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⚠️ Este contenido ha sido traducido automáticamente. El texto original en inglés es la versión oficial. La traducción puede contener errores.
Findings and Recommendations 8 findings
19-26
Page 1
The Department of Children and Family Services has not recruited and retained an adequate number of approved foster homes within Alameda County.
No recommendations for this finding
F19-26
The Department of Children and Family Services has not recruited and retained an adequate number of approved foster homes within Alameda County.
No recommendations for this finding
19-27
Page 1
An excessive percentage (more than half) of Alameda County’s foster care placements are made to homes located outside of Alameda County, despite evidence that out-of-county placements are generally not in the best interests of foster children.
No recommendations for this finding
F19-27
An excessive percentage (more than half) of Alameda County’s foster care placements are made to homes located outside of Alameda County, despite evidence that out-of-county placements are generally not in the best interests of foster children.
No recommendations for this finding
19-28
Page 1
Average caseloads for Department of Family and Child Services emergency response and family maintenance child welfare social workers are too high, which is not conducive to the delivery of high-quality services to Alameda County’s foster children.
No recommendations for this finding
F19-28
Average caseloads for Department of Family and Child Services emergency response and family maintenance child welfare social workers are too high, which is not conducive to the delivery of high-quality services to Alameda County’s foster children.
No recommendations for this finding
19-29
Page 1
The Department of Children and Family Services has not been timely in its implementation of the Child and Family Team concept that is a central element of California’s Continuum of Care Reform legislation.
No recommendations for this finding
F19-29
The Department of Children and Family Services has not been timely in its implementation of the Child and Family Team concept that is a central element of California’s Continuum of Care Reform legislation.
No recommendations for this finding
Conclusions 1
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CL1 Page 10Protecting the interests and well-being of children who enter Alameda County’s foster care system is a daunting responsibility. Our investigation disclosed a generally encouraging picture of how well the Social Services Agency’s Department of Children and Family Services has carried out that responsibility, while also revealing some significant opportunities for improvement. On the plus side, the Grand Jury commends DCFS’s dedicated management and staff for pursuing sound family preservation and reunification initiatives, for making steady and substantial progress in drawing down the number of Alameda County children living in traditional foster care settings, and for overseeing a foster care system that in recent years has incurred relatively few substantiated cases of foster child abuse and neglect. On the less flattering side of the ledger, the Grand Jury concludes that: Too many of the county’s children have been, and continue to be, placed in out-of-county foster homes, despite substantial evidence that such placements are generally not in the best interests of the children, Child welfare social worker caseloads are too high, despite clear evidence that excessive caseloads interfere with the delivery of high quality child welfare services, and DCFS has dragged its feet in implementing the Child and Family Team approach mandated in California’s 2015 legislative overhaul of the foster care system, despite compelling evidence that embracing CFT would serve the best interests of our children. The problems identified in this investigation do not look to be intractable. The Grand Jury believes that DCFS can and will make good progress on all fronts. ________________________________________________________________ Acronyms CCR Continuum of Care Reform CCWIP California Child Welfare Indicators Project CDSS California Department of Social Services CFT Child and Family Team CWDA County Welfare Directors Association CWLA Child Welfare League of America DCFS Department of Children and Family Services FFA Foster Family Agency SSA Alameda County Social Services Agency TDM Team Decision Making UFF Upfront Family Finding 97
No Responses Found 1
Government entities assigned to respond to this report. No response documents have been linked in our database.
Alameda County Board of Supervisors
Elected County Office