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Case Review Systemic Factor

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Title: Case Review Systemic Factor


1
Case Review Systemic Factor
  • Agencies and Courts Conference
  • Arlington, VA
  • August, 2009
  • Presented by
  • Will Hornsby, Childrens Bureau
  • Nancy Miller, NCJFCJ
  • Timothy Travis, NCJFCJ Consultant

2
Overview
  • Preview Technical Assistance Bulletin
  • Overview of the Case Review Systemic Factor
  • Substantial Conformity
  • Best practices to achieve substantial conformity
  • Involving the legal community
  • Its an open book test

3
SUBSTANTIAL CONFORMITY IN THE CASE REVIEW
SYSTEMIC FACTOR
  • Preview of a technical assistance bulletin
  • The National Council of Juvenile and Family Court
    Judges principal writers
  • The American Bar Association
  • The National Center for State Courts
  • The Childrens Bureau
  • THE COLLABORATIVE

4
Substantial Conformity
  • To be in substantial conformity, the Childrens
    Bureau must assign the systemic factor a rating
    of 3 or 4.
  • 1 none of the child and family service plan
    (CFSP) or program requirements is in place
  • 2 some or all of the requirements are in place,
    but more than one of the requirements fail to
    function as described in each requirement
  • 3 all in place, and no more than one fails to
    function as described in each requirement
  • 4 all are in place and functioning as described
    in each requirement

5
Items for Case Review System
  • Item 25 Written Case plan
  • Item 26 Periodic reviews
  • Item 27 Permanency hearings
  • Item 28 Termination of Parental Rights
  • Item 29 Notice of hearings and reviews
    to caregivers

6
How are states doing?
  • Item 25 Written Case plan
  • No state rated a Strength in FY07 and FY08
  • Item 26 Periodic reviews
  • 27 states rated as Strengths in FY07 and FY08
  • Item 27 Permanency hearings
  • 17 states rated as Strengths in FY07 and FY08
  • Item 28 Termination of Parental Rights
  • 7 states rated as Strengths in FY07 and FY08
  • Item 29 Notice of hearings and reviews to
    caregivers
  • 9 states rated as Strengths in FY07 and FY08

7
Written Case plansWhat are the reviewers looking
for?
  • Does the State provide a process that ensures
    each child has a written case plan, to be
    developed jointly with the childs parents that
    includes the required provisions?
  • How does the state agency or court track
    information regarding case planning?
  • What does the data show regarding
  • Number/Percentage of cases with active/timely
    case plans
  • Family involvement in case planning
  • Differences between in home and foster care cases

8
Written Case plansWhat are the reviewers looking
for?
  • Are there processes in place to facilitate family
    engagement?
  • If so, how are these processes utilized in case
    planning?
  • Are case plans updated regularly?

9
Case Plans The Role of the Court
  • Carefully review the plan and determine whether
    it is updated and individualized to the
    particular child and family
  • Query the parties about family involvement in the
    development of the plan AND ORDER SAME
  • Document the adequacy of the plan and the
    engagement of the parents and age appropriate
    children in the court order
  • Create data points in the courts data system to
    document timeliness, thoroughness, and family
    engagement in the case planning process
  • Review case files and provide data for CFSR
    Statewide Assessment

10
Family Engagement
  • Court Annexed Mediation Programs
  • Family Group Conferences
  • Family Team Meetings
  • Use of parent mentors, cultural liaisons
  • Appointment and engagement of competent counsel

11
Notice of hearings and reviews to caregiversWhat
are the reviewers looking for?
  • Is there a process for foster parents,
    pre-adoptive parents, and relative caregivers of
    children in foster care to be notified of, and
    have a right to be heard in, any review or
    hearing held with respect to the child?
  • What specifically is the process for
    notification?
  • Who is responsible for notification?
  • How is compliance tracked?
  • What are the barriers to providing timely notice?
  • What efforts are in place to address barriers?

12
Notice of hearing and reviews to caregiversWhat
are the reviewers looking for?
  • How frequently do caregivers attend reviews and
    hearings?
  • Are caregivers given an opportunity to be heard?
  • Is this consistent throughout the state?

13
NOTICE TO CAREGIVERS
  • Work closely with Foster Parent Associations
  • Provide court based training to foster parents
  • Host foster parents at the court to demystify the
    process
  • ENSURE foster parents have an opportunity to be
    heard

14
Periodic reviewsWhat are the reviewers looking
for?
  • Is there a process for periodic review of the
    status of each child, no less frequently than
    once every 6 months, either by a court or by
    administrative review?
  • How does the state track information regarding
    Periodic Reviews?
  • What does the data show regarding
  • Timeliness of periodic reviews.
  • Participation by parents, foster parents, care
    givers, youth etc
  • Effectiveness of periodic reviews in promoting
    timely achievement of permanency.
  • Does this include CIP data?

15
Periodic Review
  • NCJFCJ Resource Guidelines recommends 30 minutes
  • Ensure reviews are timely and all legal mandates
    are met
  • Ensure parents, foster parents, other interested
    parties are invited and are heard
  • Can be conducted by a court or administrative
    review body (agency, foster care review board)
  • Important to coordinate court review and periodic
    review to avoid duplication
  • Important to ensure that the court receives
    information from the review body if other than
    court review

16
Permanency hearingsWhat are the reviewers
looking for?
  • Does the state have a process that ensures each
    child in foster care have a permanency hearing in
    a qualified court or administrative body no later
    than 12 months from the date the child entered
    foster care and no less frequently than every 12
    months thereafter?
  • Does the state agency or court have data
    reflecting timeliness of permanency hearings?
  • What percentage of children had permanency
    hearings held within 12 months of the date the
    child entered care?
  • Is there evaluative data available regarding the
    effectiveness of permanency hearings to promote
    timely achievement of permanency?
  • Does this include CIP data?


17
Permanency Hearings FISH OR CUT BAIT
  • Ensure the court provides data on the permanency
    hearings for the CFSR Statewide Assessment
  • Ensure parents, foster parents, and other
    essential participants are invited and heard
  • Ensure the permanency hearing is truly thorough
    and at each hearing, ensure the court rules out
    all other permanency options before approving
    APPLA. A permanency hearing is NOT a regular
    review hearing
  • Ensure the court inquires as to the 15/22 month
    compelling reason and requires documentation in
    the case plan
  • Ensure all relevant findings of fact are included
    in orders
  • NCJFCJ Resource Guidelines recommends 60 minutes

18
Termination of Parental RightsWhat are the
reviewers looking for?
  • Is there a process for Termination of Parental
    Rights (TPR) proceedings in accordance with the
    provisions of ASFA?
  • What is the TPR process in the state?
  • Does the state agency or court have data
    regarding the number/percentages of children in
    care 15 of the most recent 22 months?
  • For what percentage of these children has the
    state not filed TPR?
  • For cases where TPR was not filed, were
    compelling reasons specified in the case file?
  • Is there data tracking compelling reasons by
    type?

19
TPR Role of the Court
  • Review and order if necessary that the
    termination of parental rights petition is timely
    filed
  • Ensure the appellate process is expedited
  • Review and order if necessary all agency
    processes are completed in a timely fashion
    (adoption committees, home studies, etc)
  • Ensure TPR orders contain thorough findings of
    fact and conclusions of law

20
What are the reviewers looking for?Summary
  • Courts should be involved from the beginning by
    providing input into the CFSR Statewide
    Assessment. If the court has data on timeliness,
    thoroughness, effectiveness of hearings and
    reviews, it is critical that this data be
    provided for the CFSR Statewide Assessment.
  • Substantial conformity is based on information
    from CFSR Statewide Assessment AND stakeholder
    interviews.
  • Many states have statutes that address case
    review items but are they being followed?

21
The CFSR is an open book test
  • Courts can prepare for and participate in all
    phases of the CFSR in partnership with the state
    agency in order to work on the shared goal of
    achieving substantial conformity for the case
    review systemic factor
  • Courts can provide training to stakeholders in
    the legal community to ensure hearings are
    thorough, timely
  • Courts can develop data systems to track the
    relevant issues contained in the case review
    systemic factor
  • ALL IN IT TOGETHER!

22
Notes from the audience on the technical
assistance brief
  • Ensure the bulletin addresses both sides of
    encouraging involvement by the court.
    Encouraging the child welfare agency at the same
    level as we encourage the court.
  • Its your PIP vs. its Our PIP important to
    continue the communication as the PIP develops.
    If its ours, it shouldnt stop being ours
    during the final negotiations. Court should be
    at the table for all the courses of the meal.
  • Suggestion for judges a basic description of
    the CFSR process, ,include timelines what is it
    and why should you care?
  • Clear bullet points on what judges can do.
  • Include best practice on foster parent notice and
    right to be heard.
  • Is there a way to monitor best practices as they
    go to scale? It works in theory and the one
    place it was first implemented but not so much as
    it rolls out.
  • The importance of getting out there and observing
    what is really going on out in the field
  • Sharing the data to provoke healthy competition
    to meet the timelines
  • Laying out some best practice, like the fact that
    Hawaii does not use APPLA
  • Reinforce the meaningful court hearings, is there
    data that shows this leads to better outcomes?
  • Encouraging family engagement early in case plan
    development, what about the family voluntarily
    engaging prior to adjudication
  • Impact of effective concurrent planning it is
    not disingenuous

23
Notes from the audience on the TA brief
  • Coordinating court and admin review, making info
    from admin review available to court, make sure
    that we cover due process protections for parents
  • Foster parent training demystifying the process
    should include the pratfalls and difficult
    experiences that foster parents may experience in
    the court room.
  • Bulletin should make the points that Will makes
    about tying the TPR practices to Item 7 as well.
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