Oklahoma Department Of Human Services - OK School Readiness

Oklahoma Child and Family Services Plan 2020-2024CWS will continue to ensure stakeholders are actively involved in CFSP implementationthrough ongoing meetings and work groups, along with partnering with our sister stateserving agencies to hold at minimum, annual stakeholder meetings. A key componentof continuous quality improvement is engagement of stakeholders and input theyprovide in the improvements of child welfare practice. As implementation movesforward and additional information is gathered through case reviews and other methods,qualitative information will be able to shed insight as to the effectiveness of thecollaborations that are ongoing, the results of communication occurring between serviceproviders and CWS, and most importantly, the access and quality of services providedto children, youth, and families.Additional details regarding collaboration and stakeholder involvement may be foundthroughout other areas of this CFSP.Vision StatementThe DHS mission is to improve the quality of life of vulnerable Oklahomans byincreasing people's ability to lead safer, healthier, more independent and productivelives. DHS provides help and offers hope to vulnerable Oklahoma through strongerpractices, involved communities, and a caring and engaged workforce. The CWSpurpose is to improve the safety, permanence, and well-being of children and familiesinvolved in the child welfare system through collaboration with families and theircommunities. The CWS vision is to promote strong Oklahoma families together.In order to achieve this mission and vision, CWS, together in partnership withstakeholders, must strengthen families and prevent child maltreatment and unnecessaryfamily separation and trauma to children and their parents. Reaching children andfamilies sooner through prevention is the key to avoiding unnecessary trauma,disrupting intergenerational cycles of maltreatment, and achieving better outcomes forchildren and families. The goals, objectives, and strategies outlined in this plan, througha fundamental cultural shift within the system focusing on trauma-informed, preventionbased care, will ensure the practice, procedures, and policies in place will continue tobe enhanced and will create sustainable, desired outcomes for the children and familiesin Oklahoma.With the rise of the opioid epidemic, at least one in three children enters foster carebecause of parental drug abuse. An increasing number of them are infants andtoddlers; last year, half of the children who entered foster care were younger than 5years old. There are a number of other factors that can also disrupt a family to the pointwhere removal is the only way to ensure a child’s safety, including alcohol abuse,incarceration, parental history of trauma and abuse, financial strains fromunemployment or homelessness, extreme anger and frustration or the lack of physicalcare and attention. The impacts of maltreatment are costly and long lasting.The safety and well-being of children and of all family members is paramount. Whensafety can be ensured, strengthening and preserving families is seen as the best way to6

Oklahoma Child and Family Services Plan 2020-2024promote the healthy development of children. Strengthening programs and servicesdesigned to achieve measurable outcomes that are focused on prevention andprotection to prevent maltreatment and the unnecessary removal of children from theirfamilies and placed into foster care will improve the safety, permanency, and well-beingof children and families.The first step in the continuum of care is keeping families together through preventionservices. However, when children must be removed from their homes, CWS willsupport the use of family-based foster care to ensure permanency and stability in theirliving situations and continuity of family relationships and connections. The servicesand treatment programs are focused on the family as a whole; working with families aspartners in identifying and meeting individual and family needs to improve theirfunctioning and well-being. Services promote the healthy development of children andyouth, promote permanency, and help prepare youth for self-sufficiency andindependent living.Services and treatment are community-based and accessible to children and familiesand organized as a continuum, sufficient to keep children safe and to meet thechildren's and families' needs. Agency capacity to serve children and families for whomprevention and reunification services are needed will be increased through strongfamily-centered practices involving implementation of revised training and structuredand supportive supervision focused on understanding and treating safety needs,trauma, strengthening parental protective capacities, and increasing mindfulnesstowards the goal of improving child and family outcomes. Strong family-centeredpractices establish the direction, expectations, and values from which the workforce willoperate, resulting in more empowered families and a more empowered agency thatknows where it is going and why. CWS expects this to lead to better outcomes forchildren and families and a stronger and better-aligned workforce, a greater degree ofinternal and external collaboration, and greater service flexibility and innovation.Further, community capacity will be increased by capitalizing on partnerships to meetchild and family needs through availability of effective services. Evidence-based orevidence-informed services will be identified and/or developed at a community level topromote child wellbeing, safety, and permanency, and enhance the service array.7

Oklahoma Child and Family Services Plan 2020-2024Assessment of Current Performance in Improving OutcomesChild and Family OutcomesThe data discussed below is from the following sources: Oklahoma 2015-2019 Childand Family Services Plan (CFSP), Oklahoma 2019 Annual Progress and ServicesReport (APSR), Oklahoma's Statewide Automated Child Welfare Information System(SACWIS) known as KIDS, Child and Family Services Review (CFSR) ProgramImprovement Plan (PIP) monitored case review data completed from 4/1/18 through3/31/19 with periods under review ranging from 4/1/17 through 3/31/19, Round 3 CFSRCase Review baselines set in 2016, Round 3 CFSR 2016 Statewide Assessment,Round 3 CFSR Final Report 2016 produced by the Children's Bureau, and theOklahoma Pinnacle Plan February 2019 Semi-Annual Report. Within each itemdiscussed, the source of the data is identified.Safety Outcomes 1 and 2(A) Children are first and foremost protected from abuse and neglect; and (B) childrenare safely maintained in their homes whenever possible and appropriate.The safety of children is paramount within Oklahoma's child welfare (CW) system.When a report of abuse or neglect is received, throughout the safety assessmentprocess, until a child is determined to be safe in his or her own home, safety is thepriority. Efforts to align safety assessment practices across all programs, including theChild Abuse and Neglect Hotline (Hotline), Child Protective Services (CPS), FamilyCentered Services (FCS), Foster Care and Adoptions (FC&A), and PermanencyPlanning (PP) are ongoing. Through key activities within the Child and Family ServicesReview Program Improvement Plan (CFSR PIP), all programs participate in the CFSRPIP Best Practices training that reinforces consistency within safety evaluation fromprogram to program and challenges staff to partner with all programs to improveoutcomes.Through root cause analysis within all safety, permanency, and well-being outcomesChild Welfare Services (CWS) identified consistency and quality supervision as areasneeding improvement. The CFSR PIP largely focuses on supervision development andsupport to ensure a strong foundation for the transfer of learning (TOL) andaccountability from supervisors to field staff through the Safety through SupervisionFramework. The goal of the framework is to increase the accessibility, practicality, andrelevancy of daily supervision to ensure better safety, permanency, and well-beingoutcomes within all programs. The Safety through Supervision Framework is intendedto impact all outcomes identified within this section.Timely initiation of assessments and investigations of child maltreatment is evidence ofa commitment to safety. CWS defines initiation as the moment the first attempt is madeto contact the victim(s) face-to-face. CWS prioritizes accepted reports of alleged childabuse or neglect based on the severity and immediacy of the alleged harm to the childby assigning a response time as a Priority 1 (P1) or a Priority 2 (P2). A P1 indicates a8

Oklahoma Child and Family Services Plan 2020-2024child is in present danger and at risk of serious harm or injury. A CW specialist'sresponse to P1 allegations occurs on the same day the report is received. CWSassigns the P2 designation to all other accepted reports and establishes a responsetime based on the child's vulnerability and risk of harm. Initiation of P2 investigationsoccurs within two-to-five-calendar days of the date the report is received and initiation ofP2 assessments (Alternative Response) occurs two-to-10-calendar days from the datethe report is received.Initiation timeliness is consistently a strong practice area for CWS as the followingStatewide Automated Child Welfare Information System (SACWIS)/KIDS data indicates.CPS Assessment/Investigation Initiation TimelinessApril 2018 - March Aug-18Sep-18Oct-18Nov-18Dec-18Mar-19Data Source: KIDS Data CPS Assessment/Investigation Initiation Timeliness Report; Run Date: 4/22/19While the initial response time to accepted reports of abuse and neglect is timelyoverall, follow-up attempts to make face-to-face contact with all alleged victims, perstate policy, is a focus area for improvement. Identified practices and barriers thatimpact this outcome include a lack of follow-up attempts to complete face-to-facecontacts when failed attempts occur and/or a lack of face-to-face contacts with allalleged victims within the specified timeframes, per policy requirements. Thesepractices are impacted by lengthy drive time in rural Oklahoma, staff vacancies, andvariances in caseload distribution. The following table reflects timeliness of initial faceto-face contacts.9

Oklahoma Child and Family Services Plan 2020-2024Data Source: Case Review Data04/2017 - 03/2019Performance Item RatingsN 119StrengthSafety Outcome 1: Children are,first and foremost, protectedfrom abuse and neglect.Item 1: Timeliness of InitiatingInvestigations of Reports of ChildMaltreatment68.91%n 82Outcome RatingsCasesNAANI31.09%n dCasesNA68.91%n 820%n 031.09%n 37n 9n 9In addition to initiation, timely completion of CPS assessments and investigations isanother indicator of Oklahoma's commitment to ensuring child safety. Oklahomacontinues focused efforts to address and prevent a CPS backlog. From April 2018,through March 2019, Oklahoma completed 74.6 percent of 34,225 assigned reportswithin required time frames. Although significant improvement occurred within thismeasure over the last five years, Oklahoma is currently performing below the nationalstandard of 95 percent in CPS assessments and investigations completion timeliness.Oklahoma embraces a continuous quality improvement process and continues ongoingwork to increase the thoroughness of the collected information to make appropriate andtimely safety decisions.CPS Assessment/Investigation Completion TimelinessApril 2018 - March ay-18Jun-18Jul-18Jan-19Feb-19Mar-19Data Source: KIDS Data CPS Assessment/Investigation Completion Timeliness Report; Run Date: 4/22/1910

Oklahoma Child and Family Services Plan 2020-2024Although the following data reflects that removing children from their homes hascontinued to decline in Oklahoma since 2013, efforts continue across CWS to improvenot only timely completion of CPS assessments and investigations, but to improve thequality of safety assessments to ensure thorough and accurate safety-related decisionsare consistently made. Oklahoma remains committed to the current safety and needsassessment process and CWS Practice Model.MonthRemoved at RemovedBeginning of During theMonthMonthExitedDuring theMonthRemoved atEnd ofMonthMar, 201393116133379587Mar, 20141088351032311070Mar, 20151099442244710969Mar, 20161028648043010336Mar, 201793974965009393Mar, 201887393234108652Mar, 201979663463497963Data Source: Removals By Month Report; Run Date: 4/29/19Current CFSR case review data indicates that continued efforts surrounding services tofamilies to protect children in their homes and prevent removal or re-entry into fostercare as well as continued safety assessment and management are necessary. In casereviews during the period under review (PUR) of 4/1/17 – 3/31/19, 46.67 percent ofapplicable cases had positive outcomes in which appropriate services were provided tofamilies in order to prevent removal or re-entry into care. 82.03 percent of applicablecases were identified for improvement in areas of initial and ongoing safety assessmentand management.Data Source: Case Review Data04/2017 - 03/2019Performance Item RatingsN 128StrengthSafety Outcome 2: Children aresafely maintained in their homeswhenever possible and appropriate.Item 2: Services to Family to ProtectChild(ren) in the Home and PreventRemoval or Re-Entry Into FosterCareItem 3: Risk and Safety Assessmentand ManagementANI46.67%n 4253.33%n 4817.97%n 2382.03%n 105CasesNAOutcome hievedCasesNA17.97%n 2325%n 3257.03%n 73n 0n 38n 0Significant practice identified during the most recent case review period found that thedelay in provision of services impacts this outcome, as does the lack of providingappropriate safety-related services and ensuring caregivers are participating in thoseservices. A common factor affecting this area is continuous engagement in criticalconversations with all parties involved in a case including children, parents, caretakers,foster parents, collaterals, and external stakeholders. Just as practices related to other11

Oklahoma Child and Family Services Plan 2020-2024outcomes may adversely affect a child's safety, a lack of comprehensive safetyassessments and appropriate service provision adversely affect other outcomes. CWScontinues to utilize multiple strategies toward improving safety decision-making andincreasing positive outcomes for children and families while also building capacity toaccurately identify safety threats and provide appropriate services to eliminate safetythreats throughout the life of the case.Clear messaging surrounding family involvement and engagement as well as revisionsto documents, support tools, reports, data elements, and policy is occurring throughCFSR PIP efforts within five transformation zones across the state. Previously, CPSutilized an Immediate Protection Action Plan (IPAP) when immediate danger waspresent upon initiating an abuse or neglect investigation. Upon completion of qualitativereviews, CWS identified that thorough safety assessments were not completed beforethe IPAP implementation, which negatively impacted this measure.CWS hasdiscontinued the use of IPAPs in order to reinforce quality and thorough safetyassessments up front. An additional safety enhancement through the CFSR PIP isdiscontinuance of the Family Functional Assessment (FFA), previously used as a tool toassess for underlying causes and service needs in order to develop the IndividualizedService Plan. Guidance is provided within CFSR PIP transformation zones onutilization of the current Assessment of Child Safety (AOCS) tool to replace the FamilyFunctional Assessment tool.CWS is encouraged that aligning safety-relatedassessment processes and analysis positively impacts safety assessment outcomes.As reflected in the following charts, CWS continues to enhance and expand preventionefforts through FCS cases, as well as improve the provision of appropriate services forchildren in foster care prior to reunification and supportive services at the time ofreunification to prevent re-entry into care. Re-entry in Oklahoma remains below thetarget rate of 8.2 percent.12

Oklahoma Child and Family Services Plan 2020-2024Re-Entry into Care within 12 Months of 0.0%Baseline 10/1/12 - 4/1/13 - 10/1/13 - 4/1/14 - 10/1/14 - 4/1/15 - 10/1/15 - 4/1/16 - 10/1/16 - 4/1/17 - 10/1/17 - 4/1/20189/30/13 3/31/14 9/30/14 3/31/15 9/30/15 3/31/16 9/30/16 3/31/17 9/30/17 3/31/18 09/30/18 - 3/31/19Data Source: AFCARSThrough resources provided within the Title IV-E Waiver Demonstration Program, CWShas significantly increased safety-related services available for families in order toprevent unnecessary family separation. In State Fiscal Year (SFY) 18, 5,199 childrenwere served through FCS. Comprehensive Home-Based Services (CHBS) andIntensive Safety Services (ISS) continue to meet the complex needs of families beingserved preventively. Through resources provided through the Family First PreventionServices Act, CWS continues to increase prevention services for children at-risk ofentering the CW system through evidence-based treatment modalities. CWS continuescollaboration efforts with the Oklahoma State Department of Health primary-preventionefforts as well as with the Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and SubstanceAbuse Services (ODMHSAS). Further information on resources is provided in othersections of this CFSP.Non-recurrence of child abuse and neglect is evident when a substantiated report ofchild abuse and neglect occurred and another substantiated report did not occur withina six-month period before or after the report involving the same or similarcircumstances. Oklahoma continues to remain above the required standard of 93.9percent for this measure.13

Oklahoma Child and Family Services Plan 2020-2024Non-Recurrence of Child Abuse and Neglect within 6 monthsby Report Date from Oct 2017 - Sept .0%80.0%Oct-17Nov-17Data Source: Non-Recurrence of Child Abuse and Neglect Report ; Run Date: 4/22/19Note: These percentages are calculated by the percent of children with a substantiated report between October 2017 andMarch 2018 and those children who did not have a subsequent substantiated report between April and September 2018.% NonRec urrenc e# ofConfirmed# of FirstConfirmed# of NonRec urrenc e# ofRec urrenc eALOT toRec urrenc e(Days)O c t- 17Nov- 17De c - 17Ja n- 18Fe b- 18Ma r- 18TO 21107113

Oklahoma Child and Family Services Plan 2020-2024 2 Attachments 1. CWS Regions and Districts Map 2. CWS Organizational Chart 3. Oklahoma Child Welfare Services Training Plan 4. Oklahoma State Plan for the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect 2019-2023 5. Oklahoma Child Welfare Services Foster and Adoptive Parent Diligent Recruitment Plan 6.