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Chapter 3
Statewide Assessment

The Statewide Assessment is the first phase of the Child and Family Services Reviews (CFSRs) and is conducted during the 6 months preceding the second phase, the onsite review. In conducting the Statewide Assessment, the Statewide Assessment Team uses data indicators and other qualitative information to assess the impact of State policies and practices on the children and families being served by the State child welfare agency. (See chapter 2, section B, for information on the Statewide Assessment Team.)

The Statewide Assessment provides States an opportunity to examine data and qualitative information related to their child welfare programs in light of their programmatic goals and desired outcomes for the children and families that they serve. The Statewide Assessment serves the following purposes:

• Provides States the opportunity to build capacity for continuous program evaluation and improvement
  
  
• Helps prepare the Onsite Review Team for the onsite review by providing evaluative information regarding the child welfare agency's policies, procedures, and practices
  
  
• Provides a basis for making decisions regarding substantial conformity with the seven systemic factors, in conjunction with the information obtained from the onsite review (see chapter 1, section D, for information regarding the structure of the reviews)
  
  
• Identifies issues that require clarification and that therefore may need to be addressed through the training of State Review Team members conducted by the Child Welfare Review Projects¹

The Statewide Assessment Team uses a Statewide Assessment Instrument to record: (1) qualitative, evaluative, and quantitative information regarding the State's outcomes for children and families served, (2) systemic factors that affect the State's ability to provide services, (3) State strengths and areas needing improvement, and (4) issues for further examination through the onsite review. The Instrument, which is available on the Children's Bureau Web site at www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/cb, is designed to assist States in completing their Statewide Assessment in an evaluative manner. The Instrument includes a series of narrative-style questions and instructions on documenting data indicators. The Statewide Assessment Team should complete the Statewide Assessment and should be the primary group that responds to the narrative questions.

This chapter provides an overview of the process for completing the Statewide Assessment, including the preferred format. It describes the major steps in the process, including preparing and analyzing the data used in completing the Statewide Assessment, using the Statewide Assessment to structure the onsite review, and completing interim and subsequent Statewide Assessments. It also provides guidance to Children's Bureau Regional Office staff on completing the Preliminary Assessment.

A. Completion of the Statewide Assessment

A.1. Statewide Assessment Process

States should use the following steps in completing the Statewide Assessment:

1. Identify key agency staff and community representatives (such as those serving on the title IV-B planning committee) to serve on the Statewide Assessment Team. Agency staff should be selected on the basis of their expertise, for example, in quality assurance or foster care.
   
   
2. The Statewide Assessment Team also must include State representatives who are not staff of the State child welfare agency (external partners or stakeholders), pursuant to 45 CFR §1355.33(b). Those individuals should represent the sources of consultation required of the State in developing its title IV-B State plan and should include tribal representatives, court personnel, youth, staff of other State and social service agencies serving children and families, and birth, foster, and adoptive parents or representatives of foster or adoptive parent associations.
   
   
3. Examine existing State documents that provide information about the State agency during the period under review. These might include, for example, the title IV-B plan, management reports, studies, commission reports, and task force findings.
   
   
4. Receive and analyze the data provided by the Children's Bureau through the Regional Office:
   • Review the data indicators related to Safety Outcome 1 and Permanency Outcome 1 in the Onsite Review Instrument, identify areas of strength and those that warrant further examination during the onsite review, and identify the reason(s) for the status of the data indicators.
     
     
   • Compare the State's performance on the data indicators with the national standards, where applicable. The State needs to address, in a Program Improvement Plan (PIP), indicators that fall below the national standards. (See chapter 5 for more information on the national standards.) It is important, therefore, for the State to identify the factors affecting these indicators.
   
   
   
5. Collaborate with external partners regarding the data indicators. The team conducting the Statewide Assessment, for example, might talk with judges and foster parents about the reasons that a significant number of children have multiple placement settings. The State also should collaborate with partners to obtain information to complete the narrative sections of the Statewide Assessment on systemic factors.
   
   States are encouraged to use a variety of approaches in collaborating and consulting with external partners. The agency might gather information through the following, for example:
   • Holding focus groups with stakeholders or consumer groups
     
     
   • Conducting surveys
     
     
   • Hosting joint planning forums within the State
     
     
   • Developing other strategies for linking the Statewide Assessment with the ongoing consultation process used for title IV-B planning

A.2. Format of the Statewide Assessment

States use the Statewide Assessment Instrument to guide and document their evaluation of the child welfare agency's policies and practices. The instrument is divided into the following five sections:

1. General Information: States provide information about the child welfare agency.
   
   
2. Safety and Permanency Data: States examine and report on their foster care and child protective services populations using the safety and permanency profiles provided by the Children's Bureau's data team.
   
   
3. Narrative Assessment of Child and Family Outcomes: States use the questions in this section to examine their data in relation to the three outcome areas under review.
   
   
4. Systemic Factors: States provide narrative responses to questions about the seven systemic factors under review.
   
   
5. State Assessment of Strengths and Needs: States answer questions in this section about the strengths of the agency's programs and areas that may warrant further exploration through the onsite review.

A completed Statewide Assessment should be approximately 75-85 pages. States should use the Statewide Assessment Instrument, integrating information from other written sources rather than attaching other documents, whenever possible. The Statewide Assessment should contain the following:

• A brief description of the agency structure and programs
  
  
• Information on the relationship between the data and the State's practices and policies
  
  
• Information on the effectiveness of the systemic factors being reviewed
  
  
• The State data profile

For each systemic factor, the State should provide the following:

• Overview of the system under review, including the requirements, structure, law, policy, and functions
  
  
• Information on how well the system works, including strengths, gaps, needs, and usefulness
  
  
• Information on how the State's functioning in the systemic area affects the outcomes of safety, permanency, and child and family well-being
  
  
• Information on ongoing processes or mechanisms, such as the State's quality assurance system, that routinely examine the effectiveness of the systemic factor and promote continuous improvement in that area

The completed Statewide Assessment should clearly show an analysis of the relationship between State data and practice, and the quality and effectiveness of the system under review. For example, if a State's data show that children have frequent re-entries into foster care following reunification, the State should use the Statewide Assessment process to explore, and then document, the possible reasons that this is occurring. To do so, the State might examine the availability, accessibility, and quality of services to support family reunification. Or if the State's data show that children wait long periods for permanent placements, the State might explore the case review system and its effectiveness in moving children to permanency in a timely manner.

B. Preparation and Analysis of Data for the Statewide Assessment

The Statewide Assessment includes data that the Children's Bureau extracts from the Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System (AFCARS) and the National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System (NCANDS) Child File (the case-level component of NCANDS) and transmits to the State in report format. AFCARS data are used to develop a permanency profile of the State's foster care populations, and NCANDS data are used to develop a safety profile of the child protective services population. For the initial review only, the Children's Bureau could approve another source of data for the permanency profile in the absence of AFCARS data. For both the initial and subsequent reviews, the Children's Bureau may approve another source of data for the safety profile in the absence of NCANDS data.

The data profiles include data indicators that are used to determine substantial conformity. The Children's Bureau has established national standards for each of the data indicators used to determine substantial conformity. When a State is undergoing a CFSR, the Children's Bureau Regional Office and the State compare the State's data for the period under review with the national standards to determine the State's substantial conformity with these standards. (See chapter 5 for information on the national standards and determining substantial conformity.)

B.1. Preparation of the Data Profiles

Six months before the onsite review, the Children's Bureau Regional Office transmits to the State the AFCARS and NCANDS data profiles, unless the data are not available from the State's submissions. This provides the State the opportunity to examine the profiles for accuracy and then decide whether it needs to correct and resubmit the data.

If the State resubmits data before the onsite review, the Children's Bureau prepares updated data profiles on the basis of the resubmitted data. The turnaround time for doing so is generally 2-4 weeks. States, therefore, that elect to resubmit data should do so as early as possible after receiving the initial profiles.

The Children's Bureau uses a specific SPSS data syntax to create the data profiles for the Statewide Assessment. States are encouraged to use this syntax to create and review their own data profiles before starting the Statewide Assessment. By doing so, States will have more time to examine the accuracy of their data and make corrections before receiving their official data profiles for the Statewide Assessment. If this data syntax is not normally used by the State, using the logic established by the syntax will enable the State to create its own data syntax that will be more compatible with that used for the review. The syntax (Data Profile Programming Logic) is available on the Children's Bureau Web site at www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/cb. In addition, see Appendix D, Understanding State Data Profiles, which provides information designed to assist States in using the data profiles.

B.2. Preparation of Alternate Data Profiles

If a State does not submit data to NCANDS, the Children's Bureau Regional Office and State must agree on an alternate source of statewide data to be used in preparing the safety profile. Also, for its initial review, if the State had incomplete AFCARS data, an alternate source of data approved by the Children's Bureau could be used to generate the permanency data profiles. In the absence of NCANDS data, the Children's Bureau Regional Office requests that the State submit its description of the proposed alternate source of data to the Children's Bureau Regional Office 8 months before the onsite review. This provides time for the Children's Bureau Regional Office to approve the data and transmit them to the Children's Bureau Central Office to prepare the profiles.

The Children's Bureau Regional Office, in consultation with the Children's Bureau Central Office, approves or disapproves the alternate data source, using the following criteria:

• The data accurately represent the State's service population.
  
  
• The reporting definitions and timeframes of the alternate source are consistent with those of NCANDS.

Some of the data elements in the data profiles are used to determine the State's substantial conformity. Failure to provide data from an alternate source, in the absence of NCANDS data, could result in a determination that the State is not in substantial conformity with Safety Outcome 1.

When the Children's Bureau has approved the alternate source of data for the profiles, the State transmits the data to the Children's Bureau data team, which uses it to prepare the profiles. The State then notifies the Children's Bureau Regional Office that it has done so. The Children's Bureau Central Office prepares the profiles and sends them to the Children's Bureau Regional Office, which transmits them to the State at least 6 months before the onsite review.

If the State submits the data from the alternate source to the Children's Bureau in a timely manner, the profiles will reflect the alternate data when the Children's Bureau transmits them to the State 6 months before the onsite review. If the State is not able to submit the alternate data in a timely manner, the Children's Bureau updates the profiles to reflect the alternate data as soon as possible after receiving it.

B.3. Statewide Assessment Team Responsibilities/Analysis of the Data

The Statewide Assessment Team completes the Statewide Assessment by gathering information through a variety of sources and methods, such as focus groups with stakeholders or consumer groups, surveys, joint planning forums within the State, and other strategies that allow the State to connect the Statewide Assessment with the ongoing consultation that occurs through its Child and Family Services Plan (CFSP) process. Once the Children's Bureau Regional Office has sent the data profiles to the State, the team:

• Analyzes the data (including identifying any data quality issues)
  
  
• Meets to discuss the data and the issues behind the data
  
  
• Identifies the methods that they will use to gather additional information to complete the Statewide Assessment
  
  
• Develops responses to questions about the data, in consultation with sources outside the Statewide Assessment Team, as needed

In analyzing the data profiles, Statewide Assessment Team members:

• Review the data indicators related to the safety and permanency outcomes noted on the Statewide Assessment Instrument. The team identifies areas of strength and areas needing improvement and attempts to identify the reasons for the status of certain data indicators. Under Permanency Outcome 1, "Children have permanency and stability in their living situations," for example, the team examines the data collected for Permanency Composite 4: Placement Stability on the percentage of children in foster care for more than 24 months who had two or fewer placement settings as one of several individual measures within this composite. If the data are available through AFCARS, the State will have 3 years of data on this individual measure and can identify whether the individual measure is moving in the desired direction. To understand the reasons behind the data, however, the State will have to look further. The team, for example, may do the following: (1) identify other data that help explain the number of placement settings these children experienced, or (2) review a sample of cases, interview caseworkers and foster families, or conduct focus groups with stakeholder representatives to identify the reasons for multiple placements.
  
  
• Compare the State's performance on the data indicators with the national standards, where applicable. For the data indicators used to determine substantial conformity, the Statewide Assessment Team compares the State's data with the national standards and begins to determine the reasons behind the numbers. Conducting this assessment is important because the State is required to implement a PIP that addresses data indicators on which the State does not meet the national standards.
  
  
• Use the data to identify areas of strength and areas needing improvement, both of which may need further review during the onsite review. The Statewide Assessment Team should examine the data in a manner that identifies the program areas that are most in need of further review on site. If the State identifies safety as a major concern, for example, it can work with the Children's Bureau Regional Office to select sites, other than the State's largest metropolitan subdivision (a required review site), where either the most typical or the most urgent safety issues exist.
  
  
• Use supplemental data, other than the AFCARS and NCANDS profiles, to examine other outcomes and systemic factors. Because the AFCARS and NCANDS profiles address only two outcomes (Safety Outcome 1 and Permanency Outcome 1), assessing other State data that address the remaining outcomes and the systemic factors increases the State's ability to understand the factors that affect its performance.

The Statewide Assessment Team should use the Statewide Assessment process to determine the State's effectiveness in addressing the various areas represented by the data (for example, absence of maltreatment recurrence and stability of foster care placements). Though the Statewide Assessment requires some descriptive information concerning State policies and practices, the team should not simply describe the policies and practices that the State has in place with regard to the programs under review. Rather, the team should use the Statewide Assessment to evaluate those policies and practices and draw conclusions regarding the State's effectiveness in achieving positive outcomes for children and families. It also should examine the State's policies and practices in the context of the data. The team might, for example, look at how the effectiveness of the State's case review process affects timeliness to achieve permanency.

The Statewide Assessment also should include information on changes in performance and practice regarding each item since the previous Statewide Assessment. These might include (1) changes resulting from PIP implementation and/or other initiatives or strategies implemented by the State, (2) patterns or trends in the identified changes, and (3) statewide or local factors affecting the changes.

The State must submit the completed Statewide Assessment to the Children's Bureau Regional Office no later than 60 days before the scheduled onsite review. The State should submit a draft Statewide Assessment to the Children's Bureau Regional Office at least 1 month before that due date. The Children's Bureau Regional Office will review the draft and provide feedback to assist the State in completing a thorough and comprehensive Statewide Assessment. (All Statewide Assessments should be developed and submitted electronically rather than in hard copy.)

C. Technical Assistance With the Statewide Assessment Data

The Statewide Assessment process provides States the opportunity to build their capacity for continuous program evaluation and improvement by using data to examine program progress. To the extent possible, the Children's Bureau Central and Regional Office provide technical assistance (TA) to States that desire assistance in analyzing and interpreting the data; comparing indicators; and linking indicators with outcome measures. Federal staff, for example, might assist the Statewide Assessment Team in analyzing the Statewide Assessment through conference calls, or might link States to other sources of TA, such as the Children's Bureau-funded National Resource Centers (NRCs). (For more information on the NRCs, see the Children's Bureau Web site at www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/cb.)

D. Use of the Statewide Assessment To Structure the Review

When the Children's Bureau Regional Office receives the State's draft Statewide Assessment, the National Review Team (NRT) and Children's Bureau Regional Office Team Leaders review it and provide the State with comments designed to improve the quality of the data analysis and the evaluative component of the Statewide Assessment. The NRT and Children's Bureau Regional Office Team Leaders also check that it is complete and addresses all areas appropriately. If critical information is missing or not adequately addressed, the Children's Bureau Regional Office may ask the State to address those areas more completely. This draft review process provides the State time to make revisions to the Statewide Assessment before the final document is due to the Children's Bureau Regional Office.

Upon receiving the final Statewide Assessment, the Children's Bureau Regional Office reviews it again for completeness and uses the information in two ways:

• In collaboration with the State, the NRT Team Leader and Children's Bureau Regional Office make decisions about the onsite review, including the following:
  • Selecting sites (see D.1.)
    
    
  • Determining the composition and size of the sample of cases to be reviewed (see D.2.)
    
    
  • Identifying specific issues to address through stakeholder interviews (see D.3.)
• The Children's Bureau Regional Office prepares a Preliminary Assessment (see D.4.) of the State's performance, as reported in the Statewide Assessment.

Upon finalization of the Preliminary Assessment, and no later than 30 days before the onsite review, the Children's Bureau Regional Office forwards an electronic copy of that document and the completed Statewide Assessment to the Children's Bureau Central Office and the Child Welfare Review Projects for inclusion in the Review Information Package.²

D.1. Selection of Sites for the Review

The onsite review activities are conducted in three sites in the State. The State's largest metropolitan subdivision is designated in 45 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) §1355.33(c)(2) as a required site for the onsite review. The largest metropolitan subdivision is included as a site to ensure that the CFSRs review the country's urban centers, where typically a disproportionate number of families have contact with child welfare systems.

In almost all situations, the largest metropolitan subdivision is the entire county in which the State's largest city, by population, is located. There are, however, exceptional situations in some States that are considered in making this decision. The following criteria are used in determining the largest metropolitan subdivision in each State:

• Each State's largest city, by population, will be reviewed.
  
  
• If the State's largest city is self-contained within a single county, that entire county will be reviewed.
  
  
• If the State's largest city crosses county lines, all of the child welfare offices that serve the city will be reviewed.

In some States, two or more cities may have minor differences in population, but one may have a more urban character than the other(s). In these cases, the Children's Bureau Regional Office will work with the State to jointly determine which metropolitan subdivision provides the best opportunity to review urban child welfare issues.

Only a few guidelines have been established for selecting the other two sites to provide the Children's Bureau Regional Office staff and the State maximum flexibility in ensuring that the onsite review is responsive to individual State issues and needs. These sites are selected by the Children's Bureau Regional Office Team Leader in collaboration with the Children's Bureau Central Office, the NRT Team Leader, and the State on the basis of issues raised by the Statewide Assessment. As with the selection of the largest metropolitan subdivision, each of the other two onsite review sites will almost always be single counties in the State; however, in some States, selecting single counties as review sites is not possible (for example, where State child welfare agencies are not organized by county). In either case, the following criteria are used in selecting the other two sites:

• Sites that represent a mix of population sizes and different geographic areas; for example, one small rural site and one mid-sized urban site
  
  
• Sites that represent areas with significant Native American or other populations that are representative of State demographics
  
  
• Sites that have implemented innovative practices and programs that appear to be achieving more positive outcomes than in other areas, or where the State wishes to explore the impact of specific practices and programs (such as concurrent planning)
  
  
• Sites where the Statewide Assessment identifies particular geographic areas, program areas, populations of children and families, or issues that merit further study (for example, a site where the number of terminations of parental rights has increased but where achieving timely adoptions is a challenge, or a site experiencing an increase in non-relative guardianships)

In choosing sites, the Children's Bureau Regional Office, in collaboration with the Children's Bureau Central Office, NRT Team Leader, and State, also may select locations that represent the most typical practice in the State, if there are no outstanding programmatic or systemic issues to be addressed through the onsite review. The sites selected should represent a cross-section of practice in the State. It is not necessary to select sites solely because they represent geographic areas experiencing the most difficult child welfare issues, although it is important to select sites that ensure that the review team is able to examine relevant issues and concerns within the State.

In addition, the Children's Bureau Regional Office uses the Statewide Assessment to compare prospective sites regarding the critical indicators to be examined during the onsite review. By doing so, they seek to ensure that the sites selected are representative of the range of strengths and areas needing improvement reflected in the Statewide Assessment.

Moreover, to be selected, sites must have a large enough universe of cases to support sampling. In general, a site should have at least three times more in-home services and foster care cases than the number of cases scheduled for review in that site.

D.2. Determination of the Composition of the Sample of Cases

The Children's Bureau Regional Office and the State also use the Statewide Assessment to determine the composition of the sample of cases to be reviewed on site. The sample must include both in-home services and foster care cases. States have a target of 25 in-home cases and 40 foster care cases for review. The foster care sample is stratified into four categories. (See chapter 4, section C, for more information on case selection.)

D.3. Identification of Issues for the Onsite Review

The Children's Bureau Regional Office also may use the Statewide Assessment to identify issues regarding outcomes or systemic factors that warrant asking specific questions of stakeholders. Examples of such issues encountered during previous reviews have included State policies or practices regarding the screening of investigations of reports of child maltreatment that affected child safety, bifurcated systems of service delivery that affected agency responsiveness to the community, and contractual issues that affected service delivery. The Children's Bureau Regional Office may address issues like these that are within the scope of the CFSRs. They can do so either by asking the State to schedule specific types of stakeholders for interviews or by advising the Team and Local Site Leaders of these issues so that they are addressed during the interviews.

D.4. Preparation of the Preliminary Assessment

The Children's Bureau Regional Office prepares the Preliminary Assessment of the State's performance on each of the outcomes and systemic factors on the basis of information from the Statewide Assessment. The Children's Bureau Regional Office staff synthesize and analyze the information presented by the State. The Preliminary Assessment is not just a recording of information from the Statewide Assessment, but also a useful tool in preparing for the onsite review, the Final Report, and, ultimately, the PIP.

Developing the Preliminary Assessment provides the Children's Bureau Regional Office Team Leader an opportunity to become familiar with the practices and issues in a State. It also allows the Children's Bureau Regional Office Team Leader to identify concerns that might not have been adequately addressed in the Statewide Assessment and that therefore require further exploration during the onsite review. The Preliminary Assessment directs the focus of the review toward underlying issues, which will be critical to helping the State develop a PIP. (Determinations of substantial conformity, however, are based on information from the Statewide Assessment and the onsite review.)

The Preliminary Assessment is designed to:

• Provide review team members with basic information about the State and the Statewide Assessment as they begin the onsite review.
  
  
• Provide review team members with an analysis of the key issues, and raise questions to be examined during the onsite review.
  
  
• Permit quick identification of areas in which there may be discrepancies between information in the Statewide Assessment and information that will be obtained on site so that the discrepancy resolution process can begin immediately following the onsite review. (See chapter 5, section C, for information on resolving discrepancies.)
  
  
• Identify the State's performance level with regard to the data indicators and the national standards.
  
  
• Provide the State with an analysis of the information contained in the Statewide Assessment, which they can use to begin thinking about the PIP.
  
  
• Provide information to be used in preparing the Final Report to the State regarding substantial conformity (see chapter 6 for information on the preparation and distribution of the Final Report).

In completing the Preliminary Assessment, the Children's Bureau Regional Office:

• Records pertinent data and narrative information from the Statewide Assessment on the Summary of Findings Form, describing each outcome and systemic factor.
  
  
• Provides an analysis of the information, highlighting areas that may require further exploration during the onsite review. This includes developing questions that Team Leaders can use during stakeholder interviews. This analysis can help reviewers focus on areas in which further information is needed to draw conclusions about the effectiveness of policy and practice in achieving positive outcomes for children and families.
  
  
• Compares the data indicators used to make determinations about substantial conformity with the national standards and records that information on the Summary of Findings Form.

The Children's Bureau Regional Office provides the Preliminary Assessment to the State and to the Child Welfare Review Projects no later than 30 days before the onsite review. The Child Welfare Review Projects then include the Preliminary Assessment, along with the Statewide Assessment and other State-specific material, in the Review Information Package (see Appendix F, Review Information Package, which provides a list of information to be sent to the review team members) that is sent to the Federal and State Review Team members.

D.5. Example of a Preliminary Assessment

The example that follows is one page from the Summary of Findings Form that illustrates how information from the Statewide Assessment is used to prepare the Preliminary Assessment. This information is updated and supplemented during and after the onsite review and is used in developing the Final Report.

Example of a Preliminary Assessment
II. PERMANENCY
	Permanency Outcome 1: Children have permanency and stability in their living situations.
	Number of cases reviewed by the team according to degree of outcome achievement:   Site Name 1 Site Name 2 Site Name 3 Total Number Total Percentage Substantially Achieved:           Partially Achieved:           Not Achieved or Addressed:           Not Applicable:           Conformity of data indicators with national standards:   National Standard State Score Meets Standard Does Not Meet Standard Timeliness and permanency of reunifications 110.2 or higher 96.1   X Timeliness of adoptions 103.0 or higher 106.7 X   Achieving permanency for children in foster care 111.7 or higher 105.8   X Placement stability 108.5 or higher 102.0   X Item 5. Foster Care Re-entries ____ Strength ____ Area Needing Improvement Preliminary Assessment: The data permanency composites indicate that the State does not meet the standard for reunification. The Statewide Assessment indicates that length of stay in foster care has decreased substantially, which is excellent. However, State performance on the overall reunification composite is being held back by the large increase in foster care re-entries. The State indicates that most re-entries are by children discharged to reunification as opposed to other discharge reasons. The Statewide Assessment indicates that State policy does not require the agency to provide post-reunification services beyond 3 months. The State has provided data that show that most cases are closed within 60 days of reunification. The Statewide Assessment also indicates that a strong array of post-reunification services is not available; funding is scarce and is mostly targeted to the urban areas of the State, while families residing in rural areas have fewer service options. Improvement of post-reunification services is likely to result in improved performance on the individual re-entry measure as well as the overall reunification composite. Questions for the onsite review: (1) If there are cases reviewed in which children have re-entered care, do they generally re-enter within 60 days of reunification, or after 60 days? (2) At the time children re-enter care, are services being provided, or have they been provided, to support reunification? (3) What services are available at each site to support reunification? How effective do stakeholders believe these services are in supporting reunification? (4) How accessible are the services? How long are services available? (5) In what ways are the services culturally responsive to the needs of the families?

 

The Children's Bureau Regional Office also records other relevant information from the Statewide Assessment on the Preliminary Assessment for outcomes and systemic factors reviewed for which there are no data. For example, under "Child and family involvement in case planning" (item 18 on the Summary of Findings Form), the Children's Bureau Regional Office summarizes information from section III (Narrative Assessment of Child and Family Outcomes), subsection C (Child and Family Well-Being), of the Statewide Assessment. Under each of the systemic factors, the Children's Bureau Regional Office records relevant information addressing each factor from sections III (Narrative Assessment of Child and Family Outcomes) and IV (Systemic Factors) of the Statewide Assessment.

E. Interim Statewide Assessments Between Full Reviews

States determined to be in substantial conformity with all seven outcomes and seven systemic factors are reviewed every 5 years and are required to complete an interim Statewide Assessment between the full reviews. There is no similar requirement for States determined not to be in substantial conformity because those States are reviewed at 2-year intervals.

States in substantial conformity must submit to the Children's Bureau Regional Office a completed interim Statewide Assessment 3 years from the date of the previous onsite review, meaning that the work on the interim Statewide Assessment begins approximately 6 months before that deadline. The process for completing the interim Statewide Assessment is the same as that used for a full review, including the participation of representatives external to the State agency.

The Children's Bureau initiates the interim Statewide Assessment process by preparing the data profiles and transmitting them to the Children's Bureau Regional Office, which sends them to the State. Once the State completes and submits the interim Statewide Assessment, the Children's Bureau Central and Regional Offices review it for indications of the State's status on the outcomes and systemic factors subject to review. (The Children's Bureau Regional Office does not need to approve the interim Statewide Assessment. If it is incomplete, however, the Children's Bureau Regional Office will ask the State to provide additional information.)

In particular, the Children's Bureau Regional Office reviews the interim Statewide Assessment to determine whether the State is maintaining the level of achievement on the data indicators required to comply with the national standards. If the State drops below the national standards for the data indicators, or otherwise appears out of substantial conformity, the Children's Bureau Regional Office first requests that the State submit additional information. If the additional information also indicates nonconformity, the Children's Bureau Regional Office, in consultation with the Children's Bureau Central Office, may initiate either a partial review (which targets specific areas) or a full review, as appropriate, to make the determination of substantial conformity. The Children's Bureau Regional Office follows the procedures at 45 CFR §1355.32(c) for reinstating reviews, on the basis of the State not being in substantial conformity.

F. Subsequent Reviews

In accordance with 45 CFR §1355.32(b), the subsequent reviews following the initial review (at 5 years for States determined to be in conformity and 2 years for States determined not to be in conformity) are full reviews. A partial review may be conducted between full reviews if the Children's Bureau Central or Regional Office becomes aware that a State previously found to be in conformity in one or more area(s) now appears to be out of conformity in one or more of those areas.

The Children's Bureau Regional Office coordinates with the Children's Bureau Central Office and the State to select a date for the subsequent review. The Children's Bureau Central Office sends the data profiles to the Children's Bureau Regional Office for transmission to the State 6 months before the subsequent review.

For subsequent reviews, a State can use the prior Statewide Assessment, Final Report, and PIP progress reports to begin evaluating their progress. The State should focus on:

• Analyzing current data and re-examining program effectiveness on the basis of new data


• Identifying where improvements have been made and where ongoing issues exist


• Noting current strengths and areas needing improvement that require attention during the subsequent CFSR

The State should incorporate this information into their CFSP process, as they do with the PIP and the CFSR process. States also should engage external partners in the PIP, the subsequent Statewide Assessment, and the subsequent CFSR. This can be accomplished through ongoing committees, work groups, focus groups, surveys, and other activities that focus on the PIP and/or the subsequent Statewide Assessment. (The State needs to build in sufficient time for these activities in completing the subsequent Statewide Assessment.)

As in the initial review, the results of the subsequent Statewide Assessment are used to inform key decisions regarding the onsite review, including site selection and sample composition.

 

 

¹The Child Welfare Review Projects train State agency staff on the CFSRs on behalf of the Children’s Bureau. back

²The Child Welfare Review Projects support the Children’s Bureau in administering the CFSRs; the projects distribute the Review Information Packages to all Federal and State Review Team members before the onsite review. back

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