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South Dakota
Context Data | Outcomes Data | State Comment | Federal Comment
South Dakota [ Context Data ]
A. Key Context Statistics |
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| 1The convention for the data tables is the following: N/A in the data table means that the category was not applicable for the specific year. A dash (-) means that there is "no value" or the category is a true zero (that is, no children were reported as being in that category). A zero (0) means that there is a value for the category, but the value is less than 0.1 percent.Back | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2The multiple and overlapping race categories in this and subsequent race tables are due to changes in the Census Bureau categories beginning in 2000. Because the reporting of these categories is a relatively new process for States, changes in percentages over time may be due to data quality issues.Back | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 3A child victim is a child who is the subject of a substantiated or indicated maltreatment report. Children with more than one report of substantiated or indicated maltreatment may be counted more than once.Back | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
B. Child Maltreatment Data (NCANDS) |
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| 4Percentages may total more than 100 percent because Hispanics may be counted both by Hispanic ethnicity and by race.Back | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 5Percentages may total more than 100 percent because children could have been victims of more than one type of maltreatment.Back | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
C. Children in Foster Care (AFCARS Annual Foster Care Database) |
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D. Children Waiting to be Adopted (AFCARS Annual Foster Care Database: Fiscal Year Data)6 |
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| 6Waiting children are children who have a goal of adoption and/or whose parents' rights have been terminated (TPR). Children 16 years and older with TPR, but with a goal of emancipation have been excluded from the waiting children and TPR populations.Back | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
E. Children Adopted (AFCARS Annual Adoption Database) |
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South Dakota [ Outcomes Data ]
South Dakota [ State Comment ]
Child Protection Services South Dakota Department of Social Services
605-773-3227
- The data in Section C - Median Length of Stay - indicate that the median length of stay on 9/30/01 was 12.4 months while it
was 15.1 months one day later (on 10/1/01). In our AFCARS submissions prior to the FFY -2002 A submission, the State
reported that the child was discharged from foster care when the placement became an adoptive placement rather then at the
time of adoptive finalization. Effective with the FFY -2002 A submission, the state reports discharges at the time of
finalization. This accounts for the increase in median length of stay between the report ending on 9-30-2001 and the report
ending on 3-30-2002 which includes the 10-01-01 date.
- The data in Section E - Number of Children Adopted indicate that 145 children were reported to the AFCARS Adoption
Database as adopted in FY 2002. However, the data for outcome measures 3.1 and 5.1 indicate that 172 children were
reported to the AFCARS Foster Care Database as discharged to a finalized adoption in FY 2002. In our AFCARS
submissions prior to the FFY -2002 A file, the State incorrectly reported that the child was discharged from foster care when
the placement became an adoptive placement rather then at the time of adoptive finalization. Effective with the FFY -2002 A
submission, the State reports discharges at the time of finalization. This is the reason why outcome measures 3.1 and 5.1
indicate a high number of discharges to adoption as compared to the AFCARS Adoption Database.
- There are no data for outcome measure 1.1 - Recurrence of maltreatment within 6 months because South Dakota was not
fully participating in NCANDS at that time.
South Dakota’s data for outcome measure 1.1 is as follows: 2000 2001 2002 Children without a recurrence (%) 88.9 79.1 84.7 Children with one or more recurrence (%) 11.1 20.9 15.3 Total (%) 100.0 100.0 100.0 Number 1314 1808 1972 - The data for outcome measure 4.2 indicate that 19.9 percent of children entering foster care were re-entering care within 12
months of discharge from a prior foster care episode. The national median for this measure is 9.7 percent. The State is
working on this issue in its Program Improvement Plan (PIP). The goal in the PIP is to reduce the percentage of children
entering foster care who were re-entering within 12 months of a prior episode to 18.55 by September 2005. The State is
developing a process and policy to implement ongoing assessment of children and families after the initial family assessment
and throughout the life of the case. The process will include a family assessment, an individual assessment, and an assessment
document. This will lead to better safety assessment, discharge planning and aftercare support for the family.
South Dakota [ Federal Comment ]
The following discussion focuses on South Dakota’s performance with regard to each of the outcomes assessed in the Child Welfare Outcomes Annual Reports to Congress. The South Dakota Child and Family Services Review (CFSR) was completed in fiscal year (FY) 2001 and compliance with the national standards was based on data from 1999. The final report for that review is available from the Child Welfare Monitoring Documents Library. A discussion of the implications of CFSR findings for South Dakota’s performance on the Report to Congress Outcomes is provided in Child Welfare Outcomes 2000.The Federal Comment includes an examination of State performance in 2002 and the percent change in performance from 1999 to 2002. A difference in percent change from 1999 to 2002 that was less than 5.0 in either direction was considered to represent “no change in performance.” With the exception of outcome measure 2.1, the data presented in the Report to Congress are rounded to one decimal. However, the percent change in performance was calculated using data rounded to two decimals. Measure 2.1 is rounded to two decimals because the national standard is less than one percent. Key findings of the analyses of national data pertaining to State variation in performance on the outcome measures are incorporated into a State’s Federal Comment when relevant.
Outcome 1. Reduce recurrence of child abuse and/or neglect
South Dakota’s performance on outcome 1 cannot be assessed as part of the Federal Comment section because the State does not provide data to the National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System (NCANDS) for calculating this outcome. To ensure data consistency across States, only data submitted through NCANDS are presented for this outcome in the Report to Congress. However, the State provided 1999 data for this outcome for the CFSR using an alternative source. For that year, the State reported that 11.1 percent of the children who were the subject of a substantiated or indicated maltreatment report during the first 6 months of the calendar year experienced another substantiated or indicated maltreatment within 6 months of the first report. This does not meet the national standard of 6.1 percent or less.
Outcome 2. Reduce the incidence of child abuse and/or neglect in foster care
South Dakota’s performance on outcome 2 cannot be evaluated as part of the Federal Comment section because the State does not provide data to NCANDS for calculating this outcome. In order to ensure data consistency across States, only data submitted through the NCANDS system are presented for this outcome in the Report to Congress. However, the State provided 1999 data for this outcome for the CFSR using an alternative source. For that year, the State reported that 0.57 percent of the children in foster care for the first 9 months of the calendar year were the victims of maltreatment by a foster parent or facility staff member. This is equal to the national standard of 0.57 percent or less.
Outcome 3. Increase permanency for children in foster care
In FY 2002, 80.2 percent of children exiting foster care in South Dakota were discharged to a permanent home (which is less than the national median of 86.1 percent); 74.2 percent of children with a diagnosed disability who exited foster care were discharged to a permanent home (which is less than the national median of 79.8 percent); and 63.4 percent of children exiting foster care who were older than age 12 at entry into foster care were discharged to a permanent home (which is less than the national median of 72.0 percent). These findings suggest that the State experiences challenges in achieving permanency for children exiting foster care. However, only 9.8 percent of the children emancipated from foster care were age 12 or younger when they entered foster care, which is less than the national median of 26.9 percent.
South Dakota’s performance declined from FY 1999 to FY 2002 with regard to exits to permanency for all children (-11.1 percent change), as well as for children who were older than age 12 when they entered foster care (-14.1 percent change). Performance relative to exits to permanency for children with a diagnosed disability did not change from FY 1999 to FY 2002. However, performance improved from FY 1999 to FY 2002 in terms of the percentage of children emancipated from foster care who were age 12 or younger when they entered foster care (-55.1 percent change).
Outcome 4. Reduce time to reunification without increasing re-entry
In FY 2002, the percentage of all reunifications in South Dakota occurring within 12 months of a child’s entry into foster care was 88.3, which is more than the national standard (76.2 percent or more) and the national median (68.0 percent). Performance with regard to reunifications within 12 months improved slightly from FY 1999 to FY 2002 (+8.8 percent change).
Because the cross-State analyses found a substantial positive relationship between State variation in performance on this measure and State variation in the percentage of children entering foster care who were re-entering within 12 months of a prior episode, South Dakota’s performance with regard to reunifications within 12 months must be considered in the context of its re-entry rate. For South Dakota, the percentage of children entering foster care in FY 2002 who were re-entering within 12 months of a prior foster care episode was 19.9 percent, which is more than the national standard (8.6 percent or less) and the national median (9.9 percent). Thus, while South Dakota had a high percentage of reunifications within 12 months, the State also had a high rate of reentry into foster care within 12 months. State performance on the measure of foster care re-entry declined from FY 1999 to FY 2002 (+40.6 percent change).
Outcome 5. Reduce time in foster care to adoption
In FY 2002, the percentage of all finalized adoptions occurring within 24 months of a child’s entry into foster care was 47.7, which is more than the national standard (32.0 percent or more) and the national median (23.0 percent). Change in performance on this measure is assessed from FY 2000 to FY 2002 due to data quality issues for many States for this measure in FY 1999. South Dakota’s performance on this measure declined from FY 2000 to FY 2002 (-34.2 percent change).
Outcome 6. Increase placement stability
In FY 2002, the percentage of children who experienced no more than 2 placement settings during their first 12 months in foster care was 81.8, which is less than the national standard (86.7 percent or more) and the national median (84.1 percent). South Dakota’s performance on this measure did not change from FY 1999 to FY 2002.
Outcome 7. Reduce placements of young children in group homes and institutions
In FY 2002, the percentage of children age 12 or younger placed in a group home or institution was 20.1, which is considerably more than the national median of 8.6 percent. In addition, South Dakota’s performance on this measure declined substantially from FY 1999 to FY 2002 (+27.7 percent change).
