiated maltreatment cases have decreased for non-DFCS homes during this period, while there had been an increase for DFCS homes in May and July.

53

SUBSTANTIATED MALTREATMENT IN CAREPERCENTAGES BY PLACEMENT TYPE

March – September 2008

These percentages reflect the rate of substantiated

maltreatment in care for March – September 2008 by

placement type. There were at total of 101 substantiated

maltreatment cases during this period; 30% of them were in

DFCS homes, 28% in non-DFCS homes, and 24% in Group

Homes.

54

PERFORMANCE OUTCOMES: ADOPTION

• Number of finalized adoptions

Number of months • Entry to finalized adoption

• Entry to First TPR

• Entry to Second TPR

• First TPR to Second TPR

• Second TPR to Exit

55

NUMBER OF FINALIZED ADOPTIONS

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

SFY2007 91 66 111 111 58 98 53 55 49 53 66 88 117 48 39 69 98

SFY2008 121 75 125 106 58 129 53 53 50 63 90 76 69 45 31 36 72

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17

There were a total of 1,270 finalized adoptions in SFY2007 and 1,252 in SFY 2008. Only six regions reflect an increase in the number of finalized adoptions in 2008.

56

STATEWIDE COMPARISON FOR ADOPTION MEASURES(TIME IN MONTHS)

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

2007 38 22 25 3 13

2008 38 22 24 2 14

Time to Finalized Adoption

Entry to First TPREntry to Second

TPRFirst TPR to Second

TPRSecond TPR to Exit

While most of the measures remained the same from 2007 to 2008, there was a one-month drop in the time from first to second TPR; however a one-month increase in the time from second TPR to exit.

57

AVERAGE TIME TO FINALIZED ADOPTION(TIME IN MONTHS)

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

SFY2007 33 33 34 36 36 37 37 38 39 40 40 40 41 41 42 43 46

SFY2008 35 34 42 33 36 31 34 34 35 36 38 43 56 39 40 41 43

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17

State average= 38 months

Eleven regions decreased the average number of months for finalized adoptions (ideally, the red line should be lower than the blue one if we have done better in 2008 than in 2007).

58

AVERAGE TIME FROM ENTRY TO FIRST TPR(TIME IN MONTHS)

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

SFY2007 19 22 24 20 20 21 22 30 21 26 22 23 28 20 19 24 17

SFY2008 20 21 20 22 18 21 27 25 20 21 20 21 36 22 22 20 15

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17

State average= 22 months

Only 9 regions decreased the average number of months from entry to first TPR.

59

AVERAGE TIME FROM 1ST TPR – 2ND TPR(TIME IN MONTHS)

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

SFY2007 2 2 2 2 3 5 2 3 5 2 3 1 1 7 5 4 3

SFY2008 1 3 3 1 3 3 1 2 3 4 3 1 2 2 2 4 2

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17

State average: 3 months in 2007 & 2 months in 2008

Only 9 regions decreased the average number of months between first to second TPR (the red line should be lower than the blue one).

60

AVERAGE TIME FROM 2ND TPR – FINALIZED ADOPTION

(TIME IN MONTHS)

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

18

20

SFY2007 13 15 13 15 14 14 11 12 10 15 15 13 13 9 18 13 13

SFY2008 14 11 12 10 10 14 13 16 9 15 19 12 18 12 16 16 14

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17

State average: 13 months in 2007

& 14 months in 2008.

Only 6 regions decreased the average number of months from second TPR to a finalized adoption (the red line should be lower than the blue one). QUESTION: WHY HAVE SOME REGIONS DONE A MUCH BETTER JOB OF THIS THAN OTHERS?

61

PERMANENCY STRATEGIESThose regions who have made considerable progress in moving children to permanency

attribute:

• Early and continuous diligent searches for parents and relatives, particularly absent fathers and paternal relatives.

• Concurrence planning

• Staffing cases at regular intervals. In order to move children to permanency within 12 months, staffings were done after the child had been in care 3 months, 6 months and 9 months.

• Fast and effective judicial systems as well as aggressive work by the SAAGs.

• Ability to provide aftercare services sooner tended to encourage the timely reunification of children.

• Consolidating TPRs (both parents) whenever possible instead of separate ones.

• Coordination between Regional Adoption staff and Field Program Specialists led to finalizing adoptions sooner.

62

FINALIZATION OF ADOPTIONSTEPS NEEDED POST TPR

• Completion of the Child's Life History

• Completion of a Special Needs Determination

• Determination of the Adoptive Assistance Rate

• A Foster Home Conversion is required when children are being adopted by their foster parents (60 % of Georgia children are adopted by their foster parents). 20% of our children are adopted by the Foster/Adopt family they've been in placement with.

• Presentation of the Child Life History to the Prospective Adoptive Parents

• Once all the above steps are completed, a foster or foster/adopt family can move directly to signing the Adoptive Placement Agreement, have further supervision of the placement waived and DFCS can allow the family to hire an attorney to finalize the adoption.

• For children placed in a newly selected adoptive home additional steps are required which include a placement staffing, a series of pre-placement visits, signing of the adoptive placement agreement and 2-6 months of supervisory visits to ensure the child's adjustment in the home (varies depending on age of child).

63

NEXT G-FORCE

MEETING

NOVEMBER 20, 2008