Child Welfare Practice Model http://vafamilyconnections.com/#.shtml Practice Model Peer Network Call 9/13/11 VDSS - Division of Family Services

Children’s Services History Overview: Since December of 2007, Virginia DSS has been working on an initiative called the Virginia Children’s Services System Transformation. This is an intensive effort to create systemic change and aims to: increase the number and rate at which youth in foster care move into permanent family arrangements, increase the number of at-risk children and youth placed with kin and foster parents, devote more resources to community-based care, reduce the number of group care placements, and embrace data and outcome-based performance management.

Motivation to Transform For Keeps initiative begun by First Lady Anne Holton to focus on ensuring that all of Virginia's children have permanent, stable family connections and the community support to sustain them. 2007 Child Trends, report that revealed that Virginia had a high percentage of children in foster care exit the system without permanent connections to family. Additional data from 2007 confirmed the need to dramatically improve the ways in which children and families receive services, including: 23% of Virginia’s children aged out of foster care without permanent connections 43.7% of teens (12 & older) achieved permanence 25% of foster care youth were in a group care setting (congregate care) 52% of initial placements for youth 12 and older were in a group care setting Fewer than 5% of children in foster care were being placed with relatives

VDSS Strategies Focus on building capacity and improving the agency’s internal structure by: Identifying best practices in family engagement and implementing a formal model that is specific to Virginia, Providing strong support around policy and regulation, Developing external partnerships – practice model implementation, Improving communication, Realigning division structure in order to fully support local departments in the Transformation, Improving the use of data to drive decision-making(SafeMeasures), and Providing strong support to local agencies in order to increase capacity to recruit, develop, and support resource families. Recent additions: Family Partnership Incentives; Accurint to all localities

State Supervised, Locally Administered Local DSS Strategies Regional Efforts Council on Reform or CORE was established to pilot the first phase of the Transformation CORE is made by thirteen geographically diverse localities that account for nearly 50% of statewide foster care population Second phase of Transformation includes all 120 Local DSS agencies to implement reform statewide Peer Cooperatives around Recruitment, Development, Support of Resource Families Regional Family Engagement Teams Regional training on policy that incorporated Practice Model principles

Children’s Services System Transformation Since implementation of Transformation reform initiatives Virginia has increased performance in all child welfare outcomes. Virginia has safely reduced the number of children in foster care Virginia has increased the number of children exiting to permanency (adoption, custody transfer to relative, reunification) Virginia has increased family based placements and has reduced the number of children placed in group settings Entry cohort analysis shows that children’s experiences in Virginia’s Foster Care System are improving.

DFS Critical Outcome Measure 12/07 07/11 Percent Change Difference Safely Reduce Foster Care Caseload 7557 4718 -37.57% -2839 Re-Entries within 12 months of Exit 9.59% 5.40% -43.71% -4.19% Increase Discharges to Permanency 1743 2180 25.07% 437 64.29% 72.76% 13.18% 8.47% Increase the Number of Children in Family Based Placements 5398 4060 -24.79% -1338 Increase the Percentage of Family Based Placements 71.43% 86.05% 20.47% 14.62% Decrease the Number of Children in Group Care 1922 702 -63.48% -1220 Decrease the Percentage of Children in Group Care 25.43% 14.88% -41.49% -10.55% Increase the Number of Children in Kinship Care 425 262 -38.35% -163 Increase the Percentage of Children in Kinship Placements 5.62% 5.55% -1.19% -0.07% Virginia has seen positive movement in nearly every measure. Virginia has reduced the foster care population by nearly 3000 children and has reduced recidivism by nearly half. More than 1300 children have been placed in family based placements.

Continuing to Reform Adoptions have increased in each year of the Transformation jumping from 706 in SFY 2010 to 820 in SFY 2011. A 16.1% increase in one year. While the numbers of adoption are increasing there are currently 1297 children with the goal of adoption. 48% of these children have had Termination of Parental Rights (TPR) and are awaiting an adoptive placement New initiatives for SFY 2012 seek to increase Virginia’s already improving permanency rate with a heavy focus on adoption

A Focus on Permanency Implementation of Custody Assistance – by April 2012? - Will allow for a new permanency option for children when reunification and adoption have been ruled out. - Discharges to Custody Assistance like programs average 15% nationally - Would push Virginia’s permanency rate above the national average Partnering with Non Profits and Faith Based Organizations - VDSS is currently exploring opportunities to partner with both non profit and faith based organizations to increase the number of available families willing to adopt.

Practice Model (PM) Implementation Issues Change in Administration has interrupted collaboration between state departments – now more a DSS PM While included in CPS and FC policy, PM not a major focus of the Transformation Imbedding of PM not always well-planned – policy discussions, posters Loss of Family Engagement program manager Training system transition Looking for strategies…