1. Legislative Appropriations Request for FY 14-15 Joint Budget Hearing
Presented to the Governor’s Office of Budget, Planning, and Policy and the Legislative Budget Board
September 13, 2012
Howard Baldwin, Commissioner

2. DFPS Mission
The mission of DFPS is to protect children and people who are elderly or who have disabilities from abuse, neglect, and exploitation by involving clients, families, and communities.

3. FY 12-13 Major Budget Issues
FY 13 Additional Needs
LAR includes the following additional projected expenditures but DFPS would need approval during FY 13 prior to expending:
$3.1 million for CPS foster and relative day care
Rider 30 requires approval to spend more than the appropriated amounts for CPS day care
Additional funding is from foster care surplus which requires approval to use the surplus for other needs, and from other unrestricted surplus funds within DFPS
$3.1 million for relative caregiver payments
Additional funding is from foster care surplus which requires approval to use the surplus for other needs

4. FY 12-13 Major Budget Issues
FY 13 Federal Funding Uncertainty
Budget Control Act (BCA) of 2011
Estimated Cut: 7.8%
DFPS receives federal award:
Title IV-B part 1 - $1.8 million – used for CPS staff and CPS purchased client services
Title IV-B part 2 - $2.5 million – used for CPS staff, CPS purchased client services, and PEI
Chafee Education and Training Vouchers - $0.3 million – used in the PAL program for former foster youth attending college or training programs
Community-Based Child Abuse Prevention (CBCAP) - $0.2 million – used for child abuse prevention services
Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA) state grant - $0.1 million – used for specific purposes outlined in grant application; funds certain DFPS staff
Other state agency receives federal award and DFPS receives funding through them:
Title XX Social Services Block Grant - $2.6 million - used for SWI, APS, and CCL staff and for APS purchased client services
Child Care and Development Block Grant - $2.3 million – used for CCL staff and CPS day care services
Refugee Assistance - $0.5 million – used for unaccompanied refugee minors

5. Foster Care Payments Caseload
FY Key Budget Issues
Foster Care Payments Caseload
Updated June 2012

6. Children Receiving Adoption Subsidy Payments
FY Key Budget Issues
Children Receiving Adoption Subsidy Payments
Updated June 2012

7. FY Summary of Request

8. Summary of Exceptional Items
Exceptional Item
FY 14 GR/GRD
FY 14 All Funds
FY 15 GR/GRD
FY 15 All Funds
Biennial GR/GRD
Biennial All Funds
FY 14 FTEs
FY 15 FTEs
DFPS Base Request
660,993,804
1,389,490,932
673,613,441
1,410,000,019
1,334,607,245
2,799,490,951
10,893.6
10,860.7 1
Maintain CPS Staff Due to Erosion of IV-E Eligibility
10,770,040
12,342,188
12,269,307
14,060,310
23,039,347
26,402,498
236.4
269.3 2
Direct Delivery Staff to Maintain Caseloads
5,132,207
5,635,299
5,070,963
5,530,272
10,203,170
11,165,571
100.9
114.2 3
Caseload Growth for Relative Caregiver Program
2,558,969
3,218,683
5,777,652 - 4
Caseload Growth for Foster and Protective Day Care
1,131,958
1,418,569
1,727,705
2,084,251
2,859,663
3,502,820 5
Upgrades to Casework System Applications
1,843,015
2,009,174
3,686,030
4,018,348 6
Enhance Staff Retention - APS, CCL, CPS, SWI
3,159,951
3,571,901
4,786,875
5,404,910
7,946,826
8,976,811 7
Strengthen CPS Kinship Services
3,281,472
3,754,000
2,851,457
3,262,896
6,132,929
7,016,896
67.3 8
Update Casework System to Improve Assessment and Service Delivery Processes
2,756,968
3,096,534 9
Improve the Collection of Licensing Fees
1,759,118
1,770,532
79,285
89,050
1,838,403
1,859,582
2.0 10
Increase Performance and Usability of Casework System
12,262,818
13,773,185
7,105,814
7,981,013
19,368,632
21,754,198 11
Reduce Supervisor Span of Control - CPS Investigations and Conservatorship
16,660,631
19,059,487
14,729,815
16,854,540
31,390,446
35,914,027
294.8 12
Restore Prevention and Early Intervention Services
14,630,157
14,637,328
14,524,483
14,529,419
29,154,640
29,166,747
14.2 13
Restore State Match for CPS Purchased Services
2,798,766
5,597,532
Total, Exceptional Item Request
78,746,070
86,425,932
71,006,168
77,823,284
149,752,238
164,249,216
715.6
761.8
Grand Total, DFPS
739,739,874
1,475,916,864
744,619,609
1,487,823,303
1,484,359,483
2,963,740,167
11,609.2
11,622.5

9. Exceptional Item 1 Maintain CPS Staff Due to Erosion of IV-E Eligibility
There is a decline in Federal IV-E financial participation due to:
continuing erosion in IV-E eligibility
An increase in relative placements that are not verified foster homes.
As the federal IV-E financial participation decreases for CPS direct delivery staff, more state funds are needed to maintain the existing appropriated number of positions.
Additional funds are needed to maintain the FY 13 FTE cap for CPS direct delivery staff in FY Without this funding, currently authorized direct delivery FTEs would be reduced by FY 15.

10. Exceptional Item 2 Direct Delivery Staff to Maintain Caseloads
Based on forecasted caseload growth, DFPS will need additional direct delivery staff to maintain the following:
Projected FY 13 caseload per worker for CPS Conservatorship of 28.8
Projected FY 13 caseload per worker for APS In-Home of 31.2
Appropriated FY 13 hold time at Statewide Intake call center of 8.7 minutes
Without additional funding, caseloads would increase by FY 15 as follows:
29.5 for CPS Conservatorship
33.2 for APS In-Home
11.4 minute hold time at the call center

11. Exceptional Item 3 Caseload Growth for Relative Caregiver Program
This item requests the funding for forecasted caseload growth in the Relative and Other Designated Caregiver Placement Program.
$3.9 million GR provides monetary assistance of a one-time payment of $1,000 per sibling group and an annual reimbursement of expenses of $500 per child
$1.9 million GR for provides day care for relative caregivers who work full time
Without this financial support, many relatives would be unable to provide a placement option, and the children would be placed in paid foster care which is more expensive.

12. Exceptional Item 4 Caseload Growth for Foster and Protective Day Care
This item requests the funding to address the forecasted caseload growth for foster day care and protective day care.
$0.9 million GR for the biennium is needed for foster day care for foster parents who work full time. Ensures adequate foster family home capacity which helps keep children close to their siblings, school, and friends.
$1.9 million GR for the biennium is needed for protective day care which is used in the Family Based Safety Services (FBSS) stage of service as a means to ensure safety while the child continues to live at home.

13. Exceptional Item 5 Upgrades to Casework System Applications
This item requests funds to keep the applications contained in the agency's automated casework systems - IMPACT for APS and CPS and CLASS for Child Care Licensing - current and consistent with state and federal laws and agency policies.
Both systems provide complete casework management for APS, CPS, and Child Care Licensing. All client records are electronic and case documentation is done via sophisticated software and equipment. Applications on both systems support the mobile technology needs of tablet PCs used by all three programs.

14. Exceptional Item 6 Enhance Staff Retention – APS, CCL, CPS, SWI
This item contains two initiatives to enhance the retention of direct delivery staff in APS, Child Care Licensing (CCL), CPS, and Statewide Intake (SWI).
$4.3 million GR for the biennium is needed to modify the worker certification program to provide pay increases sooner.
$3.7 million GR for the biennium is needed to address salary compression issues by reclassifying the direct delivery supervisor series up one pay group and by having a higher level manager classification in certain DFPS program for the direct delivery program administrators.

15. Exceptional Item 7 Strengthen CPS Kinship Services
Additional kinship staff are requested to lower caseloads per worker and to reduce the supervisor span of control.
The number of children placed with relatives has grown by 18% since FY 10. Staffing to support kinship placements has not grown since FY 09.
The current caseload per worker is 47.2 and is projected to be 53.8 by FY 15.
The current worker to supervisor staffing ratio is 12 to 1. This means that each supervisor will be responsible for 646 kinship cases on average each day in FY 15 using the expected average daily caseload per worker of 53.8.
This request is for a caseload per worker of 40 and a supervisor span of control of 7 workers to 1 supervisor. Both of these improvements would drop the average number of cases a supervisor is responsible for each day to 280 by FY 15.

16. Exceptional Item 8 Update Casework System to Improve Assessment and Service Delivery Processes
This item includes two initiatives for updating the casework system, IMPACT, due to changes in casework practice.
$1.2 million GR for the biennium to integrate the new APS risk assessment and decision making tool that is currently being developed. This new tool will identify the level of client risk and help guide decision making regarding the level and intensity of services needed in all APS in-home cases.
$1.5 million GR for the biennium to create a new stage of service for CPS investigations where there is less immediate risk of serious harm. The new model for resolving these allegations of child abuse and neglect is referred to as “differential response.” Differential response provides for the use of a less adversarial approach to ensure child safety than the traditional investigative model.

17. Exceptional Item 9 Improve the Collection of Licensing Fees
This initiative seeks resources to improve the way providers pay their licensing fees and to improve the tracking and reconciliation process for DFPS.
The public provider website would be upgraded to allow for online fee payments using Texas.gov. Through this initiative, DFPS will be able to record in a database who the payment is from, for what fee type, how much and what time period.
This request includes 2.0 FTEs to manage and support the system.

18. Exceptional Item 10 Increase Performance and Usability of Casework System
IMPACT infrastructure has not changed in 17 years, yet its functionalities and capabilities have increased as the system has been modified to keep up with law and policy changes over the years. This has led to its current state where maintenance and modifications take longer, system management is too complex, system performance is affected and skilled resources to maintain legacy code is costly and hard to find.
This improvement would directly affect the caseworker's job. From an end user perspective the new IMPACT will be easier to use, more intuitive, with reduced training time. These time efficiencies lead to more caseworker time with clients, thus improving services for clients.

19. Exceptional Item 11 Reduce Supervisor Span of Control – CPS Investigations and Conservatorship
This item establishes a lower supervisor span of control for two CPS stages of service – Investigations and Conservatorship. Low supervisor span of control was a key component in CPS Reform funded by the 2005 Legislature. It was instrumental in strengthening services by providing more support for the caseworker.
The current supervisor span of control for Investigations is 6 workers to 1 supervisor. This request is for $17.0 million GR for the biennium for a ratio of 5 to 1 which would be a 17% improvement for supervisor caseloads. By FY 15, a supervisor would be responsible for an average of 109 cases each day instead of 131.
The current supervisor span of control for Conservatorship is 7 workers to 1 supervisor. This request is for $14.4 million GR for the biennium for a ratio of 6 to 1 which would be a 14% improvement for supervisor caseloads. By FY 15, a supervisor would be responsible for an average of 173 cases each day instead of 202.

20. Exceptional Item 12 Restore Prevention and Early Intervention Services
Funding was reduced for prevention and early intervention (PEI) services in FY This item is to restore funds reduced from FY11 appropriation levels as follows:
13% for STAR
36% for CYD
37% for Texas Families; Together and Safe
74% for Other At-Risk programs
As a result of the reductions, PEI services to youth and families have been substantially decreased and contracts for the Family Strengthening and Youth Resiliency programs were eliminated.

21. Exceptional Item 13 Restore State Match for CPS Purchased Services
This item replaces local match with state funds for three DFPS programs funded with federal block grants:
Preparation for Adult Living (PAL) Life Skills Training requires a 20% match
purchased adoption services require a 25% match
post-adoption services require a 25% match
Contracted providers of these services are now required to provide the match, and have found the means to comply with this requirement in the short term. However, many providers have communicated that they do not have the financial means to sustain the match requirement beyond the current biennium.

22. 10% GR Reduction Schedule
FY14-15 Target: $74.6 million
Reduction Items
Program support and administrative cost savings ($1.5 million)
Eliminate prevention services and staff ($58.4 million)
Exceptions are the 100% federally funded Child Abuse Prevention Grants to community-based organizations (Strategy 3.1.4) and the Runaway Hotline
Reduce the number of Special Investigators through attrition ($2.2 million)
Reduce APS and CPS Purchased Client Services ($12.5 million)