Chapter III. Assessment of State Performance on the National Child Welfare Outcomes
This chapter provides a discussion of the key findings reported in chapter 2 with regard to State performance in the following areas:
- Preventing further maltreatment of children, including maltreatment of children in foster care by their caretakers;
- Achieving permanency for all children in foster care, including children who have a diagnosed disability or who entered foster care when they were adolescents;
- Achieving permanency in a timely manner; and
- Providing children in foster care with stable and age-appropriate placements.
When relevant, the discussion of State performance incorporates information from the findings of the analysis of the Child and Family Services Review (CFSR) Final Reports for the 32 States participating in a CFSR during FY 2001 and 2002. The data quality issues that may impact interpretation of State performance are discussed in the Report to Congress: Child Welfare Outcomes 2000, available from the National Clearinghouse on Child Abuse and Neglect Information.
Preventing Further Maltreatment of Children
A key finding relevant to this issue is that preventing child maltreatment recurrence tends to be an ongoing challenge for many States. In 2001, only 13 (32.5 percent) of the 40 States reporting data for the outcome measure assessing maltreatment recurrence met the national standard (6.1 percent or less) and in 10 States (25 percent) the rate of maltreatment recurrence exceeded 10 percent. Although the performance of individual States on this measure tended to fluctuate from 1999 to 2001, for the most part, a change in one direction from 1999 to 2000 was offset by a change in the other direction from 2000 to 2001. Finally, only 6 (21 percent) of a possible 29 States met the national standard in all 3 years.
Information from the analysis of data from the CFSR Final Reports suggests that the difficulties States experience in preventing maltreatment recurrence may be due to one or more of the following:
- Risk assessments that are inadequate with respect to identifying underlying family issues such as substance abuse and domestic violence;
- Providing services that do not sufficiently address risk issues (such as providing parenting education services when parents have domestic violence problems); and
- Insufficient monitoring of families to assess service participation and change in risk factors in child welfare cases in which children remain in their homes.
Although States continue to experience difficulties in preventing maltreatment recurrence, they appear to be experiencing success in preventing maltreatment in foster care. A key finding of the analysis of 2001 data is that 25 (66 percent) of the 38 States reporting data for the measure assessing maltreatment in foster care met the national standard of 0.57 percent or less; in only 4 States did the incidence of maltreatment of children in foster care in 2001 exceed 1 percent. In addition, there was a substantive improvement in mean and median performance on the measure from 1999 to 2001 and an increase in the percent of States meeting the national standard. However, only 5 (24 percent) of the possible 21 States met the national standard in all 3 years.
Information from the analysis of the 32 CFSR Final Reports suggests that a State's success in preventing maltreatment in foster care may be attributed to one or more of the following:
- The State establishes and adheres to standards regarding licensing requirements for foster homes and care facilities, including standards that prevent overcrowding in foster homes;
- The State provides services and supports to foster families when problems occur in placements or when children have behavioral problems or emotional disorders; and/or
- The State provides comprehensive training for foster parents both before licensure and on an ongoing basis.
III. Assessment of State Performance on the National Child Welfare Outcomes Achieving Permanency for All Children in Foster Care
A key finding pertaining to permanency for children in foster care is that, in most States, the vast majority of children who exit foster care are discharged to a permanent home (i.e., through reunification, adoption, or guardianship). Only a small proportion exited through emancipation, transfer to another system, or (even more rarely) death. In FY 2001, the median performance for all States regarding the percentage of exits from foster care that were exits to permanency was 85.3 percent (the mean performance was 84.6 percent). There were only 6 States in which less than 75 percent of the children exiting foster care were discharged to a permanent home. In addition, most States exhibited no change in performance on this measure from FY 1999 to FY 2001.
Another key finding pertaining to permanency, however, is that States tend to be less successful in achieving permanency for children who exit foster care who have a diagnosed disability or who entered foster care when they were adolescents. In FY 2001, the mean performance across States for the percentage of all children exiting foster care who were discharged to a permanent home was 84.6 percent. In contrast, for children with a diagnosed disability, the mean performance with regard to exits to permanency was 78.4 percent, and for children who entered foster care when they were adolescents (i.e., age 13 or older), the mean performance was 69.7 percent.
The analyses of CFSR Final Report information identified the following potential barriers to attaining permanency for older children:
- A perception of agency and court personnel that older children are "unadoptable" and that filing for termination of parent rights will only result in the creation of "legal orphans;"
- A tendency of child welfare agency personnel and courts to establish a case goal of long-term foster care when older children cannot be reunified with their parents without a thorough consideration of adoption or guardianship as permanency outcomes; and
- A tendency among child welfare agency staff to focus service delivery on the child rather than involving the entire family when a child enters foster care at adolescence, particularly when the primary reason for entry into foster care is the child's behavior.
A third key finding relevant to permanency for children in foster care is that the percentage of children exiting foster care to permanency is the same for Black (non-Hispanic), White (non-Hispanic), and Hispanic children. For all 3 years, White (non-Hispanic) children exiting foster care were found to be no more or less likely to be discharged to a permanent home than were Hispanic or Black (non-Hispanic) children, and Black (non-Hispanic) children exiting foster care were found to be no more or less likely to be discharged to a permanent home than were Hispanic children.
However, for States where at least 5 percent of children exiting foster care in a given year were Alaska Native/American Indian, there were clear differences with regard to exits to permanency. In five of these States, White (non-Hispanic) children exiting foster care were considerably more likely than Alaska Native/American Indian children to be discharged to a permanent home. In one of these, 91.9 percent of White children exiting foster care were discharged to a permanent home, compared to 65.3 percent of Alaska Native/Native American children exiting foster care.
Information from the CFSR Final Reports suggests that success in achieving positive outcomes for Native American children is promoted when States and Tribes establish positive relationships and when States adhere to the requirements of the Indian Child Welfare Act. However, information from the CFSR also indicates that some Tribes are unwilling to seek termination of parental rights for Native American children because it is not consistent with their cultural values and traditions. These Tribes may block a State's efforts to seek permanency for a child through adoption, although they support permanency through long-term foster care in a stable home.
Finally, the findings reported in chapter 2 with regard to the age of entry into foster care of children exiting to emancipation indicate that there continue to be many children who are "growing up" in foster care. In FY 2001, there were 25 States in which more than 28 percent of the children emancipated from foster care were age 12 or younger when they entered foster care. In 15 of these States, more than 50 percent of the children exiting to emancipation had entered foster care when they were age 12 or younger. Nationally, at least 30 percent of all children exiting foster care to emancipation in FY 1999, 2000, and 2001 were age 12 or younger when they entered foster care.
Information from the analysis of CFSR Final Reports suggests that young children are put at risk for "growing up" in foster care when the child welfare agency and/or the courts decide to maintain reunification as a permanency goal for long periods of time, even when parents have not exhibited progress in moving toward reunification and the prognosis for reunification is low. Although some provisions of the Adoption and Safe Families Act are intended to address this problem, the CFSR findings suggest that not all States are fully implementing these provisions.
Achieving Permanency in a Timely Manner
A primary finding pertaining to the attainment of permanency in a timely manner is that States appear to be more successful in achieving timely reunifications (in less than 12 months) than they are in achieving timely adoptions (in less than 24 months). In FY 2001, 19 (37 percent) of the 52 States met the national standard (76.2 percent or more) for the measure assessing the percentage of exits to reunification that occurred within 12 months of the child's entry into foster care. In comparison, only 14 States (27 percent) met the national standard (32.0 percent or more) for the measure assessing the percentage of finalized adoptions that occurred within 24 months of the child's entry into foster care. In addition, while there was a substantive increase from FY 1999 to FY 2001 (+23 percent change) in the percentage of States meeting the national standard for reunifications within 12 months, there was a substantive decline from FY 1999 to FY 2001(-12.9 percent change) in the percentage of States meeting the national standard for finalized adoptions within 24 months. Also, the data pertaining to adoptions within 24 months revealed a substantive decline in both the mean and the median performance on this measure.
Information from the analyses of the 32 CFSR Final Reports indicates that finalizing adoptions in a timely manner is a considerable challenge in most States. The identified barriers to expediting the adoption process included the following:
- Court-related barriers such as overcrowded dockets, the lengthy appeals process pertaining to termination of parental rights petitions, and insufficient attention of court personnel to permanency issues;
- Agency-related barriers including delays in completing paper work and conducting home studies; and
- An unwillingness on the part of agency and/or court personnel to terminate parental rights before an adoptive family has been found because they do not want to create "legal orphans."
Another consistent finding pertaining to the timeliness of permanency is that many States with a relatively high percentage of reunifications within 12 months also exhibit a relatively high rate of re-entries into foster care within 12 months of a prior foster care episode; and many States with a relatively low percentage of reunifications within 12 months also exhibit a relatively low rate of re-entry into foster care. In fact, in FY 2001, only four States met the national standards for both measures. This finding underscores the importance of interpreting State performance pertaining to timely reunification in conjunction with performance regarding foster care re-entry.
CFSR Final Reports information indicates that re-entry into foster care may be attributed in part to a lack of post-reunification services and monitoring in many States to support children's reintegration into the family and ensure their safety during that process. In many States, moreover, the CFSR found that some reunifications occur before adequate changes have been made in the family to ensure children's safety.
Ensuring Stable and Age-Appropriate Placements for Children in Foster Care
The outcome measure developed to assess placement stability examines the percentage of children who were in foster care for a variety of time periods who experienced no more than two placement settings. A key finding for this measure is that only 13 States (25 percent) met the national standard for this measure of 86.7 percent or more. The analyses of CFSR information identified the following concerns with respect to State effectiveness in ensuring placement stability for children:
- There is frequent use in some States of shelter facilities as initial placements and/or as "temporary" placements when a placement disruption occurs or when an appropriate foster home cannot be located. Although a shelter placement may often be appropriate, the use of shelters as temporary or interim placements tends to contribute to placement instability.
- There is an insufficient supply of appropriate placement options for children, particularly for children with developmental disabilities or severe emotional/behavioral problems.
- There is a lack of services to foster families to prevent placement disruption when problems arise.
- There is inadequate matching of placements and children (i.e., the placement does not meet the child's needs or the foster parents' expectations).
The outcome measure developed to assess age-appropriate placements examines the percentage of children who entered foster care at age 12 or younger who were placed in a group home or institution. Although generally recognized good practice is that a child's treatment needs may occasionally require placement in a group home or institution, such placement settings are rarely appropriate for young children.
A key finding pertaining to age-appropriate placements is that in FY 1999, 2000, and 2001 there were several States in which a substantial percentage of children age 12 and younger were placed in group homes and institutions. For example, in 7 States more than 20 percent of children entering foster care who were age 12 or younger were placed in a group home or institution and in 1 State, 45 percent of these children were placed in a group home or institution. In addition, information from the CFSR Final Reports indicates that in some States, children as young as 2 or 3 years old experience extended stays in "shelter placements" that are equivalent to group homes or institutions.
Assessing Change in Performance Over Time
The findings of the analyses conducted for Child Welfare Outcomes 2001 with regard to change in performance from FY 1999 to FY 2001 suggest that it is too early in the outcome-assessment process to identify trends in performance over time, either for individual States or for States as a group. Currently, there tends to be fluctuations in performance from year to year.
The most common finding of the analyses of change is that for individual States, a change in one direction from 1999 to 2000 was offset by a change in the other direction from 2000 to 2001. There was no measure for which more than 10 States exhibited either a continuous improvement in performance or a continuous decline, and some measures in which no State exhibited either continuous improvement or decline. In addition, findings of stability with regard to mean and median performance often were contradicted by findings of extensive fluctuations over time for individual States.
It also is difficult at this time to differentiate data changes that can be attributed to performance from those that are the result of improvements in data quality. Through the CFSR process, many States re-examined the data they reported to the national data systems and discovered errors in their reporting procedures. In some instances, this has resulted in resubmissions of previous year's data to the Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System and the National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System. However, in other instances, States have chosen not to resubmit data from earlier years, but to make the corrections in future years. Consequently, for some States, changes over time will not reflect the corrections made in the reporting procedures, while for other States, change may be attributed to corrected reporting procedures.
The Department's role in helping States to improve their performance in attaining positive outcomes for children and families is one of providing the necessary information and technical assistance. Information about the effectiveness of various strategies, practices, policies, and procedures is critical to help ensure the success of the States in their efforts to enhance outcomes. The Department's comprehensive network of resource and information centers is geared to meeting this demand, as is the research funded through discretionary grants. As the Department works with States in developing their program improvement plans as part of the CFSR, it is anticipated that performance on the outcome measures will improve.
The following chapter presents data for each State on the 12 outcome measures. In addition, data are provided regarding relevant contextual factors pertaining to each State's child welfare system. Each State's data pages are followed by the State's comments on its data (for the 38 States providing comments), and by a Federal comment page that presents an analysis of each State's performance on the outcome measures.
