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

for the barrier identified. These recommendations in the report should address the ACF question “what are you going to do about the barriers
identified in the report?” The implementation of the reported recommendations is on going. The CIP is currently addressing and working
with the Carl Vinson Institute of Government to research and write a report on Juvenile Court Improvement by Accountability; the CIP has
received a Strengthening Abuse and Neglect Courts of America grant and is working with OJJDP and the Center for Children on the Law to
institute court performance measures to better information about timeliness and permanency status on children.
The state contends that we have met this action step as we have completed the stated benchmark.
8 th Quarter Report: Achieved. Per ACF 7 th quarter request "how is DFCS working with CIP to improve the barriers?": DFCS is
working with the CIP to improve the barriers by:
1. DFCS is providing AFCARS data to the Office of Child Advocate who in turn is developing reports by county, DHR region,
judicial circuit, and judicial district.
2. DFCS is working with the CIP both programmatically and financially to improve the CPRS to capture more information regarding
timelines, relative search documentation, and model order updates. DFCS and the CIP are also exploring a proposal to store court
orders (a document management system) so all parties could access court orders on-line in a protected, confidential database.
Storing this information would help both entities document problems and non-uniformity issues which causes barriers for children.
3. DFCS participates in the CIP's Model Courts project, which meets quarterly. The Model Courts project is driving the SANCA
project.
4. DFCS participates both programmatically and financially in a project to create a visitation protocol for the courts and DFCS. The
research driving this project states that increased visitation allows reunification to occur more quickly where that is the probable
case resolution. Alternatively increased visitation also allows the issues in a case to become clearer more quickly where
reunification is unlikely, which in turn better supports DFCS when proposing a new permanency plan for a child. Estimated date
for a visitation protocol is May 2005.
5. The CIP continues to review court case files in randomly selected counties to look for time line adherence, proper order filing and
proper documentation for representing parents and children. DFCS supports the CIP by providing the sample list of cases from
their AFCARS data system so the CIP can look at children's cases that are over one year old.
BARRIERS TO ACHIEVEMENT:
Safe Futures – A Plan for Program Improvement
Georgia Department of Human Resources
November, 2004 Quarter 8 - Work Plan E Page 16