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Appendix IV

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CONNECTICUT

State Information	Intervention	Major Goals	Outcome Evaluation Design
Approval Date: 9/29/98 Project Length: 5 years Implementation Start Date: 12/1/98-4/1/99 Contact: Gary Blau Bureau Chief, Quality Management CT Department of Children and Families (860) 550-6528 Evaluator: To be identified	Continuum of Care/Case Rate Payment (two pilot sites) Provides an expanded network of regular and specialized services for children, ages 7 to 15, with behavioral problems who are in residential or group homes. A single lead service agency (LSA) in each pilot site will coordinate all offered services, including case management, group care, home-based services, outpatient services, and aftercare. A negotiated case rate will cover 12 months of care and three months of follow-up services.	- Reduce average length of stay in out-of-home care - Increase child safety (reduce substantiated allegations of CA/N) - Increase stability in the community for children affected - Improve children's behavioral health (standardized measures) - Increase children and families' satisfaction with department's services	Random assignment to experimental and control groups (30 children in each) over five years (for one pilot site.)

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DELAWARE

State Information	Intervention	Major Goals	Outcome Evaluation Design
Approval Date: 6/17/96 Project Length: 5 years Implementation Start Date: 7/1/96 Contact: Candace Charkow Treatment Program Manager Division of Family Services (302) 633-2601 Evaluator: Dorothy Lockwood Consultant Newark, Delaware (302) 764-2642	Services to Substance-Abusing Caretakers Provide substance abuse counselors to work with CPS staff and identified families to link to treatment and other services Assisted Guardianship Obtain legal guardianship for children in stable foster care placements for whom adoption and reunification are not possible. Subsidy payment will not exceed current foster care payment.	- Prevent foster care - Reduce number of days in foster care - Move children more quickly from foster care to permanency - Provide an additional permanency option for children - Reduce agency involvement (and costs)	Random assignment of cases to units with substance abuse counselors (treatment) and without (control). Experimental group size is expected to be 180 per year Track costs and outcomes of cases with guardianship -- anticipate 10 cases per year.

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State Information	Intervention	Major Goals	Outcome Evaluation Design
Approval Date: 9/17/96 Project Length: 5 years Implementation Start Date: May 1, 1997 Contact: Michael O'Connor Project Director for Subsidized Guardianship IL Department of Children and Family Services (312) 814-5564 Evaluator: Ronna Cook Westat, Inc. Rockville, Maryland (301) 251-4286	Assisted Guardianship Obtain legal guardianship and provide subsidy payments for foster parents and kin who provide stable placements. Payments will range from $343 to $415 per month. Expect to place 8,000 children Statewide.	- Provide more stable placement - Reduce agency intrusion in family life - Reduce agency costs	Random assignment of eligible cases to control and experimental groups. Experimental group size is expected to be 1,895 over the five years.

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INDIANA

State Information	Intervention	Major Goals	Outcome Evaluation Design
Approval Date: 7/18/97 Project Length: 5 years Implementation Start Date: 1/1/98 Contact: Peggy McCoy IN Division of Family and Children IN Family and Social Services Administration (317) 232-6113 Evaluator: Gary Seigel Anthony Loman Institute of Applied Research St. Louis, MO 314-645-7444	Intensive Home- and Community-Based Services Increase capacity for in-home services and community foster family homes as alternative to group and institutional care, especially out-of-State care. The demonstration will be operational in all 92 counties within 18 months.	- Improve child and family well-being - Reduce placement in out-of-State facilities - Improve youth and caretaker satisfaction - Promote permanence	A total of 4,000 children at any given time will receive services under the demonstration. Estimated stay in project 20 months/per child. A retrospectively matched sample of children receiving traditional IV-E placements/ services will be selected and compared to the experimental group.

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KANSAS

State Information	Intervention	Major Goals	Outcome Evaluation Design
Approval Date: 9/24/98 Project Length: 5 years Implementation Start Date: 1/1/99-4/30/99 Contact: Kandy Shortle Division of Children and Family Services KS Social and Rehabilitation Services (785) 368-8159 Evaluator: To be identified	Capitated Payment (Statewide) Test different payment systems (fixed case rate vs. fee-for-service) to enable private providers to offer enhanced services to families involved with family preservation services, and reintegration services to families with children in foster care.	- Decrease foster-care placements among families with substance-abuse problems - Decrease average length of stay and increased returns home within six months of placement - Reduce substantiated CA/N within 12 months of reintegration, and reduce re-entry rates - Increase stability through fewer moves while in care and increase percentage of children placed with siblings - Increase parent and youth (16 years or older) satisfaction with services	Random assignment of eligible children to experimental (fee for service) and control (fixed case rate) groups at a ratio of 1:10. There will be two experimental groups -- one for family preservation cases and one for foster care. Each group will have 400 cases.

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MAINE

State Information	Intervention	Major Goals	Outcome Evaluation Design
Approval Date: 9/17/98 Project Length: 5 years Implementation Start Date: 3/1/99 State Contact: John Levesque Adoption Program Specialist Department of Human Services ME Bureau of Children and Family Services (207) 287-5042 State Partner: Mark Millar Division Director Casey Family Services Portland, Maine (207) 772-4110 Evaluator: Michel Lahti Muskie Institute Augusta, Maine (207) 626-5200	Adoption Training Curriculum and Post-Adoption Support Services Provide training on special-needs adoption to mental health and other professionals who work with adoptive families, adoptable children, and public and private adoption providers in year one. Years 2-5 will provide a comprehensive array of post-adoption services from trained providers to families that have adopted special-needs children.	- Increase number of special-needs adoptions - Decrease incidence of special-needs adoption disruptions - Decrease average length of stay in foster care - Strengthen adoptive families	Random assignment to experimental and control groups. Expect to have about 60 children per year in each group.

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MARYLAND

State Information	Intervention	Major Goals	Outcome Evaluation Design
Approval Date: 4/17/97 Project Length: 5 years Implementation Start Date: 2/28/98 Contact: Gloria Valentine (interim) Project Coordinator MD Department of Human Resources (410) 767-7686 Evaluator: Malinda Orlin University of Maryland School of Social Work (410) 706-8474	Assisted Guardianship Obtain legal guardianship and provide subsidy payments and services to foster parents and kin who receive AFDC/TANF child-only payments. Payments will be $300 per month. Children must be in stable placement, and adoption and reunification have been ruled out as options.	- Provide more stable placement - Reduce agency intrusion in family life - Reduce agency costs	Random assignment of children to experimental and control groups at a ratio of 6:4. The experimental group size is expected to be a minimum of 500 children over five years.

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MICHIGAN

State Information	Intervention	Major Goals	Outcome Evaluation Design
Approval Date: 12/19/97 Project Length: 5 years Implementation Start Date: 5/1/99 Contact: Mary Mehren Child and Family Services Administration Michigan Family Independence Agency (517) 241-7521 Evaluator: To be identified	Capitated Payment Capitated payment programs to provide wrap-around services for high-risk children in foster care or at imminent risk of placement in up to six counties. Community Services for Delinquent Youth Children aged 10 or older in contact with the juvenile justice system who are adjudicated, or at risk of being adjudicated delinquent will be provided a range of preventive and reunification services.	- Increase availability and flexibility of services - Reduce foster care placement - Reduce time in foster care - Expedite permanency - Improve child safety and well-being - Reduce recidivism rates for delinquency - Improve public safety - Reduce residential placement - Shift from out-of-home placement to in-home and community prevention services	In at least two of the counties, children will be randomly assigned to treatment and control groups. Selection of a set of counties comparable to pilot county(s) in terms of child poverty, public assistance and abuse/neglect rates.

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MISSISSIPPI

State Information	Intervention	Major Goals	Outcome Evaluation Design
Approval Date: 9/17/98 Project Length: 5 years Implementation Start Date: 1/1/99-6/30/99 Contact: Miles Dean Director of Administration Unit Family and Children Services MS Department of Human Services (601) 359-4495 Evaluator: To be identified	Systems Reform/Child-Focused Family-Centered Practice Methodology (Eight counties) Provide services that emphasize the safety and best interests of the child by eliminating harm-causing factors. Services can include respite, in-kind assistance (e.g., furniture, clothing, utility payments), job training, medical care, transportation, child care, counseling, parental training, short-term financial assistance (90 days), and homemaker services. Eligible clients include children involved in the child welfare system as well as their parents, foster parents or potential foster parents, custodial relatives or potential custodial relatives, siblings, and adoptive or potential adoptive parents.	- Reduce subsequent abuse and neglect - Increase the number of children receiving demonstration services who remain in their families - Increase relative placements for those children placed outside the home - Increase placement of children and sibling groups in their home communities - Decrease foster-care placements - Decrease time in foster care - Increase child well being - Increase family preservation efforts to decrease foster care placements	Random assignment to experimental and control groups at a ratio of 1:3. The baseline sample size for the experimental group is estimated at 615 children, with an additional 63 children per month.

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MONTANA

State Information	Intervention	Major Goals	Outcome Evaluation Design
Approval Date: 9/29/98 Project Length: 5 years Implementation Start Date: 1/1/99-9/30/99 Contact: Shirley Brown Chief of Program Management Branch MT Department of Public Health and Human Services (406)444-5906 Evaluator: To be identified	Subsidized Guardianship (Statewide and seven tribes) Offer subsidized guardianship as a permanency option for children who are at least 12 years old and are in state or tribal custody for whom neither reunification nor adoption are options. Children must have been placed with the prospective guardian for at least one year. Either state or tribal court can approve the guardianship (depending on jurisdiction). Approximately 90 children will be placed in guardianships over the course of the demonstration, 50 of whom will be eligible in the first year.	- Reduce number of children in long-term foster care and placement disruptions without increasing subsequent reports of CA/N	Random assignment to experimental and control groups at a ratio of 2:1. A sample size of 90 children is estimated for the experimental group over the five years.

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NEW HAMPSHIRE

State Information	Intervention	Major Goals	Outcome Evaluation Design
Approval Date: 9/24/98 Project Length: 5 years Implementation Start Date: 1/1/99-3/30/99 Contact: Bernard Bluhm NH Division for Children, Youth and Families NH Department of Health and Human Services Evaluator: To be identified	Substance Abuse Services (Two district offices) Provide substance abuse assessments and services to families for whom substance abuse is a contributing factor to CA/N. State will hire a substance abuse specialist to work with CPS in the Manchester and Nashua district offices to identify substance abuse-related needs and to help parents gain access to community-based treatment and support services.	- To prevent out-of-home placement, reduce the time children spend in out-of-home care, reduce subsequent reports of CA/N, and reduce foster-care costs by: - Improving parents' recovery from substance abuse and their use of available services - Improving the stability and adjustment of children in substance-abusing families	Random assignment to experimental and control groups, with 120 families in each group over the five years.

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NEW JERSEY

State Information	Intervention	Major Goals	Outcome Evaluation Design
Approval Date: 9/29/98 Project Length: 4 years Implementation Start Date: 7/1/99-9/30/99 Contact: Tina Minnis Division of Youth and Family Services New Jersey Department of Human Services (609) 984-7734 Evaluator: To be identified	Concurrent Planning/Fost-Adopt Services (Four counties) Establish a unit within the state's Adoption Resource Centers to be responsible for concurrent planning, provide enhanced services for eligible children, and dedicated substance-abuse services. Contracts will be developed to recruit, train, and support fost-adopt homes. Eligible children will be those six years old or younger for whom reunification is unlikely. In the first year, a percentage of the eligible children will be those who have been in foster care for fewer than five months. In the second year, only new entrants with no prior placement history will be admitted. Counties will be phased in over two years, beginning with Essex and Camden Counties in year one, and Hudson and Mercer Counties in year two.	- Decrease average length of stay in foster care - Increase the number of adoptions - Ensure the safety of children in the demonstration	Random assignment to experimental and control groups at a ratio of roughly 3:2. A sample size of 600 children is expected for the experimental group over four years.

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NEW YORK

State Information	Intervention	Major Goals	Outcome Evaluation Design
Approval Date: 12/19/97 Project Length: 5 years Implementation Start Date: 12/31/98 - 12/31/99 Contact: Judy Gallo Coordinator - IV-E Waiver Project NY Office of Children and Family Services (518) 474-9436 Evaluator: To be identified	Systems Reform In up to 10 districts various approaches to managed care will be tested. Each district may design its own service delivery system and prospective payment system including capitated payment systems and contract-based payment arrangements.	- Decrease foster care placements - Increase quality and flexibility of services - Decrease re-entry - Expedite permanency - Increase rate of transfer to less restrictive setting	Evaluation plans will be determined by participating districts. Each district must develop an evaluation plan that provides for either random assignment of cases to an experimental and control group or the selection of comparison districts.

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NORTH CAROLINA

State Information	Intervention	Major Goals	Outcome Evaluation Design
Approval Date: 11/14/96 Project Length: 5 years Implementation Start Date: 7/1/97 Contact: David Atkinson DHHS/NC Division of Social Services (919) 733-5125 Evaluator: Lynn Usher UNC Chapel Hill School of Social Work Chapel Hill, NC (919) 962-6496	Systems Reform Counties will have flexibility to develop programs that will reduce foster care placements and length of stay in care. Counties will not receive any new or additional money, but will have the flexibility offered under the waiver for IV-E funding. Assisted Guardianship Obtain legal guardianship and provide subsidy payments for relatives and other care givers approved by the juvenile court, and who have provided a stable placement for the child for at least six months. Assisted guardianship will be an option for children whom adoption and reunification are not possible.	- Reduce rate of initial entry into foster care system - Reduce length of stay in foster care - Reduce rate of re-entry into foster care system	19 counties will participate in demonstration project; an additional group of 19 counties with similar characteristics has been selected to form the comparison group. Evaluation will include all children who enter out-of-home care during the demonstration.

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OHIO

State Information	Intervention	Major Goals	Outcome Evaluation Design
Approval Date: 2/14/97 Project Length: 5 years Implementation Start Date: 10/1/97 Contact: Robin Rice Bureau Chief OH Department of Human Services Bureau of Resource Management (614) 466-1213 Evaluator: Mady Kimmich Human Services Research Institute Salem, Oregon (Other team members include: Westat, Institute for Human Services Management, Chapin Hall Center for Children, and Mid-America Consulting Group, Inc.) (503) 362-5682	Systems Reform Managed care demonstration counties will receive fixed amount of funds to serve child welfare families; counties will have flexibility to develop programs and services that will reduce foster care placements, costs, and length of stay in care.	- Reduce placement costs - Improve stability for children - Promote adoption	Fourteen counties will participate in demonstration. A comparison group of counties has been selected.

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OREGON

State Information	Intervention	Major Goals	Outcome Evaluation Design
Approval Date: 10/31/96 Project Length: 5 years Implementation Start Date: 7/1/97 Contact: Cheri Emahiser IV-E Waiver Project Manager Oregon State Office for Services to Children and Families (503) 945-6681 Evaluator: Constance Lehman Graduate School of Social Work Portland State University 503-725-8018	Systems Reform To provide a flexible service system to prevent family breakup specifically tailored for particular children and their families. Counties will have flexibility to develop programs and services that will reduce foster care placements and length of stay in care. The State and County will negotiate a budget for flexible funding. If the County spends less of their flexible funds than budgeted, the difference reverts to their foster care budget. If additional foster care funds are needed, the State makes up the difference.	- Improve outcomes for children and families and increase service efficiency by including the development of a family-focused, community based network for service delivery which concentrates on the strengths and needs of the family. - Reduce length of stay in substitute care and prevent children's placement into care. - Reduce foster care costs by investing in services. - Maintain child safety and protection.	Multiple comparison groups of counties -- participating and not-participating -- in demonstration. Sample size of 1,500 to 2,000 cases is expected for each of three study groups (2 experimental and one comparison) over the five years.

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WASHINGTON

State Information	Intervention	Major Goals	Outcome Evaluation Design
Approval Date: 9/29/98 Project Length: 5 years Implementation Start Date: 12/1/98-4/30/99 Contact: Tammi Erickson Office of Federal Funding WA Children's Administration (360) 902-7936 Evaluator: To be identified	Case Rate Payments for Children with Special Needs (Up to 10 counties) To provide comprehensive services to children between the ages of eight and 17 who are eligible for DCFS group care-level services, and meet the service criteria of the various regional service partners. The state will pay predetermined case rates to Regional Support Networks to provide services to children in an appropriate setting. Demonstration will begin with Spokane County, and up to nine counties may be added over five years.	- Meet safety and individual needs of children in the appropriate setting - Where therapeutically indicated and appropriate, prevent out-of-community, group care settings, decreased length of stay, and ensure placement in the least restrictive setting	Random assignment to experimental and control groups at a ratio of 1:1. Approximately 190 children are estimated for the experimental group in the Spokane County sample over five years, with additional children included as counties are added to the demonstration.

Appendices

Appendix I - Demonstration Topics of Interest to the Department
Appendix II - Names and Addresses of ACF Regional Administrators
Appendix III - Summaries of the first 18 Child Welfare Waiver Demonstration Projects Approved by the Department

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Last Updated: March 13, 2007