Child Welfare Outcomes 2000:
Annual Report
Introduction: Child Welfare Outcomes 2000
Child Welfare Outcomes 2000: Annual Report to Congress is the third in a series of annual reports from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (the Department). The reports are prepared in accordance with section 479(a) of the Social Security Act as amended by section 203(a) of the Adoption and Safe Families Act (ASFA) of 1997 (Appendix A). They depict the performance of States on seven national child welfare outcomes developed by the Department in consultation with State and local child welfare agency administrators and other experts in the child welfare field. These outcomes reflect widely accepted performance objectives for child welfare practice.
• Reduce recurrence of child abuse and/or neglect,
• Reduce the incidence of child abuse and/or neglect in foster
care,
• Increase permanency for children in foster care,
• Reduce time in foster care to reunification without
increasing re-entry,
• Reduce time in foster care to adoption,
• Increase placement stability, and
• Reduce placements of young children in group homes or
institutions.
In the Child Welfare Outcomes Annual Reports (Outcomes Reports), the following information is presented for each State (and the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico):
• Data on the twelve measures (provided in Appendix B)
developed to assess the performance of States on the seven national
child welfare outcomes listed above,
• Selected State child population statistics,
• The numbers and characteristics of child maltreatment
victims (defined as children who are the subject of a substantiated
or indicated maltreatment report),
• The numbers and characteristics of children in foster care
on a given day and children who entered and exited foster
care,
• The numbers and characteristics of children “waiting
for adoption” (defined as children who are legally free for
adoption and/or have a goal of adoption but have not yet had a
finalized adoption), and
• The numbers and characteristics of children for whom an
adoption was finalized.
Before publishing the Outcomes Reports, the Department disseminates each State?s data pages to the State child welfare agency administrator and data managers for their review and comment. The State?s comments are presented in the Outcomes Reports with the State?s data pages. Thirty-seven States provided comments for Child Welfare Outcomes 1998; 38 States for Child Welfare Outcomes 1999; and 34 for Child Welfare Outcomes 2000.
With the exception of the child population statistics, the data provided in the State data pages come from two Federal data reporting systems—the Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System (AFCARS) and the National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System (NCANDS). Through AFCARS and NCANDS, the Department collects and analyzes data and generates reports on children who come into contact with the State child welfare systems. The highlights of findings from the most recent report based on NCANDS data—Child Maltreatment 2000—are presented in Appendix C. The annual AFCARS Report for fiscal year (FY) 2000 is presented in Appendix D.
In addition to the State data pages and State comments, the first Outcomes Report—Child Welfare Outcomes 1998—provided a discussion of the development of the national child welfare outcomes and measures, including the principles that guided that process. The Department established these guiding principles (presented in Appendix E) in conjunction with a consultant work group comprised of representatives from a wide range of State and local organizations and agencies.
The second Outcomes Report—Child Welfare Outcomes 1999—identified issues related to the quality and quantity of State data and provided key findings regarding variations in States? performance on the outcomes, based on 1999 data. The second Outcomes Report also presented a discussion of the various components of the Department?s comprehensive approach to assisting States in achieving safety, permanency, and well-being for all children who come into contact with public child welfare systems. One key Departmental initiative identified in this discussion was the Child and Family Services Review (CFSR). The CFSR is the Department?s new results-oriented, comprehensive monitoring system. It was developed in response to the mandate in the Social Security Amendments of 1994 to promulgate regulations for reviews of States? child and family services. Through the CFSR, the Department assists States in evaluating and improving their child welfare service systems.
This third Outcomes Report—Child Welfare Outcomes 2000—is similar to earlier reports in that it presents the State data pages, State comments, a discussion of data issues, and key findings of the data analyses. With this report, however, the Department introduces the Federal Comment page, which will be part of future Outcomes Reports. The Federal Comment page is included with each State?s data pages and provides a discussion of the following: (1) a State?s performance on the child welfare outcomes, (2) changes in performance over time, and (3) possible reasons for high or low performance based on qualitative information from the State?s CFSR.1 For Child Welfare Outcomes 2000, Federal Comment pages are provided for the 17 States that participated in a CFSR in 2001 and 15 States that participated in a CFSR in 2002.2
Child Welfare Outcomes 2000 is organized as follows:
• Chapter I. Interpreting State Performance on the National Child Welfare Outcomes. This chapter discusses how qualitative information from the CFSR Final Reports will be used to provide clarity and depth to understanding States? performance on the national child welfare outcomes.
• Chapter II. Technical Issues to Consider in Interpreting Outcome Data. This chapter presents and discusses key issues regarding reporting and interpreting data used to measure the performance of States on the national child welfare outcomes. A primary focus of discussion is the relevance of these issues for interpreting performance on the outcomes across States.
• Chapter III. Key Findings: State Performance on the National Child Welfare Outcomes for 2000 and Changes in Performance from 1999 to 2000. This chapter presents the findings of the analyses of the performance of States in 2000 and changes in performance from 1999 to 2000. It includes a discussion of State policies and practices that may affect performance based on qualitative information obtained from the CFSR Final Reports on the 32 States that participated in the CFSR during 2001 and 2002.
• Chapter IV. State Data Pages. The State data pages include a section on context data, a section on outcomes data, a State comment page, and a Federal comment page for States that participated in a CFSR during 2001 and 2002.
1 There is a timelag between the
data provided in the State data pages and the CFSR. For example,
the data presented in this Outcomes Report pertain to the years
1998, 1999, and 2000. However, the CFSR reports cover reviews
completed in either FY 2001 or FY 2002. This timelag is the result
of the time required to process and analyze data reported to AFCARS
and NCANDS. Because of the lag, changes in State policies or
practices that occurred during the review period were not reflected
in performance on the outcome measures; these will be noted when
relevant. Back
2 With each new Outcomes Report,
CFSR Final Report information will be incorporated into the Federal
Comment page for States that participate in a CFSR during the year
that the Outcomes Report is prepared. For States that did not
participate in a review during that year, the Federal Comment page
will focus primarily on changes in performance on the national
outcomes over time. Back
