Disaster Preparedness

Prevention and Data Sharing DCFS is currently enhancing its resources and services directed to child abuse (cid:137) and neglect prevention activities and intend to continue to do so in the future. The Department implemented a pilot Point of Engagement program in 2004 that provides for more community-based services for families who are experiencing problems, are assessed as low risk of future instances of child abuse and neglect and are willing to make changes and improvements. Team Decision Making is one aspect of this program that provides a multidisciplinary team approach to supporting these families. The Board of Supervisors directed County staff in 2006 to expand prevention (cid:137) efforts with a “holistic, integrated approach to services” that address root causes of child abuse or neglect. While the motion and resulting DCFS concept paper on the topic does not specifically address health services, the paper does establish healthy communities as one outcome target for the Department’s prevention efforts and recommends that the County’s Chief Administrative Office assume responsibility for interdepartmental coordination. The move toward coordinated interdepartmental services as part of child (cid:137) maltreatment prevention services speaks to the need for well orchestrated information and data sharing between DCFS and DHS particularly for families who may need health services as part of their family improvement plan. As DCFS proceeds with plans to expand its prevention efforts, the importance of well managed information and data sharing with DHS should be included as a program objective, with outcome measures established to ensure that it is occurring. Current Child Maltreatment Prevention Efforts at DCFS DCFS’s prevention efforts are relatively new. The Department began implementing a pilot program called Point of Engagement (POE) in 2004. POE, which is being implemented in the Compton and Wateridge (South Los Angeles) offices, is a preventive, family-centered approach that makes maximum use of community based organizations in its response to family needs. It is designed to support the Department’s goals of safety, reducing detentions and increasing permanency. In late 2006, the Children and Families Research Consortium (CFRC) conducted an evaluation of the POE79. This evaluation, which was a comprehensive qualitative analysis, provides a 79 According to its website, the Children and Families Research Consortium is a group formed by DCFS and the Interuniversity Consortium (IUC). The IUC is a group of five local universities engaged in providing training services to DCFS. The CFRC is focused on “enhancing DCFS capacity to analyze and 2006-2007 County of Los Angeles Civil Grand Jury 112 detailed background about POE, its relationship to State of California policy initiatives, and the results from 17 interviews and three focus groups with staff and administrators from the Compton and Wateridge offices, as well as a focus group with representatives from Shields for Families, a key community-based nonprofit organization which has been collaborating with DCFS on POE. According to the CFRC report, POE is consistent with the State of California’s Child Welfare Services Redesign Plan developed in 2003. In this plan, there are three paths that could be used effectively in serving families that come to the attention of the child welfare system as follows: “Path 1: Community Response is used when a family is experiencing problems but the situation does not meet statutory definitions of abuse or neglect. Instead of being turned away without any assistance, families are linked to services in the community through partnerships with local organizations. Path 2: Child Welfare and Community Response may be used when the report meets statutory definitions of abuse and neglect. County staff assess that the child is safe and at low to moderate risk of future harm and the family is likely to make changes and mitigate risk voluntarily. The county agency works with the family and community-based organizations to identify strengths and needs. If the family is unwilling to make needed improvements or the situation deteriorates, endangering the child, the case would be re-referred to the child welfare agency. Path 3: Child Welfare Services Response is used when the child is not safe and is at moderate to high risk of continued abuse or neglect. Actions may be taken with or without the family’s consent, court orders may be sought and criminal charges may be filed. Social workers seek to engage families more fully and to work with other county agencies to provide focused services. This path is most similar to the child welfare system’s traditional response.” DCFS’s POE pilot has focused on “evaluated out” and “inconclusive” referrals, i.e., allegations regarding a family that are called into the DCFS Hotline. Some calls to the DCFS Hotline are “evaluated out” when, according to a systematic assessment by the Hotline telephone worker, the referral does not meet “California Department of Social Services guidelines” for an in-person response. If a referral is forwarded to the SPA/District Office, an Emergency Response worker may, after systematically investigating it, deem it to be “inconclusive”, i.e., evidence is insufficient to “substantiate” the allegation. Both of these situations trigger a POE case for the Compton and Wateridge offices during the pilot, which is still ongoing, partially funded by a grant from First 5 L.A. Once POE is triggered, the family is referred to local community services. To date, many of these services have been provided by Shields for Families, which is the actual recipient of the First 5 L.A. funds. One of the main goals of POE is to “prevent a referral from becoming a use data to support planning and decision-making, developing research priorities and a long term research agenda, and facilitating partnerships with universities and other research organizations to expand knowledge about public child welfare.” 2006-2007 County of Los Angeles Civil Grand Jury 113