�IV. Achieving Outcomes Related to Placement Stability and Appropriate Placements for Young Children in Foster Care
It is the responsibility of a State child welfare agency to ensure that children are in stable placements while they are in foster care. An additional agency responsibility is to ensure that children are in placements appropriate to their age. For many young children (i.e., age 12 years or younger), an appropriate placement is a family setting rather than a group home or institution. The Department established the following outcomes and measures to assess State performance with regard to meeting these responsibilities.
Outcome 6—Increase placement stability
Outcome measure 6.1—Of all children served during the reporting period who had been in foster care for the time periods listed below, what percentage had no more than two placement settings during that time period?
- (1) Less than 12 months from the time of latest removal from home
- (2) At least 12 months but less than 24 months
- (3) At least 24 months but less than 36 months
- (4) At least 36 months but less than 48 months
- (5) 48 or more months
Outcome 7—Reduce placements of young children in group homes or institutions
Outcome measure 7.1—Of all children who entered foster care during the reporting period and were age 12 or younger at the time of their most recent placement, what percentage was placed in a group home or institution?
The Department adopted a component of the measure of placement stability (outcome measure 6.1) for use in the Child and Family Services Review (CFSR) and established a national performance standard for the measure. The standard is the following: Of all children who have been in foster care for less than 12 months from the time of the latest removal from home, 86.7 percent or more have had no more than 2 placement settings.
Data reported in this chapter come from the Federal Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System (AFCARS). The chapter presents the findings with regard to the following:
- State performance in 2003 on the measures pertaining to outcome 6 and outcome 7.
- The change in State performance from 2000 to 2003 on these outcome measures.
This chapter does not include a section on the relationships between State performance on these measures and the characteristics of State foster care populations because no relationships were found.
State Performance in 2003 in Achieving Outcomes Related to Placement Stability and Appropriate Placements for Young Children
Table IV-1 presents the findings of State performance on key measures of placement stability19 and placements of young children in group homes or institutions. As shown in the table, most children in foster care in 2003 for less than 12 months experienced no more than two placement settings (outcome measure 6.1a). There were nine States in which at least 90 percent of the children in foster care for less than 12 months experienced no more than two placement settings (Alabama, Delaware, District of Columbia, Georgia, Iowa, Maryland, New York, Puerto Rico, and Wisconsin).
| Outcome Measures | Performance Variables | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Range | Mean percent | Median percent | |
| Measure 6.1a: Percent of children in foster care for less than 12 months who experience two or fewer placement settings (N=52 States) | 52.3-99.7% | 82.5% | 84.2% |
| Measure 6.1b: Percent of children in foster care for at least 12 months but less than 24 months who experience two or fewer placement settings (N=52 States) | 30.2-99.7 | 59.3 | 59.1 |
| Measure 7.1: Percent of children entering foster care at age 12 or younger who are placed in group homes or institutions (N=49 States)* | 1.4-28.8 | 10.1 | 8.3 |
|
* Three States were excluded because of data quality issues Back |
|||
However, the data in table IV-1 also indicate that the percentage of children experiencing no more than two placement settings is substantially different for children in foster care for less than 12 months (median = 84.2 percent) than it is for children in foster care for at least 12 months but less than 24 months (median = 59.1 percent). Figure IV-1 depicts this difference for individual States. As shown in the figure, in 10 States there is at least a 30 percentage point difference in placement stability between these groups (Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Idaho, Iowa, Maine, New Mexico, Tennessee, Texas, and Utah).
The range in State performance with regard to the placement of children in group homes or institutions is depicted in figure IV-2. At the low end, in 11 States, less than 5 percent of children age 12 and younger entering foster care in 2003 were placed in group homes or institutions (Alaska, Hawaii, Illinois, Kansas, Louisiana, Maine, Michigan, Ohio, Oregon, Tennessee, and Washington). At the high end, in six States, 20 percent or more of the children entering foster care at age 12 or younger were placed in group homes or institutions (Arizona, District of Columbia, Iowa, Mississippi, South Carolina, and South Dakota).
Performance on outcome measures of placement stability and placements of young children in group homes or institutions was not found to be related to performance on any of the other measures.
Change in State Performance from 2000 to 2003 in Placement Stability and Appropriate Placements for Young Children
Table IV-2 provides the number and percent of States that improved performance, declined in performance, or exhibited no change in performance with regard to key measures for outcome 6 and outcome 7. A few States were excluded from the analyses either because of missing data or data quality issues associated with a particular measure in either 2000 or 2003. Because outcome 6 focuses on increasing placement stability, a positive percent change represents a performance improvement for the measure of placement stability for children in foster care for less than 12 months. In comparison, because outcome 7 focuses on reducing placements of young children in group homes or institutions, a positive percent change represents a performance decline for measure 7.1.
| Outcome Measures | Change in Performance from 2000 to 2003 | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Improved performance (number and percent of States) | Declined performance (number and percent of States) | No change in performance (number and percent of States | |
| Measure 6.1: Percent of children in foster care for less than 12 months who experienced 2 or fewer placement settings (N=50 States) | 7 (14%) | 6 (12%) | 37 (74%) |
| Measure 7.1: Percent of children entering foster care when they were 12 or younger who were placed in a group home or institution (N=49 States) | 27 (55%) | 18 (37%) | 4 (8%) |
As shown in the table, the majority of States did not change from 2000 to 2003 with regard to the percentage of children in foster care for less than 12 months who experienced no more than two placement settings. This is not surprising given that most States were already performing at a very high level on this measure in 2000.
With regard to the percentage of young children placed in group homes or institutions, 55 percent of the States exhibited improvement in performance on this measure from 2000 to 2003 (outcome measure 7.1). Figure IV-3 depicts the percent change in performance on this measure for the 49 States included in the analysis. The figure excludes Florida, Nevada, and Puerto Rico.
As shown in the figure, there were three States in which improved performance from 2000 to 2003 exceeded a 50.0 percent change (Illinois, Michigan, and Tennessee). However, there were five States in which the performance decline from 2000 to 2003 exceeded a 50.0 percent change (Arkansas, Colorado, Utah, Washington, and Wisconsin).
19 For purposes of the Report to Congress measure, placement stability is defined as a child having no more than 2 placement settings while in foster care. Back
| << Chapter III | Chapter V >> |
