South Dakota

Context Data | Outcomes Data | State Comment | Federal Comment

South Dakota [Context Data]

A. Context Statistics1

General Child Population (Census Bureau)
	2002	2003	2004	2005
Total children under 18 years	195,625	195,426	190,874	188,270
Race/ethnicity (%)2
Alaska Native/American Indian	14.0	14.3	14.6	14.9
Asian	0.6	0.6	0.7	0.7
Black (non-Hispanic)	0.8	0.9	0.9	0.9
Native Hawaiian/Other Pacific Islander	<.1	<.1	<.1	<.1
Hispanic (of any race)	2.6	2.8	3.0	3.2
White (non-Hispanic)	79.6	79.1	78.5	78.1
Two or More Races	2.2	2.3	2.3	2.3
Child population in poverty (%)	12.2	14.0	18.6	16.0

Child Welfare Summary
	2002	2003	2004	2005
Child maltreatment victims3	3,961	4,346	1,917	1,442
Children in foster care on 9/30	1,396	1,537	1,582	1,712
Children adopted	145	144	176	113

B. Child Maltreatment Data [National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System (NCANDS)]

Overview Maltreatment Information4
	2002		2003		2004		2005
	Number	Rate	Number	Rate	Number	Rate	Number	Rate
Children subject of an investigated report alleging child maltreatment	8,411	43.0 per 1,000	9,925	50.8 per 1,000	8,355	43.8 per 1,000	7,158	38.0 per 1,000
Total child maltreatment victims5	3,961	20.3 per 1,000	4,346	22.2 per 1,000	1,917	10.0 per 1,000	1,442	7.7 per 1,000
Child fatalities	5	2.6 per 100,000	5	2.6 per 100,000	3	1.6 per 100,000	4	2.1 per 100,000

1 A calendar year is the basis for data from the Census Bureau (in Section A. Context Statistics) and the 2002 data only from NCANDS (in Section B. Child Maltreatment Data). All other data on this page are based on the Federal fiscal year, October 1 through September 30. Back
2 Race/ethnicity data represent population estimates from the Census Bureau. Child poverty data are from the Census Bureau's Current Population Survey (CPS). Back
3 A child victim is defined as a child who is the subject of a substantiated or indicated maltreatment report. Back
4 The rate for maltreatment investigations and victims is per 1,000 children under age 18; for fatalities, the rate is per 100,000 children under age 18. Back
5 Children with more than one report of substantiated or indicated maltreatment may be counted more than once. Back

B. Child Maltreatment Data (Continued)

Age of Child Victims (%)
	2002	2003	2004	2005
Under 1 year	4.9	10.2	11.8	17.2
1-5 years	29.7	33.3	37.0	36.9
6-10 years	31.6	30.0	26.4	23.0
11-15 years	24.4	21.1	19.2	17.4
16+ years	8.1	4.5	4.3	4.2
Unknown	1.4	0.9	1.3	1.4
Number	3,961	4,346	1,917	1,442

Race/Ethnicity of Child Victims (%)
	2002	2003	2004	2005
Alaska Native/American Indian	41.5	35.6	40.4	49.2
Asian	--	0.1	0.2	0.3
Black (non-Hispanic)	--	1.7	1.9	2.5
Native Hawaiian/Other Pacific Islander	N/A	0.0	0.1	0.1
Hispanic (of any race)	--	4.4	5.1	4.8
White (non-Hispanic)	44.9	44.0	40.6	35.4
Two or More Races	--	3.5	3.8	4.6
Unknown	13.6	10.7	7.9	3.0
Number	3,961	4,346	1,917	1,442

Maltreatment Types of Child Victims (%)6
	2002	2003	2004	2005
Emotional abuse	23.4	17.7	14.1	3.7
Medical neglect	--	--	--	--
Neglect	84.4	73.1	79.0	87.0
Physical abuse	20.7	20.8	14.6	13.0
Sexual abuse	4.7	4.2	4.0	4.1
Unknown	--	0.1	--	--
Other	--	--	--	--
Number	3,961	4,346	1,917	1,442

Time to Investigation (in hours)
	2002	2003	2004	2005
Mean	--	431.4	277.8	197.0
Median	--	>216, but <240	>168, but <192	>120, but <144

6 Percentages may total more than 100 because children can be victims of more than one type of maltreatment. Back

C. Characteristics of Children in Foster Care (Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System (AFCARS) Foster Care File)

	In Foster Care on 10/1 FY				Entered Foster Care in FY				Exited Foster Care in FY				In Foster Care on 9/30 FY
	2002	2003	2004	2005	2002	2003	2004	2005	2002	2003	2004	2005	2002	2003	2004	2005
Total number	1,201	1,253	1,447	1,519	1,348	1,375	1,274	1,365	1,153	1,091	1,139	1,172	1,396	1,537	1,582	1,712
Median length of stay (months)	15.0	16.1	13.7	14.5	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	2.9	3.1	6.3	7.3	13.7	12.7	14.2	12.5

Age of Children in Foster Care (%)
	In Foster Care on 10/1 FY				Entered Foster Care in FY				Exited Foster Care in FY				In Foster Care on 9/30 FY
	2002	2003	2004	2005	2002	2003	2004	2005	2002	2003	2004	2005	2002	2003	2004	2005
Under 1 year	2.7	3.8	4.1	4.6	13.7	11.6	13.0	14.6	8.2	6.3	6.2	6.1	3.8	4.4	4.9	5.7
1 year	6.5	5.8	6.8	5.5	7.4	10.5	8.8	8.5	7.4	8.2	8.2	7.1	6.2	7.2	5.9	7.4
2 years	5.7	5.9	6.9	6.5	7.0	9.0	6.8	8.8	7.6	8.2	8.1	9.1	5.6	7.0	6.4	6.8
3 years	5.6	5.5	6.6	6.6	6.7	6.5	7.5	7.5	7.3	7.9	8.0	7.8	5.8	6.6	6.5	5.8
4 years	5.9	4.9	4.7	6.1	6.5	6.7	6.4	7.2	7.0	7.1	6.2	10.0	4.7	4.7	6.0	5.4
5 years	5.5	5.8	3.9	4.9	6.3	5.7	6.2	5.5	7.2	6.8	5.5	4.3	6.2	4.0	4.8	5.0
6 years	4.7	5.1	5.7	4.9	6.2	6.5	6.7	5.3	6.2	6.1	5.9	6.5	5.0	6.0	4.8	5.7
7 years	5.3	4.7	5.2	6.5	5.7	5.2	5.4	5.1	6.5	5.6	4.9	4.9	4.6	5.1	6.3	4.8
8 years	5.8	5.0	4.8	4.7	5.0	5.4	5.4	4.3	5.2	5.5	6.6	5.1	5.0	4.9	4.7	5.4
9 years	5.7	4.9	4.4	4.9	5.2	4.6	3.7	3.7	4.9	4.1	4.6	4.1	5.2	4.5	4.8	4.4
10 years	4.6	5.6	5.0	3.9	4.5	3.9	5.0	3.9	4.6	4.6	4.5	4.1	5.4	5.2	3.9	4.5
11 years	5.8	5.1	5.7	4.7	4.7	4.7	4.9	4.6	4.5	3.8	4.9	3.5	5.2	5.6	4.9	4.0
12 years	6.2	5.5	5.5	5.2	4.5	4.7	4.2	4.6	4.1	4.5	4.8	3.2	5.4	5.4	5.4	5.7
13 years	6.4	6.7	6.2	5.7	4.5	3.6	5.1	4.0	3.8	2.7	4.3	4.5	6.5	5.9	5.6	5.6
14 years	6.3	6.2	6.1	5.9	3.5	4.1	3.1	4.0	3.5	4.1	3.4	3.9	6.3	6.1	6.0	5.5
15 years	5.6	6.9	6.2	6.2	3.3	3.1	3.8	3.9	2.8	3.0	3.2	2.8	6.6	5.8	6.3	6.1
16 years	6.6	5.8	6.6	6.1	3.7	2.3	2.1	2.8	3.0	1.8	2.7	3.2	5.6	6.4	6.1	6.1
17 years	4.5	6.0	4.8	5.7	1.4	1.6	1.6	1.6	3.5	6.5	3.1	2.8	5.7	4.4	5.5	5.0
18 years	0.4	0.6	0.8	1.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	2.5	2.7	4.4	6.4	0.9	0.7	0.9	0.6
19 years	<.1	0.2	0.0	0.4	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	<.1	0.3	0.0	0.3	0.1	0.0	0.3	0.3
20+ years	0.0	0.0	<.1	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	<.1	0.0	<.1	<.1	0.0	<.1	0.0	0.2
Missing data	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.1	<.1	0.3	0.2	0.0	<.1	0.4	0.3	0.1	0.0	0.0	0.0

C. Characteristics of Children in Foster Care (Continued)

Race/Ethnicity of Children in Foster Care (%)
	In Foster Care on 10/1 FY				Entered Foster Care in FY				Exited Foster Care in FY				In Foster Care on 9/30 FY
	2002	2003	2004	2005	2002	2003	2004	2005	2002	2003	2004	2005	2002	2003	2004	2005
Alaska Native/American Indian	59.8	55.6	53.4	53.3	57.9	54.0	53.4	51.9	58.7	54.0	52.2	53.2	58.8	55.3	54.2	52.2
Asian	0.4	<.1	0.1	0.1	0.0	0.2	<.1	0.2	0.2	0.2	<.1	0.4	0.2	0.1	0.1	0.0
Black (non-Hispanic)	1.2	2.3	1.9	1.4	2.4	2.2	2.0	3.4	1.3	2.5	2.5	2.6	2.3	2.1	1.5	2.2
Native Hawaiian/Other Pacific Islander	<.1	<.1	0.1	<.1	0.0	0.1	0.2	<.1	0.0	<.1	0.3	0.2	<.1	0.1	<.1	0.0
Hispanic (of any race)	3.9	5.7	6.0	7.2	5.1	6.3	6.8	7.1	4.3	6.2	5.3	7.3	4.7	5.9	7.1	7.1
White (non-Hispanic)	30.9	32.1	32.9	33.2	30.6	32.5	33.8	32.0	30.5	33.5	34.4	32.5	30.9	31.4	32.5	32.7
Two or More Races	3.7	4.2	5.6	4.6	3.6	4.7	3.7	5.3	4.5	3.5	5.0	3.7	2.9	5.1	4.5	5.8
Unknown	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.4	0.0	0.2	<.1	0.4	0.0	0.2	<.1	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
Missing data	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0

D. Characteristics of Children "Waiting for Adoption"7 (AFCARS Foster Care File)

Children Waiting for Adoption
	2002	2003	2004	2005
Total waiting children	433	443	480	472
Number of waiting children whose parents' rights have been terminated	377	418	423	392

Age of Children Waiting for Adoption (%)
	2002	2003	2004	2005
Under 1 year	1.2	1.1	2.7	1.3
1 year	5.1	2.7	2.9	5.9
2 years	6.2	6.1	5.2	5.1
3 years	7.6	6.1	5.0	6.1
4 years	4.6	4.3	5.8	4.4
5 years	5.8	3.6	4.8	6.8
6 years	4.2	7.2	3.1	5.7
7 years	3.7	5.0	8.3	4.2
8 years	6.7	4.5	6.5	6.1
9 years	6.0	6.3	5.8	5.7
10 years	6.9	6.3	5.0	5.5
11 years	6.2	6.5	5.8	4.0
12 years	6.9	6.5	6.3	7.6
13 years	7.9	6.3	5.4	5.1
14 years	6.5	9.0	8.3	5.5
15 years	6.5	6.8	8.5	8.5
16 years	3.9	7.2	5.4	7.4
17 years	4.2	4.3	5.0	4.9
18 years	--	--	--	--
19 years	--	--	--	--
20+ years	--	--	--	--

7 There is no Federal definition for a child waiting to be adopted. The definition used in the table above includes children who have a goal of adoption and/or whose parental rights have been terminated. It excludes children 16 years old and older whose parental rights have been terminated and who have a goal of emancipation. A State's own definition may differ from that used here. Furthermore, some numbers in this table may be lower than the numbers reported in the Child Welfare Outcomes reports. Only children with terminations prior to the end of the fiscal year of interest are included in the current table. Back

D. Characteristics of Children "Waiting for Adoption" (Continued)

Race/Ethnicity of Children Waiting for Adoption (%)
	2002	2003	2004	2005
Alaska Native/American Indian	54.0	47.9	40.8	42.8
Asian	0.5	0.2	0.2	0.0
Black (non-Hispanic)	2.3	1.4	1.7	2.5
Native Hawaiian/Other Pacific Islander	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
Hispanic (of any race)	4.8	6.5	10.8	10.0
White (non-Hispanic)	33.9	37.2	41.3	39.2
Two or More Races	4.4	6.8	5.2	5.5
Unknown	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
Missing data	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0

E. Characteristics of Children Adopted (AFCARS Adoption File)

Children Adopted
	2002	2003	2004	2005
Total children adopted	145	144	176	113

Age of Children Adopted (%)
	2002	2003	2004	2005
Under 1 year	1.4	0.0	1.1	0.0
1 year	6.2	4.2	9.1	5.3
2 years	17.9	9.7	14.8	10.6
3 years	11.7	18.1	10.2	8.8
4 years	9.0	12.5	9.1	13.3
5 years	9.7	9.0	7.4	3.5
6 years	8.3	6.9	5.1	6.2
7 years	9.0	9.0	5.7	10.6
8 years	4.8	4.9	6.3	8.8
9 years	4.8	6.3	11.4	1.8
10 years	4.1	4.2	3.4	3.5
11 years	4.8	4.2	5.7	6.2
12 years	2.8	3.5	2.8	6.2
13 years	3.4	2.1	4.5	5.3
14 years	0.7	3.5	0.0	5.3
15 years	0.7	1.4	2.3	1.8
16 years	0.7	0.0	1.1	0.0
17 years	0.0	0.7	0.0	2.7
18 years	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
19 years	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
20+ years	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0

Race/Ethnicity of Children Adopted (%)
	2002	2003	2004	2005
Alaska Native/American Indian	56.6	53.5	43.8	23.9
Asian	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.9
Black (non-Hispanic)	0.7	4.9	0.6	0.9
Native Hawaiian/Other Pacific Islander	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
Hispanic (of any race)	4.1	6.3	8.0	8.8
White (non-Hispanic)	34.5	29.9	37.5	61.1
Two or More Races	4.1	5.6	10.2	4.4
Unknown	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
Missing data	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0

South Dakota [Outcomes Data]

1. Reduce Recurrence of Child Abuse and/or Neglect (NCANDS)

1.1 Recurrence of Maltreatment Within 6 Months (%)
	2002	2003	2004	2005
Children without a recurrence	--	85.6	93.1	95.4
Children with one or more recurrences	--	14.4	6.9	4.6
Number	--	1,757	839	720

2. Reduce the Incidence of Child Abuse and/or Neglect in Foster Care (NCANDS and AFCARS Foster Care File8)

2.1 Maltreatment in Foster Care (%)
	2002	2003	2004	2005
Children maltreated while in foster care	N/A	0.99	0.11	0.28
Children not maltreated while in foster care	N/A	99.01	99.89	99.72
Number	N/A	2,628	2,721	2,884

8 For the years 2003, 2004, and 2005, the denominator for this measure includes all children served in foster care during the 12-month fiscal year. In 2002, only children served in the first 9 months of the calendar year were included in the denominator because of differences in the NCANDS and AFCARS reporting periods. Therefore, the data for 2002 are not provided for this measure. Back

3. Increase Permanency for Children in Foster Care (AFCARS Foster Care File)

3.1 Exits of Children From Foster Care (%)
	2002	2003	2004	2005
Adoption	14.9	13.7	11.5	9.6
Guardianship	3.8	5.4	6.9	10.5
Reunification	61.5	66.7	65.2	59.9
Other	9.5	14.1	16.3	20.0
Missing data	10.3	0.0	0.0	0.0
Number	1,153	1,091	1,139	1,172

3.2 Exits of Children With a Diagnosed Disability (%)
	2002	2003	2004	2005
Adoption	33.1	21.9	33.3	24.2
Guardianship	4.8	7.7	8.7	12.1
Reunification	36.3	37.9	31.9	28.0
Other	20.2	32.5	26.1	35.7
Missing data	5.6	0.0	0.0	0.0
Number	124	169	138	157

3.3 Exits of Children Older Than Age 12 at Entry Into Foster Care (%)
	2002	2003	2004	2005
Adoption	1.1	0.6	0.5	1.0
Guardianship	2.7	4.7	7.0	5.6
Reunification	59.6	60.0	55.6	54.4
Other	28.4	34.7	36.9	39.0
Missing data	8.2	0.0	0.0	0.0
Number	183	170	187	195

3.4 Exits to Emancipation (%)
	2002	2003	2004	2005
Children age 12 or younger at entry	9.8	33.3	22.7	34.9
Children older than 12 at entry	90.2	66.7	77.3	65.1
Missing data	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
Number	41	63	66	83

3. Increase Permanency for Children in Foster Care (Continued)

3.5 Exits by Race/ethnicity (%)
	Alaska Native/Am. In.				Asian				Black (non-Hispanic)
	2002	2003	2004	2005	2002	2003	2004	2005	2002	2003	2004	2005
Adoption	12.6	12.9	9.9	4.2	100.0	0.0	0.0	20.0	13.3	25.9	3.4	3.3
Guardianship	3.2	8.1	10.4	14.4	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	3.7	0.0	3.3
Reunification	61.4	63.0	59.3	55.9	0.0	100.0	100.0	20.0	73.3	70.4	89.7	86.7
Other	9.9	16.0	20.3	25.5	0.0	0.0	0.0	60.0	13.3	0.0	6.9	6.7
Missing data	12.9	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
Number	677	589	595	624	2	2	1	5	15	27	29	30

3.5 Exits by Race/ethnicity (%)
	Native Hawaiian/Other Pac. Is.				Hispanic (of any race)				White (non-Hispanic)
	2002	2003	2004	2005	2002	2003	2004	2005	2002	2003	2004	2005
Adoption	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	12.0	13.2	21.7	11.6	19.9	13.7	11.7	18.1
Guardianship	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	4.0	1.5	0.0	9.3	4.8	1.6	3.6	5.8
Reunification	0.0	0.0	100.0	100.0	62.0	67.6	55.0	61.6	61.4	73.0	73.7	64.0
Other	0.0	100.0	0.0	0.0	12.0	17.6	23.3	17.4	7.4	11.7	11.0	12.1
Missing data	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	10.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	6.5	0.0	0.0	0.0
Number	0	1	3	2	50	68	60	86	352	366	392	381

3.5 Exits by Race/ethnicity (%)
	Unable to Determine				Two or More Races				Missing Data
	2002	2003	2004	2005	2002	2003	2004	2005	2002	2003	2004	2005
Adoption	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	13.5	21.1	21.1	14.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
Guardianship	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	5.8	7.9	5.3	4.7	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
Reunification	80.0	0.0	100.0	100.0	59.6	60.5	63.2	60.5	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
Other	20.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	13.5	10.5	10.5	20.9	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
Missing data	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	7.7	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
Number	5	0	2	1	52	38	57	43	0	0	0	0

4. Reduce Time to Reunification Without Increasing Reentry (AFCARS Foster Care File)

4.1 Time to Reunification (%)
	2002	2003	2004	2005
Less than 12 mos.	88.3	85.2	84.1	80.5
At least 12 mos., but less than 24 mos.	6.1	6.7	13.7	15.7
At least 24 mos., but less than 36 mos.	2.8	1.5	1.7	2.8
At least 36 mos., but less than 48 mos.	0.3	0.5	0.3	0.3
48 or more mos.	0.8	1.1	0.1	0.7
Missing data	1.7	4.9	0.0	0.0
Number	709	728	743	702

4.2 Children Reentering Foster Care (%)
	2002	2003	2004	2005
Children entering care for the first time	71.2	74.2	77.9	77.9
Children reentering care within 12 mos. of a prior episode	19.9	16.9	13.5	13.3
Children reentering care more than 12 mos. after a prior episode	8.5	7.9	7.7	8.2
Missing data	0.4	0.9	0.9	0.5
Number	1,348	1,375	1,274	1,365

5. Reduce Time in Foster Care to Adoption (AFCARS Foster Care File)

5.1 Time to Adoption (%)
	2002	2003	2004	2005
Less than 12 mos.	19.2	8.7	1.5	0.9
At least 12 mos., but less than 24 mos.	28.5	24.7	29.0	25.7
At least 24 mos., but less than 36 mos.	34.9	29.3	37.4	39.8
At least 36 mos., but less than 48 mos.	8.1	24.0	21.4	21.2
48 or more mos.	9.3	13.3	10.7	12.4
Missing data	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
Number	172	150	131	113

6. Increase Placement Stability (AFCARS Foster Care File)

6.1 Number of Placements by Time in Care (%)
	In Care Less Than 12 Months				In Care at Least 12 months but Less Than 24 months				In Care for 24 Months or Longer				Missing Time in Care
	2002	2003	2004	2005	2002	2003	2004	2005	2002	2003	2004	2005	2002	2003	2004	2005
Children with 2 or fewer placements	81.8	82.3	82.7	78.8	54.2	51.5	49.9	49.7	28.5	23.4	21.5	19.2	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0
Children with 3 or more placements	16.7	17.7	17.3	21.2	45.8	48.5	50.1	50.3	71.5	76.2	78.5	80.8	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
Number	1,487	1,494	1,476	1,582	406	404	525	537	632	688	716	761	24	42	4	4

7. Reduce Placement of Young Children in Group Homes or Institutions (AFCARS Foster Care File)

7.1 Most Recent Placement Settings of Children Who Entered Care During the Fiscal Year and Were Age 12 or Younger at the Time of This Placement (%)
	2002	2003	2004	2005
Group homes	3.5	2.1	0.0	0.0
Institutions	16.7	17.4	16.4	14.2
Other settings	79.9	80.2	83.6	85.8
Missing data	0.0	0.3	0.0	0.0
Number	1,093	1,154	1,063	1,121

Composite and Individual Measures Established for the Federal Child and Family Services Reviews9

Composite One: Timeliness and Permanency of Reunification
	2004	2005
Composite Score	--	120.4
C1.1: Percent of reunifications that occur in less than 12 months (with adjustments)	85.0	79.1
C1.2: Median length of stay in months of children exiting to reunification (with adjustments)	3.9	5.1
C1.3: Percent of children in entry cohort who are reunified in less than 12 months (with adjustments)	51.3	44.9
C1.4: Percent of children reentering foster care in less than 12 months	21.4	19.2

Composite Two: Timeliness of Adoptions
	2004	2005
Composite Score	--	73.9
C2.1: Percent of adoptions occurring in less than 24 months	30.5	26.5
C2.2: Median length of stay in months of children who are adopted	30.5	31.2
C2.3: Percent of children in foster care for 17+ months on first day of fiscal year who are adopted by the end of the year	17.7	14.5
C2.4: Percent of children in foster care for 17+ months on first day of fiscal year who are not legally free for adoption who become legally free within 6 months	4.7	2.1
C2.5: Percent of children legally free for adoption who are adopted in less than 12 months of becoming legally free	25.1	18.7

Composite Three: Achieving Permanency for Children in Foster Care for Long Periods of Time
	2004	2005
Composite Score	--	77.6
C3.1: Percent of children in foster care for 24+ months on the first day of fiscal year who exit to permanency by age 18 or by the end of the fiscal year	20.4	22.4
C3.2: Percent of children who are legally free for adoption who exit to a permanent home	87.7	82.2
C3.3: Percent of children emancipated or reaching age 18 who were in foster care for at least 3 years	50.7	63.4

Composite Four: Placement Stability While in Foster Care
	2004	2005
Composite Score	--	77.3
C4.1: Percent of children in care for less than 12 months with 2 or fewer placement settings	79.2	74.8
C4.2: Percent of children in care for 12 to 24 months with 2 or fewer placement settings	49.9	49.7
C4.3: Percent of children in care for at least 24 months with 2 or fewer placement settings	21.3	18.7

9 State composite scores for 2004 are not provided because that year's data served as the source data for the establishment of the national standards. Composite scores are not used for performance assessment purposes until 2005; therefore, only 2005 composite scores are provided. Individual measure performance is shown under each composite unless the State did not provide the data necessary to calculate those measures. Back

South Dakota [State Comment]

Virgena Wieseler, Division Director
Child Protection Services
South Dakota Department of Social Services

The following are South Dakota's comments on the State's data presented in Child Welfare Outcomes 2002-2005: Report to Congress.

Section B, Maltreatment information overview: The change in the number of victims is affected by the fact that South Dakota changed from three outcomes of abuse and neglect, unsubstantiated, indicated and substantiated, to just unsubstantiated and substantiated beginning in 2004.

Children in foster care: The variance in the number of children in care from 2004 to 2005 was due to the extraction method used at that time. Data were not being extracted by transaction date. This has been changed.

Outcome measure 1.1: The decrease in percent of children who experience recurrence decreased because of the addition of some positive process and changes in policy.
1. A policy was put into place regarding improved time frames for submission of the report to the supervisor for screening.
2. A policy was put into place regarding duplicate reports. The current policy relates to when the report is received in comparison to a prior report.
3. A tool for screening and responding to reports was developed called Child Maltreatment Screening Guideline and Response Decision. The tool is a standardized way to deal with every report assigning those cases that CPS should be involved in.
4. A new process was put in place for intervening with families when a report is assigned to a social worker. The process is called Initial Family Assessment (IFA). The assessment provides an outcome to the reported incident and evaluates safety for children as well as providing a risk rating. Service provision at the conclusion of the IFA depends upon the safety and risk factors.
5. A policy was put into place to delete "indicated" as an outcome. The outcomes used now are unsubstantiated and substantiated.

Outcome measures 3.1, 3.2, 3.3: There was a percentage of data in 2002 that was missing in each of those categories. The combined percentage of children exiting into adoption, guardianship, and reunification for 2002 did not vary much in 2005 for 3.1 and 3.3 when all the data was accounted for. 2003 and 2004 did have a positive increase in those three permanency categories in 2003 and 2004.

Outcome measure 4.1: South Dakota continues to be at a high level for reunification even though there was a decrease from 2002 to 2005. The first two categories (less than 24 months) account for 96.2% of all reunifications.

Outcome measure 5.1: The reason for such a significant change from 2002 to 2005 is because of the definition of adoption that was used until 2002 to extract the data. That was corrected by the time the 2003 data was submitted.

South Dakota [Federal Comment]

PERFORMANCE ASSESSMENT

South Dakota's performance in achieving outcomes related to the safety and permanency of children served by the child welfare system is discussed below. The discussion focuses on performance in 2005 and change in performance over time, which is determined by calculating the percent change from a prior year to 2005. The prior year selected varies depending on the availability and reliability of data. A percent change that is less than 5.0 (either positive or negative) is considered to represent "no change."

The discussion incorporates information about performance on the seven outcomes that have been part of the Report to Congress since its inception. In general, data are provided for these outcomes from 2002 to 2005 and their measures are identified using the labels provided in the data pages (e.g., measure 1.1, 2.1, etc.). The discussion also incorporates information about performance on measures included in four composite data indicators recently developed for the Federal Child and Family Services Reviews. (See appendix B for a discussion of these measures.) The composites and measures are presented on the last page of the data pages and are identified below using the labels provided on the data page (e.g., measure C1.2, C1.3, etc.). Data are available for these outcome measures for 2004 and 2005 only.

Outcomes Pertaining to Safety

In 2005, 4.6 percent of the children who were victims of child maltreatment in the first 6 months of the fiscal year experienced another maltreatment incident within a 6-month period (measure 1.1). This percentage is less than the national median of 6.6 percent and represents an improvement in performance from 2002 (68.1 percent change).
In 2005, 0.28 percent of children in foster care in South Dakota were found to be victims of maltreatment by foster parents or facility staff members (measure 2.1). This percentage is less than the national median of 0.42 percent.

Outcomes Pertaining to Permanency

Performance with regard to exits from foster care to a permanent home (i.e., children discharged from foster care to adoption, guardianship, or reunification).

In 2005, 80.0 percent of all children exiting foster care (measure 3.1), 64.3 percent of children exiting foster care who had a diagnosed disability (measure 3.2), and 61.0 percent of children exiting foster care who were older than age 12 when they entered foster care (measure 3.3) were discharged to a permanent home. All percentages are less than the national medians for these measures (national medians for measures 3.1, 3.2 and 3.3 are 87.8 percent, 79 percent, and 73.1 percent, respectively).
In 2005, 22.4 percent of the children in foster care for 24 months or longer on the first day of the fiscal year were discharged from foster care to a permanent home by the last day of the fiscal year (measure C3.1). This percentage is less than the national median of 26.4 percent, but represents improvement in performance from 2004 (9.8 percent change).
In 2005, 82.2 percent of the children exiting foster care who were legally free for adoption (i.e., a parental rights termination date was reported for both parents) were discharged to a permanent home (measure C3.2). This percentage is one of the lowest in the nation and represents a decline in performance from 2004 (6.3 percent change).

Performance with regard to children remaining in foster care until emancipated.

In 2005, 7.1 percent of the children exiting foster care had a discharge reason of "emancipation" and 34.9 percent of these children were age 12 or younger when they entered foster care (measure 3.4). This latter percentage exceeds the national median of 27.6 percent and represents a decline in performance from 2004 (53.7 percent change).
In 2005, 63.4 percent of the children exiting foster care with a discharge reason of emancipation had been in foster care for 3 years or longer (measure C3.3). This percentage exceeds the national median of 48.1 percent and represents a decline in performance from 2004 (25.0 percent change).

Performance with regard to the timeliness and permanency of reunifications.

In 2005, 79.1 percent of the reunifications of children who were in foster care for 8 days or longer occurred in less than 12 months from the time of the child's entry into foster care (measure C1.1). This percentage exceeds the national median of 70.4 percent, but represents a decline in performance from 2004 (6.9 percent change).
Measure C1.3 indicates that 44.9 percent of the children entering foster care in the last 6 months of 2005 were reunified in less than 12 months from the time of entry into foster care. This percentage exceeds the national median of 38.7 percent, but represents a decline in performance from 2004 (12.5 percent change).
Measure C1.4 indicates that 19.2 percent of children exiting foster care to reunification in 2005 reentered foster care in less than 12 months. This percentage exceeds the national median of 14.8 percent and represents an improvement in performance from 2004 (10.3 percent change). Because measure C1.4 is a longitudinal measure of foster care reentry, it is intended to replace measure 4.2 as the assessment of foster care reentry.

Performance with regard to the timeliness of adoptions.

In 2005, 26.6 percent of finalized adoptions occurred within 24 months of the child's entry into foster care (measures 5.1 and C2.1). This percentage is less than the national median of 29.1 percent and represents a decline in performance from 2002 (44.2 percent change).
In 2005, 14.5 percent of children in foster care for 17 months or longer at the start of the fiscal year who did not exit to reunification or guardianship were discharged from foster care to a finalized adoption by the end of the year (measure C2.3). This percentage is less than the national median of 20.9 percent and represents a decline in performance from 2004 (18.1 percent change).
Measure C2.5 indicates that 18.7 percent of children who became legally free for adoption in 2005 (i.e., there was a termination of parental rights date reported for mother and father) were adopted in less than 12 months of becoming legally free. This percentage is one of the lowest in the nation and represents a decline in performance from 2004 (25.5 percent change).

Outcomes Pertaining to the Stability and Appropriateness of Placements

In 2005, 77.3 percent of the children in foster care for at least 8 days but less than 12 months experienced two or fewer placement settings (measure C4.1). This percentage is less than the national median of 82.4 percent.
In 2005, 19.2 percent of children in foster care for 24 months or longer experienced two or fewer placement settings (measure 6.1). This percentage is less than the national median of 32.3 percent and represents a decline in performance from 2002 (32.6 percent change).
In 2005, 14.2 percent of the children entering foster care at age 12 or younger were placed in a group home or institution (measure 7.1). This percentage exceeds the national median of 7.2 percent, but represents improvement in performance from 2002 (29.7 percent change).