{ "id": "RL32968", "type": "CRS Report", "typeId": "REPORTS", "number": "RL32968", "active": false, "source": "EveryCRSReport.com, University of North Texas Libraries Government Documents Department", "versions": [ { "source": "EveryCRSReport.com", "id": 349796, "date": "2006-10-18", "retrieved": "2016-04-07T18:44:32.382029", "title": "Child Welfare: State Performance on Child and Family Services Reviews", "summary": "While child welfare programs are a primary responsibility of state and local governments, the federal government appropriates close to $7 billion annually to support these programs (primarily for foster care and adoption assistance) and states are required to meet certain federal policies in order to receive this funding. Child and Family Services Reviews (CFSRs) gauge state efforts and ability to achieve the primary goals of safety and permanence for children, and well-being for children and their families. The review is intended both to measure state compliance with federal child welfare policy and to strengthen and improve state child welfare programs.\nThe Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) conducted the initial round of onsite reviews between March 2001 and March 2004. No state was found to be in substantial conformity with all of the outcomes and systems assessed. Some critics of the CFSR argue that while the outcomes reviewed are on target, the criteria established to determine state achievement of those outcomes may give misleading information about a state\u2019s performance.\nAlthough much attention has focused on states\u2019 uniform inability to meet all of the federal criteria, the reviews also showed certain relative strengths. States showed the greatest ability to ensure that children were not exposed to child abuse and neglect and remained safely in their homes whenever appropriate and possible, and in preserving their family relationships and connections. They had the most difficulty in achieving permanent and stable living arrangements for children, enhancing the capacity of families to meet the needs of their children and in seeing that appropriate mental and physical health services were available to children served. Information regarding ensuring provision of educational services to children was more mixed.\nIn addition to reviewing outcomes, the CFSR assesses state compliance with federal child welfare policy by examining certain federally required systems. States were most likely to be found successful at operating a statewide information system; maintaining foster and adoptive parent licensing, training, recruitment and retention; and responding to community concerns. They were least likely to have a strong service array or case review system in place. Ratings of state quality assurance and training systems were more mixed.\nTo avoid immediate assessment of penalties for failure to comply with federal policy, each state\u00a0was required to develop a Program Improvement Plan (PIP). A PIP must address each one of\u00a0the outcomes or systems with which a state was found to be out of substantial conformity and must describe the state\u2019s specific plan for moving toward full conformity with federal policy. A few states have successfully completed their PIPS but most are still in the process of implementing them.\nThe Children\u2019s Bureau is preparing for a second round of CFSRs, and onsite reviews are scheduled to begin in early 2007. This report will describe the origins and design of CFSRs before turning to its primary discussion: state performance in the initial round of CFSRs. This report will not be updated.", "type": "CRS Report", "typeId": "REPORTS", "active": false, "formats": [ { "format": "HTML", "encoding": "utf-8", "url": "http://www.crs.gov/Reports/RL32968", "sha1": "617fd4767ea8403dfc4a4254490bb5cb07805cde", "filename": "files/20061018_RL32968_617fd4767ea8403dfc4a4254490bb5cb07805cde.html", "images": null }, { "format": "PDF", "encoding": null, "url": "http://www.crs.gov/Reports/pdf/RL32968", "sha1": "09981b3c6a1556e44f90afd84811e98beb202d22", "filename": "files/20061018_RL32968_09981b3c6a1556e44f90afd84811e98beb202d22.pdf", "images": null } ], "topics": [] }, { "source": "University of North Texas Libraries Government Documents Department", "sourceLink": "https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metacrs7688/", "id": "RL32968 2005-06-29", "date": "2005-06-29", "retrieved": "2005-11-02T15:37:54", "title": "Child Welfare: State Performance on Child and Family Services Reviews", "summary": "This report begins with a short history of the legislation and other factors that led to the creation of the current CFSR and then briefly describes how a CFSR is conducted and what \u201csubstantial conformity\u201d with federal child welfare policy means in the context of this review. Much has been made of the fact that no state was found to be in substantial conformity with all aspects of federal policy reviewed during the initial (FY2001-FY2004) round of the CFSRs. This report seeks to better understand that fact by looking closely at state performance on each of the performance indicators that determined compliance.", "type": "CRS Report", "typeId": "REPORT", "active": false, "formats": [ { "format": "PDF", "filename": "files/20050629_RL32968_1e64957aacfc1c90eff1741843b1634010d06b2e.pdf" }, { "format": "HTML", "filename": "files/20050629_RL32968_1e64957aacfc1c90eff1741843b1634010d06b2e.html" } ], "topics": [ { "source": "LIV", "id": "Budgets", "name": "Budgets" }, { "source": "LIV", "id": "Federal aid to child welfare", "name": "Federal aid to child welfare" }, { "source": "LIV", "id": "State and local government", "name": "State and local government" }, { "source": "LIV", "id": "Welfare", "name": "Welfare" }, { "source": "LIV", "id": "Children", "name": "Children" } ] } ], "topics": [] }