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

2. 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.

3. 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

4. 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

5. 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

6. 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.

7. 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.

8. Continuing to Reform
Adoptions have increased in each year of the Transformation jumping from 706 in SFY 2010 to 820 in SFY A 16.1% increase in one year.
While the numbers of adoption are increasing there are currently 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

9. 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.

10. 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…