LASHAWN A. V.

FENTY
PROPOSED SIX-MONTH PLAN FOR JANUARY 1 – JUNE 30, 2009

INTRODUCTION

The following represents the District’s proposal for actions to be taken and outcomes to
be achieved by June 30, 2009. The proposal is based on the Public Catalyst Group’s
(PCG) recommendation for a six-month bridge period and plan with “realistic,
measurable and clear goals for six months.” This bridge plan builds on CFSA’s
successful completion of actions required in the most recent Order of the Court dated
October 7, 2008. The proposed strategies and commitments are intended to deepen
practice with an emphasis on quality, quantity, timeliness, effectiveness, and efficiency.
The proposed actions are not intended to be codified into policy but are intended to
provide sufficient understanding of the Defendants’ approach to enhancing and
deepening practice. CFSA reserves the right to change the approaches as needed during
the six-month period.1

GOAL: CHILD SAFETY

Investigations

1. By February 15, 2009 CFSA will implement a plan to ensure completion of quality
investigations within 30 days unless there is good cause for additional time based on
lessons learned from reducing the prior backlog of investigations.

2. By June 30, 2009 CFSA will translate lessons learned from reducing the prior
backlog into specific actions for staffing, supervision and training to support high
quality investigative practice.

3. As of March 1, 2009 CFSA will complete and implement a quality improvement

process for the hotline that requires hotline workers, supervisors, program managers,
and the program administrator to review randomly selected calls each month for
ensuring conformance with CFSA policy and for overall quality. CFSA will make
available any written descriptions of the process and tools to the Monitor.

4. By March 1, 2009 CFSA will develop and by April 30, 2009 CFSA will implement
an enhanced quality improvement process for a systematic review of investigations.
CPS program managers will review at least 15 investigations per month to ensure
conformance with policy and expected practice.

5. Quarterly, the CFSA Quality Assurance unit will validate a sample of the hotline and
investigation reviews completed by the CPS staff. CFSA will make available any
written Quality Assurance protocols and reports to the Monitor.

6. CFSA shall maintain sufficient staff and resources such that there is no backlog of
investigations remaining open longer than 30 days, except for a limited number of

1
This is consistent with the recommendations from PCG and the flexibility granted CFSA which facilitated
its successful completion of the items required in the October 7, 2008 Stipulated Order.

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PROPOSED SIX-MONTH PLAN FOR JANUARY 1 – JUNE 30, 2009
specific cases where there is documentation of good cause to exceed the timeframe as
verified by the Monitor.

GOAL: PERMANENCY

Placement Stability

7. Reduce multiple placements for children in care by:

a. Completing a review of the existing placement structure, protocols, and practices

and modifying the placement process to support better matching of placements to
children’s needs by June 30, 2009.

b. Updating the Resource Development Plan as outlined in Section XV.3 of the AIP to
determine current needs and plans for developing and supporting appropriate
placements by June 30, 2009.

c. Developing plans to augment/adjust the placement resource pool based on trends

and findings of the Resource Development Plan including implementing a foster
home recruitment initiative. By June 30, 2009 CFSA will make available to the
Monitor a plan for the revised foster home recruitment initiative.

8. By June 30, 2009 CFSA will release a request for proposals for congregate care
placements and by the end of calendar year 2009, will award contracts with
performance requirements.

9. By June 30, 2009 CFSA will explore and test methods of strengthening technical
assistance, monitoring and support for foster parents and congregate care providers.

10. CFSA will maintain performance of no children staying overnight in the CFSA
Intake Center or office building.

11. No more than 20 children under the age of 12 shall be placed in congregate care
settings for more than 30 days, unless the child has special treatment needs that
cannot be met in a home-like setting and unless the setting has a program to treat the
child’s specific needs.

12. No more than 5 children under six years of age will be placed in a group care non-
foster home setting, except for those children with exceptional needs that cannot be
met in any other type of care.

Adoptions/Guardianships

13. CFSA will improve permanency outcomes for all children by:

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PROPOSED SIX-MONTH PLAN FOR JANUARY 1 – JUNE 30, 2009
a. Centralizing under one administration the permanency specialist function and will
add one unit of permanency specialists, consisting of 5 social workers and one
supervisor by June 30, 2009.

b. Providing permanency specialists with enhanced training and skill building

activities in coordination with the Permanency Opportunities Program (high impact
team) by June 30, 2009.

c. Strengthening the role of permanency specialists to include such functions as

assisting staff in eliminating barriers to permanency, tracking progress toward
permanency, securing needed permanency resources including conducting child-
centered recruitment and ensuring permanency plans are achieved timely by June
30, 2009.

14. By June 30, 2009 18 of the 65 children working with the high impact teams will
achieve permanency or will only be pending court action (i.e., the case management
documentation and activities are completed, but the court may not have issued the
final decree or held the final hearing). There will be monthly monitoring of the
progress toward permanency for all 65 children.

15. By June 30, 2009 CFSA will provide additional training and technical assistance to
private agencies related to sound permanency planning practices and the CFSA
protocol on permanency.

16. Performance expectations for achieving permanency will be included in the request
for proposals and contract award for congregate care placements.

APPLA

17. According to the schedule of reviews previously provided to the Monitor, CFSA will
review 600 cases of youth with a goal of APPLA through an enhanced administrative
review or other meeting that involves a youth’s family and identified supports. By
April 30, 2009, 400 reviews will be completed; the remaining 200 will be completed
by June 30, 2009. These reviews and follow-up will result in recommendations and
action steps for the identification of potential resources for permanent relationships
for 40 percent of the youth.

18. By June 30, 2009 CFSA will convert the Administrative Issuance into policy
requiring CFSA and private agency staff to conduct a family-involved meeting and
secure the approval of the CFSA Director prior to recommending the goal of APPLA
for any youth.

19. Beginning March 1, 2009 CFSA will initiate training for private agencies, the Court,
the CCAN Bar and other community partners in sound practices and CFSA protocols
to reduce the number of children with inappropriate APPLA goals.

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PROPOSED SIX-MONTH PLAN FOR JANUARY 1 – JUNE 30, 2009
GOAL: CHILD WELL-BEING

Services

20. Beginning in March 2009 CFSA will provide practice coaching for supervisors and
program managers on implementing the Partnership for Community-based Services.

21. By June 30, 2009 CFSA will begin an evaluation of the Partnership for Community-
based Services.

22. By June 30, 2009 CFSA will complete development of a practice model protocol for
out-of-home care services. A draft and final version of the model protocol will be
made available to the Monitor.

23. By June 30, 2009 CFSA will train staff and begin implementation of a practice model
protocol for out-of-home care services.

Health

24. 85 percent of children entering or re-entering care shall have a health screening prior
to placement.

25. 55 percent of children experiencing placement changes shall have a health screening
prior to placement.

26. 80 percent of children entering or re-entering care shall receive a full medical
evaluation within 30 days of placement and 95 percent of children will have a
medical evaluation within 60 days of entering or re-entering care.

27. 30 percent of children entering or re-entering care shall receive a full dental
evaluation within 30 days of placement; 45 percent of children will have a dental
evaluation within 60 days of entering or re-entering care; and 55 percent of children
will have a dental evaluation within 90 days of entering or re-entering care.

GOAL: RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT AND SYSTEM ACCOUNTABILITY

Caseloads

28. Defendants shall comply with the caseload requirements in the AIP.

29. Supervisors who are responsible for supervising social workers who carry caseloads
shall be responsible for no more than 6 workers, including case aides.

30. No supervisor shall be responsible for the on-going case management of any case.

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PROPOSED SIX-MONTH PLAN FOR JANUARY 1 – JUNE 30, 2009
31. There shall be no cases unassigned to a social worker for more than 5 business days,
in which case, the supervisor shall provide coverage but not for more than 5 business
days.

Quality Assurance

32. CFSA will maintain existing external quality assurance functions (e.g., Grand
Rounds, ChildStat, and Quality Service Reviews) and enhance quality assurance
within the case-carrying functions. By May 15, 2009 CFSA will make available to
the monitor a description of the agency-wide quality assurance functions and the
capacity and resources available to carry out those functions.

a. By March 1, 2009 CFSA will complete and implement a quality improvement

process for the hotline that requires hotline workers, supervisors, program
managers, and the program administrator to review randomly selected calls per
month.

b. By March 1, 2009 CFSA will develop and by April 30, 2009 CFSA will implement
the enhanced quality improvement process for a systematic review of investigations
to be completed by CPS program managers.

c. Quarterly, the CFSA Quality Assurance unit will validate a sample of the hotline
and investigation reviews completed by the CPS staff.

d. By April 1, 2009 CFSA will develop and by May 31, 2009 CFSA will begin to
implement an enhanced quality improvement process for a systematic review of
ongoing in-home and out-of home placement cases to be completed by CFSA and
private agency program managers and CFSA monitors of private agency programs.
A description of the plan and protocols will be made available to the Monitor.

33. By June 30, 2009 CFSA will secure agreement with the Court Monitor on the
appropriate management reports to be shared monthly for monitoring purposes.

34. On or before May 15, 2009 the Defendants and Plaintiffs will begin to negotiate an
exit plan which will be filed with the Court prior to the expiration of this 6-month
plan.

35. By June 15, 2009 the Monitor will prepare a report for the Court on the District’s
progress in implementing this plan.

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