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Children's Bureau
Child and Family Services Reviews
Program Support for Child Welfare Monitoring Project Fact Sheet

The Child Welfare Monitoring Project supports the Children's Bureau, Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in administering the Child and Family Services Reviews (CFSRs) and other state child welfare program monitoring activities. The project's responsibilities include:

• Conducting state CFSRs
  
  Project consultants support the CFSR Unit with all review preparatory activities including planning calls and other communication with the state to guide them through the process; review and comment for the Statewide Assessment, State Policy Submission, and Preliminary Assessment; evaluation and selection of data and review sites; development and stratification of the case sample; review team and co-site lead selection; and resolution of state-specific issues. Consultants participate as local site leaders, conduct first and second level quality assurance of the case review instruments onsite and offsite, serve as primary back-up to the CFSR Unit state lead through all phases of the process to include post-review activities.
• Negotiating and monitoring State Program Improvement Plans (PIPs)
  
  Post-review, project consultants participate with the CFSR Unit lead and the federal Regional Office to support state development of a PIP, to include any necessary negotiation of PIP benchmarks and activities, quarterly monitoring of state PIP implementation progress and completion, and CFSR Unit PIP process and management improvement activities. Project consultants chair national workgroups focused on PIP process improvement.
• Coordination of the Court Improvement Program Collaborative and promotion of joint State agency and court activity to promote practice and systems reforms
  
  In an effort to promote state court and child welfare agency review preparation and PIP activities, a consultant facilitates the Court Collaborative for the Children's Bureau. This effort includes support and facilitation of technical assistance available to states from consultant judges and consultation to state child welfare and court systems, federal Region Offices, and the CFSR Unit regarding the relationship between dependency court issues and successful achievement of outcomes for children. The court consultant also participates on CFSRs as a reviewer and co-site lead and assists with the quality assurance process.
• Interpretation and articulation of State and national data and measurement of PIP progress
  
  Consultants assist with analysis of CFSR data findings, production management of final reports, monitoring PIP completion, analysis of PIP data, identification of additional technical resources for states, development of technical and policy transmittal bulletins for the CB, and identification of cross-cutting PIP strategies to share with states.
• Support for other federal reviews and planning processes, to include States and Tribes Title IV-E reviews, AFCARs reviews, and state plans
  
  Consultants participate on states' and Tribes' Title IV-E and AFCARS reviews and are periodically asked to participate on SACWIS reviews. They also review and provide input to state and tribal Child and Family Services Five Year Plans and annual plan and service updates, Court Improvement Program funding proposals, Maintenance Adoption Subsidy reviews, and other state monitoring activities conducted by federal Region Offices.
• Identification of State, region, and national policy and practice trends and cross-cutting strategies
  
  Consultants monitor state and national policy, practice, and systems reform initiatives in order to recommend effective and innovative solutions to the CFSR Unit that support desired outcomes for children and families.

Additional Information

For more information, visit the Child Welfare Monitoring section of the Children's Bureau Web site at http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/cb/cwmonitoring/projects_contact.htm, or contact the Program Support for Child Welfare Monitoring Project.