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TRANSCRIPT
REDESIGN
It’s vital for our children that it
continues.
Foster Care
is working.
Foster Care Redesign has shown encouraging results in its two years of operation. By focusing on capacity building, program innovations, and accountability of outcomes, significant systemimprovements have been made.
Why Redesign?
ê Local leadership creates urgency and allows for quicker decisions to expand services for children and families.
ê Defined geography and collective information allows the development of new resources.
ê Clear accountability advances quality care.
ê A manageable size of children in care allows for better oversight.
ê Increased flexibility allows innovation to improve efficiency and results.
ê A collaborative approach leverages community resources.
Through a regional approach, Redesign is solving problems that Texas’ current foster care system cannot.
Foster Care Redesign attacks the primary problem of the foster care system in Texas: its sheer size.
Fort Worth Star-Telegram Editorial Board
| ACCOUNTABILITY |
| CAPACITY BUILDING |
| INNOVATION |
Foster Care Redesign
Licensed foster homes
Licensed foster homes
License-ready foster homes
F O S T E R PA R E N T Rural Recruitment Initiative
As of 9/30/16
2014 2016
Research tells us that placing children in a family setting is a better solution than placing them in a group home setting.
The statewide benchmark of children placed in a family setting.
Placing Children in Family Settings
Our second-year numbers indicate that 79% of children placed through
OCOK were in a family setting.
Therapeutic foster homes were created through Foster Care Redesign so children with more intense care needs are kept in a family setting rather than residential treatment centers.
An effective solution to improving care in Texas
| CAPACITY BUILDING |
71.5% 79%
3 2211 33+ = I’ve been doing good in my home, everyone’s proud of me. I have an internship at a nursing home, it’s great! Thank you for everything you’ve done for me!
Thank you note excerpt from a foster youth in therapeutic care to OCOK
Significant efforts were made to increase capacity in our most rural county, Palo Pinto. The infographic above shows the progress made since 2014 in this county.
Developing capacity in rural areas has been a longstanding problem for DFPS. An increase this quickly indicates how a focused and consistent recruitment initiative will yield results.
Through targeted recruitment, Our Community Our Kids (OCOK) added more quality foster homes to our seven-county region. Having more beds available allows better placement options for sibling groups and helps keep children with therapeutic needs closer to their homes.
As of September 30, 2016, we successfully stepped down 39 out of 57 youth from residential treatment centers to living in family settings.
68%
“
“| ACCOUNTABILITY |
Safety
With adequate funding and oversight, foster care redesign will improve the lives of thousands more children by replacing the current system.
Henry “Hank” Whitman, Texas DFPS commissioner
99.6% 99.9% 99.9%
BeforeRedesign
RedesignYEAR 1
RedesignYEAR 2
Stability 89% 94% Results
Pending
Proximity 71% 83% Results
Pending
Least Restrictive Placements 75% 79% 79%
of new admissions
Siblings Placed Together 64% 72% 65%
Primary Performance Measures
Maintaining Sibling Connection
84% 83% 88%
Maintaining Connections with Others
82% 90% 93%
Participation in Service Planning
85% 88% 90%
of new admissions
of new admissions of new admissions
Participation in Court
Not Measured
Preparation for Adulthood
Employment
Driver’s License
Sibling groups placed together on last day of performance period
Children placed in a family setting
Children placed within 50 miles of home
Children with 2 or fewer placements over 2 years
Children free from abuse/neglect while in care
Children have monthly contact with siblings who are placed separately
Children have monthly contact with approved individuals other than parents or siblings
Youth age 10+ participate in service planning
Youth age 10+ attend court hearings for their case
Youth who turn 18 have completed Preparation for Adult Living (PAL) training
Youth age 16+ have a regular job
Youth age 16+ have a driver’s license or state ID
BeforeRedesign
RedesignYEAR 1
RedesignYEAR 2
30% 40%
BeforeRedesign
RedesignYEAR 1
RedesignYEAR 2
76% 84% 71%
Not Measured 35% 37%
Not Measured 56% 42%
Seconary Performance Measures
www.RedesignTX.org
Foster Care Redesign has led to broad, measureable improvements in outcomes for kids.
During its first year alone, Our Community Our Kids rolled out several important innovations aimed at improving the care and safety of children.
These innovations are transforming the business of foster care in ways Texas has not seen before.
| INNOVATION |
Our Community Our Kids uses specialized software designed to quickly find the best placement options for a given child or sibling group, based on their individual needs and characteristics. The software uses research-based algorithms to recommend matches that are predictive of long-term placement stability.
Matching Children with the Best Homes
Safety Audits
These technologies greatly reduce operational inefficiencies and flawed information about youth in care.
Under Foster Care Redesign, safety practices have improved in all measured domains after two rounds.
Quality Parenting Initiative
To improve the quality of foster care, Our Community Our kids brought in the Quality Parenting Initiative (QPI), a change framework that has enjoyed success in other states. QPI brings together stakeholders to define quality, strengthen recruitment and retention efforts, and change the system to promote equality.
Cutting the Red Tape
Through QPI, the length of time it took for foster parents to receive reimbursements for daycare costs was identified as a problem with retaining foster parents. 50%
Redesign has made receipt of daycarereimbursements quicker by
Interoperability
In the old system, data resided in separate silos and caretakers lacked access to vital information about children in their care.
Foster Care Redesign has introduced modern technology systems that allow for automated and secure data exchange in real time.
OCOK Systems
State Database
Child Placing Agencies’ Databases
State Database
Child Placing Agencies’ Databases
To promote development of best practices for keeping children safe from abuse while in care, OCOK required each child-placing agency in our network to take part in a risk management
audit, completed in consultation with Praesidium.
Scores across all
provider agencies
within the network
improved dramatically,
from an average score
of 65% in year one
to 80% in year two.
Before Redesign With Redesign
YEAR 1 / YEAR 245%
70%
81% 86%
66% 79%
58% 73%
65% 81%
POLICIES
SCREENING & SELECTION
TRAINING
MONITORING & SUPERVISION
INTERNAL FEEDBACK SYSTEMS
71% 82%
68% 79%
69% 75%
CONSUMER PARTICIPATION
RESPONDING
ADMINISTRATIVE PRACTICES
100% of our child-placing agencies completed the safety audit.
Praesidium Safety Audit Results
For more information contact: Dr. Linda Garcia
817.502.1325 | www.ourcommunity-ourkids.org
Texas must not lose the help it is getting from ACH, and courts should make sure of it.
Fort Worth Star-Telegram Editorial Board
ACH Child and Family Services is a century-old, Fort Worth-based nonprofit agency dedicated to
protecting children and preserving families.
The child welfare experts on our leadership team in addition to the agency’s excellent history of quality services, experience,
deep community relationships, financial stability and reputation give us the confidence to know we’re moving in the right direction by
supporting and implementing Foster Care Redesign in Texas.
We believe Foster Care Redesign has the capability to bring great, positive change to the foster care system in Texas.
Implementation in Region 3b is demonstrating the power of this thoughtful model. System improvements are already apparent.
The work is by no means complete, but for the first time, a clear plan to achieve meaningful change is evident.