an overview georgia program improvement plan - Department of ...

The AFCARS data for this indicator has fluctuated from a high of 80.68% (FFY 2004, Q2) to a low of 66.20% (FFY 2004, Q4). The state continues to reinforce the
significance of this indicator with counties and regional oversight administrators. The high rate of staff turnover (40%) may be negatively influencing this indicator. The
most recent QCR (October 2003 – September 2004) reveals that in 71.43% of the cases read, the rate of permanency achievement was rated as a strength. The state's
original PIP goal was 76%. In the 7 th quarter the state requested to renegotiate this indicator to 73.82%, which is the federal sampling error that is used by most states.
ACF agreed to the request provided that Georgia corrected some AFCARS data concerns. Those corrections have been made.
The Case Plan Reporting System (CPRS) is designed so that entering the permanency goal is a required field.
Two cross-training events (the Child Placement Conference held November 12-14, 2003, and a second held November 17 – 19, 2004), were training opportunities to bring
together judges, case managers, SAAGs, GALs, parent attorneys, CASAs, and Citizen Panel Review volunteers to learn about the Permanency Hearing requirements.
As of September 2002, the Foster Parent Manual was revised and includes services available to support the foster parent role. Upon the completion of training, all foster
parents receive the FP Manual on disk. Accessibility to the most current information in the Foster Parent Manual is made possible by posting the manual on the DHR
website (December 2003).
Data indicates that progress is being made to recruit and maintain more minority foster and adoptive home resources for children in care. When comparing two reporting
periods of the AFCARS Data Frequency Reports, (4/03 – 9/03 with 10/03 – 3/04), there is an 8.1 % increase in the number of Black foster parents and a 39.5% increase in
Hispanic caretakers. The private provider community also reports significant recruitment increases for minority foster and adoptive resources.
The following needs in achieving permanency goals for children in care have been identified:
While the Court Improvement Program (CIP) conducted two studies to evaluate whether permanency hearings were being conducted in a timely manner, there were
“mixed” findings. Court files were not always clear about the hearing being labeled as a “permanency” hearing. The CIP sought other strategies to alternately evaluate
this measure, including additional sampling of court files, court-hearing observation, follow-up interviews, the development of a model order for judges to adopt, and a
self-report instrument posted on a website for judges to access and complete. In a sample of nine (9) judges surveyed during the most current reporting quarter, we
determined that permanency hearings are being conducted as required by ASFA. Continued training at bi-annual Georgia judicial conferences will emphasize this
requirement. Monitoring through the CIP needs to continue, as does that of the Evaluation and Reporting Unit through its Review Guide.
To verify that all children in care have case plans entered in CPRS, caseload reports in IDS were compared to caseloads in CPRS. While the numbers are still too
inconsistent to report valid results, there are strategies in place to delete the duplicate plans in the system and make it possible to report on this measure with more
reliability. The strategies are documented in the body of the PIP report and the Documentation Appendix. This effort is about 75% complete.
Safe Futures – A Plan for Program Improvement
Georgia Department of Human Resources
November, 2004 Quarter 8 – Table of Contents Page v