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Children's Bureau
Child and Family Services Reviews
Reviewing Case Records and Completing the Onsite Review Instrument

Updated March 2007

During the onsite review phase of the Child and Family Services Reviews (CFSRs), review pairs comprising a Federal and State reviewer review two or three case records. The purpose of the case record reviews is to examine and document a State's efforts to conform to Federal requirements in three areas: safety, permanency, and child and family well-being. Below are steps for reviewing case records and documenting the findings on the Onsite Review Instrument.

• Review the Completed Preliminary Assessment Before the Onsite Review

  The Preliminary Assessment, prepared by the Children’s Bureau Regional Office staff, provides you with an overview of the State with regard to the population in the child welfare system, the State or child welfare agency's areas of policy emphasis, and the systemic factors. One of the goals of the onsite review is to corroborate the information contained in the Statewide Assessment.

• Read the Onsite Review Instrument Before Participating in a Review

  Become familiar with the information that you must collect to complete the instruments during the case record review and related interviews. Re-read the Onsite Review Instrument and Instructions just before participating in a review.

• Organize Your Review of the Case Record

  Develop a plan for reviewing the case record so that you can focus on quickly accomplishing the key tasks:

  • Reviewing the case history to determine how the child became involved with the agency

  • Looking for the specific information you need to complete the Onsite Review Instrument

  • Focusing information collection activities on the period under review, except when otherwise instructed by the Onsite Review Instrument to review the entire case history

  • Flagging questions on the instrument that you will need to ask parents/foster parents, caseworkers, and other professionals who are knowledgeable about the case

  • Noting areas in which information is incomplete or missing and will need to be collected through interviews.

  • Arranging through the Local Site Leader, if necessary, to schedule interviews with individuals for whom an interview was not previously scheduled

• Fill Out the Onsite Review Instrument During the Review of Case Records

  Reviewers have found that it is more efficient to record information directly on the instrument than to make separate notes and attempt to complete the instrument later (when it will be more difficult to track missing information).

  Conversely, it may be appropriate to take notes during interviews related to the case and then complete the Onsite Review Instrument immediately after the interviews.

• Note Clearly the Reasons for Your Findings

  When completing the Onsite Review Instrument, be sure to provide adequate documentation for your findings. Use clear sentence structure so that the Local Site Leaders and Team Leaders can easily review and understand your documentation.

• Review the Completed Instrument

  Carefully review the completed instrument using the Quality Assurance Checklist to ensure that all required information is included.