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Child and Family Services Reviews
Cross-State Participant Program
Fact Sheet

The Children's Bureau established the Cross-State Participant (CSP) Program to provide State child welfare agency representatives with the opportunity to participate in the onsite component of a Child and Family Services Review (CFSR) before their agency's review. Please see http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/cb/cwmonitoring/index.htm for more information about the reviews.

The intent of the CSP Program is to support child welfare agencies in building staff capacity to manage the CFSR in their State. The Child Welfare Reviews Project manages the CSP Program.

State child welfare agency directors should consider the following factors when determining whether to recommend staff to serve as CSPs:

• CSPs must meet the minimum qualifications specified below


• CSPs must be able to fulfill the responsibilities specified in the attached Cross-State Participant Responsibilities Fact Sheet


• The State sending a CSP must assume responsibility for the training and travel costs associated with staff participation in an onsite review (including air and ground travel, hotel, and meals)

Minimum CSP Qualifications

To be considered to serve as CSPs, individuals must be experienced in child welfare; accountable to the State child welfare agency that they represent on an administrative, policy, or training level; and engaged in assisting the State agency in planning for and managing the CFSR. Additionally, CSPs must meet the following minimum requirements:

• Minimum of 2 years of direct field experience and/or supervisory, administrative, or management experience in a public (Federal, State, or local) or private child welfare agency; or at least 2 years of direct experience working for a State Court Improvement Project or juvenile or family court dealing with child welfare cases. This may include providing services or supervising, administering, or managing programs in any of the following: (1) child protective services, (2) foster care, (3) adoption, (4) family preservation, (5) family support, (6) independent living services, or (7) licensure/approval of foster and adoptive families


• Bachelor's or Master's Degree in social work, human services, public administration, counseling, or a closely related field; or a Juris Doctorate with experience working for a State Court Improvement Project or juvenile or family court dealing with child welfare cases


• Strong assessment skills, including the ability to: (1) gather information through interviews and from written documents, (2) pursue the collection of information from various sources, (3) compile information obtained from multiple sources, and (4) make professional judgments based on the information collected during the reviews


• Demonstrated skills in interviewing the following people individually or as a group: (1) children and families who receive child and family services and (2) representatives of organizations involved in the child and family service delivery process


• Demonstrated written and verbal communication skills


• Availability and willingness to travel to another State to participate in the weeklong review (including a willingness to work long hours and to participate in debriefings at the end of each day)

Preferred CSP Qualifications

• Master's Degree in social work, human services, counseling, public administration, or a closely related field; or a Juris Doctorate with experience working for a State Court Improvement Project or juvenile or family court dealing with child welfare cases.
• Supervisory, administrative, and/or management experience in a public (Federal, State, or local) or private child welfare agency; or at least 2 years of direct experience working for a State Court Improvement Project or juvenile or family court dealing with child welfare cases.
• Experience in quality assurance or performance reviews of child welfare services

Further, CSPs may not participate in the CFSR of a State child welfare agency if they have provided technical assistance or consultation to that State during a period of 1 year before the review. CSPs also may not provide technical assistance to a State during the period following a review in which they participate (that is, the period in which the State is developing and implementing a Program Improvement Plan associated with the review findings). Finally, CSPs may only serve as reviewers on local site teams.

CSP Approval Process

The Children's Bureau uses the following process to approve individuals to serve as CSPs:

1. The State child welfare agency completes and submits the following to the Children's Bureau Regional Office Child Welfare Program Manager:(1) Cross-State Participant Request Form, and (2) Cross-State Participant Profile Form and resume for each individual who they recommend to serve as a CSP. An administrator for the State agency must sign the Cross-State Participant Request Form, agreeing that the agency certifies the proposed CSP, and the agency has the financial resources to send the CSP to a training and to an onsite review.


2. The Children's Bureau Regional Office Child Welfare Program Manager reviews and approves the candidate profiles and resumes and forwards them to the Child Welfare Reviews Project, copying the CSP liaison at the Children's Bureau Central Office.


3. The Child Welfare Reviews Project coordinates the CSP assignments with the Children's Bureau, giving consideration to the number of CSPs per review site and the date of each CSP's State review.


4. The Child Welfare Reviews Project, on behalf of the Children's Bureau Central Office, notifies the Children's Bureau Regional Office and the State child welfare agency director of the Children's Bureau's decisions about CSP applicants and the site assignments of those selected to serve as CSPs.

CSP Training

Individuals selected to serve as CSPs are required to participate in a training before participating in a review to become familiar with the new CFSR Data Management System designed to automate the review process. CSPs have the following options for completing the required training:

• Attend one of the available 1½-day Children's Bureau CFSR Consultant Reviewer Trainings


• Attend one of the 1½-day Children's Bureau CFSR State Team Trainings. The State Team Trainings are held approximately 2 weeks before each onsite review.

Child Welfare Reviews Project Support to the CSPs

The Child Welfare Review Projects, on behalf of the Children's Bureau, provides the following support to CSPs:

• Disseminates information to CSPs about options for participating in the required training


• Provides trainings for CSPs


• Communicates with CSPs about site assignments, travel, and hotel information


• Books hotel sleeping rooms for CSPs for the trainings and onsite reviews (CSPs are responsible for paying for the room and any incidentals at checkout from the hotel)


• Communicates regularly with CSPs as they make their travel arrangements and provides final instructions and information in the Review Information Packages that are sent to review team members before the onsite review


• Manages calls from CSPs who have questions about their arrangements or the Review Information Package contents

Cross-State Participant Responsibilities

For more information about the CSP program, contact the Child Welfare Reviews Project.