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| Demonstration Type: | Continuous Benefit Program/Assisted Guardianship 1 |
| Approved: | September 10, 2004 |
| Implemented: | November 17, 2005 |
| Expected Completion: | October 31, 2010 |
| Interim Evaluation Report Expected: | June 30, 2008 |
| Final Evaluation Report Expected: | April 30, 2011 |
The target population for Minnesota’s demonstration includes title IV-E eligible children ages 0-18 for whom reunification has been ruled out as a permanency option. In addition, children must have resided with the prospective guardian or adoptive family for at least six consecutive months before they may participate in the demonstration.2 Minnesota’s demonstration places particular emphasis on American Indian and African American children in long-term foster care and children with special needs. Special needs children include those who are older, part of a sibling group, or have intense psychological, physical, and behavioral problems.
The State is operating its demonstration in five counties: Cass, Carlton, Dakota, Hennepin, and Ramsey. Hennepin and Ramsey are Minnesota’s most populous metropolitan counties. Cass and Carlton Counties have significant American Indian populations and are located in greater Minnesota.3 The demonstration may be extended to additional counties over time.
Minnesota’s title IV-E waiver, known as the Minnesota Permanency Demonstration, expands eligibility and services within the State’s existing title IV-E foster care program by providing a continuous set of benefits to foster families who adopt or accept permanent legal and physical custody (i.e., guardianship) of children in their care. The overall goal of the demonstration is to increase the willingness of foster families to adopt or assume guardianship of children by eliminating financial barriers to these permanency options. Under the State’s traditional subsidy programs, counties may negotiate guardianship and adoption subsidy payments with foster caregivers that are approximately 50 percent lower than foster care maintenance payments. In contrast, caregivers who adopt or assume guardianship of a child under the Minnesota Permanency Demonstration are offered a monthly payment equal to the child’s existing monthly foster care maintenance payment. Participating caregivers must meet all State foster care licensing requirements and be committed to providing a permanent home for the child through either adoption or guardianship. Both “kin” and “non-kin” caregivers are eligible to participate in the demonstration4.
Minnesota’s evaluation includes process and outcome components, as well as a cost analysis. The State’s evaluation contractors are implementing a two-part research design to evaluate the demonstration: (1) an experimental design with random assignment to experimental and control groups in the metropolitan counties of Hennepin and Ramsey; and (2) a quasi-experimental matched-case comparison design in the non-metro counties of Cass, Carlton, and Dakota. For this matched-case comparison component, the State’s evaluators are matching experimental group children with a comparison group of children in non-participating counties using demographic (e.g., race, age, gender), geographic, and case-related variables (e.g., placement status, legal status).
Sample Size
In Hennepin and Ramsey Counties, the State randomly assigned eligible families in open CPS cases to the experimental and control groups at a 1:1 ratio. Similarly, new cases are randomly assigned at a 1:1 ratio after reunification has been ruled out as a permanency option and the family has met all other eligibility requirements. Siblings are exempt from random assignment in order to keep sibling groups together to the fullest extent possible.
At the time of the waiver’s approval in September 2004, the State estimated that approximately 665 children in Hennepin and Ramsey Counties and 102 children in the non-metropolitan counties of Cass, Carlton, Dakota, and Mille Lacs5 were eligible to participate in the demonstration. As of November 30, 2006, all five participating counties had begun assigning children to the demonstration, with a total of 707 children assigned to the demonstration (375 children to the experimental group and 332 children to the control/ matched-case comparison groups). The majority of experimental group children live in Hennepin (189) and Ramsey (118) Counties, while the remainder (71) live in the non-metro counties of Cass, Carlton, and Dakota. The control group consists of 188 children from Hennepin County and 110 children from Ramsey County. In addition, 34 children have been identified as matches for children living in counties that are using a matched case comparison design (Carlton, Cass, and Dakota).
Process Evaluation
The State’s process evaluation describes how the demonstration was implemented and identifies differences in the services received by experimental and control/comparison group cases. Using data available in the State’s SACWIS database, supplemented by interviews with caregivers and youth, the process evaluation addresses the following research questions:
Outcome Evaluation
The State’s outcome evaluation is comparing the experimental and control/comparison groups for significant differences in the following outcome measures:
Cost Study
The State’s cost analysis compares the costs of major services received by cases in the experimental group with the costs of providing traditional services to cases in the control/comparison groups. The cost analysis examines the use of key funding sources, including all relevant Federal sources such as titles IV-A, IV-B, IV-E and XIX of the Social Security Act, as well as State and local funds. In addition, the State is conducting a cost-effectiveness analysis where feasible to identify costs per successful outcome for the experimental and control groups.
Process Evaluation
During the first year of the demonstration’s implementation, the State reports that the caregivers of 253 out of 375 experimental group children (67.5 percent) were offered the single benefit option. The State is currently examining the reasons why an offer of the single benefit option was not made to some experimental group families.
Outcome Evaluation
As of November 2006, 141 of the 375 children (37 percent) assigned to the experimental condition have exited to permanency through adoption or guardianship. By comparison, 98 of the 332 (29 percent) children in the control condition have achieved permanency. Guardianships account for the higher permanency rate in the experimental group, with 14 percent of experimental group children (n = 53) moving to guardianship during the first year of the demonstration compared with 6 percent of control/comparison group children (n = 20). The proportion of cases exiting to adoption is the same for both groups at 23 percent (n = 88 in the experimental group and n = 78 in the control group).
Additional outcome findings will become available as implementation of Minnesota’s demonstration continues.
1Based on information provided by the State as of November 2006. Back
2In February 2006, Minnesota’s Terms and Conditions were amended to allow participating counties to apply to the State for an exception, under limited circumstances, to the requirement of six months in placement with the prospective guardian for otherwise eligible children. Back
3The County of Mille Lacs initially planned to participate but withdrew from the demonstration in February 2007. Back
4The State’s definition of “kin” includes persons related to the child by blood, marriage, or adoption, or an individual who is an important family friend with whom the child has resided or has significant contact. Back
5Mille Lacs County later withdrew from the demonstration. Back
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