Home > Child Welfare Monitoring > Instruments, Tools, and Guides > Procedures Manual > Contents > Appendix B: Index of Outcomes and Systemic Factors, and Associated Items and Data Indicators

Appendix B
Index of Outcomes and Systemic Factors, and Associated Items and Data Indicators

During a Child and Family Services Review (CFSR), the review team assesses the State's substantial conformity with the following:

• Seven outcomes in the domains of safety, permanency, and child and family well-being
  
  
• Seven systemic factors that affect outcomes for children and families
  
  

To measure a State's substantial achievement of the outcomes, the review team assesses items (onsite review) or items and data indicators (onsite review and Statewide Assessment). To measure substantial achievement of the systemic factors, the review team assesses items to determine whether the systemic factors are in place and functioning satisfactorily.

The items and/or data indicators associated with the outcomes and systemic factors are listed below.

Outcomes

Safety

Safety Outcome 1: Children are, first and foremost, protected from abuse and neglect.

• Timeliness of initiating investigations of reports of child maltreatment (Item 1)
  
  
• Repeat maltreatment (Item 2)
  
  
• Absence of recurrence of maltreatment (data indicator)
  
  
• Absence of maltreatment of children in foster care (data indicator)
  
  

Safety Outcome 2: Children are safely maintained in their homes whenever possible and appropriate.

• Services to family to protect child(ren) in home and prevent removal or re-entry into foster care (Item 3)
  
  
• Risk assessment and safety management (Item 4)
  
  

Permanency

Permanency Outcome 1: Children have permanency and stability in their living situations.

• Foster care re-entries (Item 5)
  
  
• Stability of foster care placement (Item 6)
  
  
• Permanency goal for child (Item 7)
  
  
• Reunification, guardianship, or permanent placement with relatives (Item 8)
  
  
• Adoption (Item 9)
  
  
• Other planned permanent living arrangement (Item 10)
  
  
• Timeliness and permanency of reunifications (Permanency Composite 1)
  
  
• Timeliness of adoptions (Permanency Composite 2)
  
  
• Achieving permanency for children in foster care (Permanency Composite 3)
  
  
• Placement stability (Permanency Composite 4)
  
  

Permanency Outcome 2: The continuity of family relationships and connections is preserved for children.

• Proximity of foster care placement (Item 11)
  
  
• Placement with siblings (Item 12)
  
  
• Visiting with parents and siblings in foster care (Item 13)
  
  
• Preserving connections (Item 14)
  
  
• Relative placement (Item 15)
  
  
• Relationship of child in care with parents (Item 16)
  
  

Child and Family Well-Being

Child and Family Well-Being Outcome 1: Families have enhanced capacity to provide for their children's needs.

• Needs and services of child, parents, and foster parents (Item 17)
  
  
• Child and family involvement in case planning (Item 18)
  
  
• Caseworker visits with child (Item 19)
  
  
• Caseworker visits with parent(s) (Item 20)
  
  

Child and Family Well-Being Outcome 2: Children receive appropriate services to meet their educational needs.

• Educational needs of the child (Item 21)
  
  

Child and Family Well-Being Outcome 3: Children receive adequate services to meet their physical and mental health needs.

• Physical health of the child (Item 22)
  
  
• Mental/behavioral health of the child (Item 23)
  
  

Systemic Factors

Statewide Information System

• The State is operating a statewide information system that, at a minimum, can readily identify the status, demographic characteristics, location, and goals for the placement of every child who is (or within the immediately preceding 12 months, has been) in foster care. (Item 24)
  
  

Case Review System

• The State provides a process that ensures that each child has a written case plan to be developed jointly with the child's parent(s) that includes the required provisions. (Item 25)
  
  
• The State provides a process for the periodic review of the status of each child, no less frequently than once every 6 months, either by a court or by administrative review. (Item 26)
  
  
• The State provides a process that ensures that each child in foster care under the supervision of the State has a permanency hearing in a qualified court or administrative body no later than 12 months from the date the child entered foster care and no less frequently than every 12 months thereafter. (Item 27)
  
  
• The State provides a process for termination of parental rights proceedings in accordance with the provisions of the Adoption and Safe Families Act. (Item 28)
  
  
• The State provides a process for foster parents, pre-adoptive parents, and relative caregivers of children in foster care to be notified of, and have an opportunity to be heard in, any review or hearing held with respect to the child. (Item 29)
  
  

Quality Assurance System

• The State has developed and implemented standards to ensure that children in foster care are provided quality services that protect the safety and health of the children. (Item 30)
  
  
• The State is operating an identifiable quality assurance system that is in place in the jurisdictions where the services included in the Child and Family Services Plan (CFSP) are provided, evaluates the quality of services, identifies strengths and needs of the service delivery system, provides relevant reports, and evaluates program improvement measures implemented. (Item 31)
  
  

Staff and Provider Training

• The State is operating a staff development and training program that supports the goals and objectives in the CFSP, addresses services provided under titles IV-B and IV-E, and provides initial training for all staff who deliver these services. (Item 32)
  
  
• The State provides for ongoing training for staff that addresses the skills and knowledge base needed to carry out their duties with regard to the services included in the CFSP. (Item 33)
  
  
• The State provides training for current or prospective foster parents, adoptive parents, and staff of State licensed or approved facilities that care for children receiving foster care or adoption assistance under title IV-E that addresses the skills and knowledge base needed to carry out their duties with regard to foster and adopted children. (Item 34)
  
  

Service Array and Resource Development

• The State has in place an array of services that assess the strengths and needs of children and families and determine other service needs, address the needs of families in addition to individual children in order to create a safe home environment, enable children to remain safely with their parents when reasonable, and help children in foster and adoptive placements achieve permanency. (Item 35)
  
  
• The services in item 35 are accessible to families and children in all political jurisdictions covered in the State's CFSP. (Item 36)
  
  
• The services in item 35 can be individualized to meet the unique needs of children and families served by the agency. (Item 37)
  
  

Agency Responsiveness to the Community

• In implementing the provisions of the CFSP, the State engages in ongoing consultation with tribal representatives, consumers, service providers, foster care providers, the juvenile court, and other public and private child- and family-serving agencies and includes the major concerns of these representatives in the goals and objectives of the CFSP. (Item 38)
  
  
• The agency develops, in consultation with these representatives, Annual Progress and Services Reports pursuant to the CFSP. (Item 39)
  
  
• The State's services under the CFSP are coordinated with services or benefits of other Federal or federally assisted programs serving the same population. (Item 40)
  
  

Foster and Adoptive Parent Licensing, Recruitment, and Retention

• The State has implemented standards for foster family homes and child care institutions that are reasonably in accord with recommended national standards. (Item 41)
  
  
• The standards are applied to all licensed or approved foster family homes or child care institutions receiving title IV-E or IV-B funds. (Item 42)
  
  
• The State complies with Federal requirements for criminal background clearances as related to licensing or approving foster care and adoptive placements and has in place a case planning process that includes provisions for addressing the safety of foster care and adoptive placements for children. (Item 43)
  
  
• The State has in place a process for ensuring the diligent recruitment of potential foster and adoptive families who reflect the ethnic and racial diversity of children in the State for whom foster and adoptive homes are needed. (Item 44)
  
  
• The State has in place a process for the effective use of cross-jurisdictional resources to facilitate timely adoptive or permanent placements for waiting children. (Item 45)
  
  

Return to Table of Contents