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California

Demonstration Type:	Flexible Funding1
Approval Date:	March 31, 2006
Implementation Date:	July 1, 2007
Expected Completion Date:	June 20, 2012
Interim Evaluation Report Expected:	February 28, 2010
Final Evaluation Report Expected:	December 31, 2012

Target Population

California's flexible funding demonstration will target title IV-E-eligible and non-IV-E-eligible children ages 0-19 currently in out-of-home placement or who are at risk of entering or re-entering foster care.

Jurisdiction

Alameda and Los Angeles Counties are implementing the demonstration. The two participating counties have nearly 25,000 children and youth in foster care and this represents approximately 37 percent of the caseload in California.

Intervention

Under its flexible funding demonstration, California receives a capped allocation of title IV-E funds that it distributes in annual allotments among the two participating counties, Alameda and Los Angeles. These counties utilize their annual allotments of title IV-E funds to expand and strengthen child welfare practice, programs, and system improvements.

Alameda County

Alameda County's Social Services Agency and Probation Department are redirecting financial resources from the existing congregate group home model to family-based resource homes and community-based services that directly engage children and families with health, mental health, education, and social and self-sufficiency supports to achieve higher levels of safety, permanency, and well-being. To date, Alameda County Social Services Agency has implemented the following strategies as part of the waiver: (1) expanded and funded the Another Road to Safety Prevention Program, which provides supportive services to stabilize and strengthen families and prevent children from entering into the foster care system; (2) hired new staff to expand kin location services following removal of a child from the home; (3) worked to engage the courts as soon as possible in order to reduce time in out-of-home placement; (4) signed agreements with Legal Assistance Services to assist with legal fees to support voluntary diversion of children to relative guardianships; and (5) created a waiver coordinator position to take lead responsibility for waiver planning and system re-design efforts.

Los Angeles County

Los Angeles County aims to enhance community partnerships, improve service delivery, and create new accountability structures. The county has identified universal and specific needs and requirements for the dependent and delinquent foster care populations to be served under the demonstration. Specifically, the Los Angeles Department of Children and Family Services is implementing the following strategies as part of the waiver: (1) expansion of Family Team Decision-Making Conferences; (2) creation of pilot specialized permanency units focused on family finding and engagement; and (3) up-front assessments of high risk cases for domestic violence, substance abuse, and mental health issues. In addition, the Los Angeles County Probation Department is implementing the following strategies as part of the waiver: (1) enhancement of cross-system case assessment and case planning; (2) expansion of Multi-Systemic Therapy and Functional Family Therapy; (3) restructuring of placement services, and (4) utilization of aftercare support services. Finally, Los Angeles County is using waiver funds to expand the availability of intensive treatment foster care services as well as "multi-dimensional treatment" foster care.

Evaluation Design

California is implementing an interrupted time series design for the evaluation of its demonstration that will be used to analyze historical changes in child welfare outcomes. Using this method, the State will observe patterns in key child welfare outcomes and will then track changes in these outcomes during the course of implementation. To measure longitudinal changes in outcomes, the State established a baseline for each outcome measure prior to the start of the demonstration and will report progress on each outcome at selected time intervals.

Process Evaluation

The evaluation will include interim and final process analyses that describe how demonstration services were implemented and identify how these differed from services available prior to the demonstration. In particular, the process evaluation will compare the availability and intensity of family preservation, reunification, and permanency support services prior to and after implementation of the demonstration. The process evaluation will also examine the overall implementation of the demonstration, including the identification of implementation barriers and facilitators.

Outcome Evaluation

The State's outcome evaluation will measure longitudinal changes across participating counties in key safety, permanency, and well-being outcomes. As identified in the State's Terms and Conditions, major outcome measures of interest include the following:

• Number and proportion of children with a subsequent substantiated report of abuse or neglect within a specified time period;
• Number and proportion of children in foster care with a substantiated report of abuse or neglect while in foster care;
• Number and proportion of children who receive a face-to-face contact with a child welfare professional within a specified period following a report of abuse or neglect;
• Average number of social worker visits, as appropriate, per child in placement or per child with an active child welfare case;
• Rate of recurrence of abuse or neglect in homes where children did not enter out-of-home placement;
• Number and proportion of children who are reunified within 12 months of removal from the home;
• Number and proportion of children who are adopted within 24 months of removal from the home;
• Number and proportion of children who re-enter out-of-home placement;
• For children in out-of-home placement, the average number of changes in placement setting within 12 months of removal from the home;
• Number and proportion of children placed in foster care with all or some of their siblings;
• Number and proportion of children in out-of-home placement who change placement settings and the direction of change in the restrictiveness of the placement setting (i.e., to a less restrictive or more restrictive setting);
• Number and proportion of Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) eligible children placed in culturally appropriate foster care settings as defined by ICWA; and
• Number and proportion of children transitioning to self-sufficient adulthood as measured by (1) attainment of a high school diploma, (2) enrollment in college or other post-secondary education program (e.g., vocational training), and (3) employment status or availability of other means of financial support.

Cost Study

California's cost study will examine the costs of key elements of child welfare services received under the demonstration and will compare these costs with those of child welfare services prior to the start of the demonstration. Specific issues that will be addressed by the State's cost study include the following:

• Overall changes in foster care maintenance expenditures and associated administrative costs;
• Shifts in child welfare expenditures away from foster care maintenance to alternative services, supports, and programs provided through the waiver demonstration; and
• Changes, if any, in the variety of alternative services, supports, and programs for which title IV-E funds are utilized.

Evaluation Findings

The State implemented its demonstration on July 1, 2007. Initial evaluation findings will become available as implementation continues.

Web Links

Information and reports for the State's flexible funding waiver demonstration are available at the following Web site: http://www.childsworld.ca.gov/PG1333.htm.

¹ Based on information submitted by the State as of February 2008. Back

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