Resource Library

This issue of Child and Family Services Reviews Update contains the following sections: Round 4 Year 1 States are Gearing Up, New Mock Case Course Released on E-Learning Academy, Spanish Translations Added to Portal, New Round 4 FAQs Posted, and Child Welfare Reviews Project Upcoming Presentations.

This brief is intended to strengthen how CFSR reviewers make a determination for item 12 of the Onsite Review Instrument and Instructions. Item 12 assesses whether an agency made concerted efforts to (1) assess the needs of children, parents, and foster parents to identify the services necessary to achieve case goals and adequately address the issues relevant to the agency’s involvement with the family and (2) provide the appropriate services.

This group of documents provides the syntax and supporting files in SPSS format that were used to calculate data quality and observed performance. Note: Syntax to calculate risk-standardized performance for each state uses a national, risk-adjusted model that requires child-level data from all states (i.e., national datasets) and thus cannot be replicated by states or other interested parties.

This issue of Child and Family Services Reviews Update contains the following sections: Planning for Stakeholder/Partner Engagement Round 4 OSRI, Round 4 FAQs, Round 4 Year 1 Reviews Schedule, and Diverse Agile Staff Sought for CFSRs.

Child and Family Services Reviews reviewers must complete short “No” Narratives and longer Rationale Statements as part of completing the Onsite Review Instrument and Instructions (OSRI) and rating its items and outcomes. This guide is recommended for use by reviewers to ensure that “No” Narratives and Rationale Statements succinctly and comprehensively provide the information required to support answers to OSRI questions. 

This document discusses how to handle the uncommon situation in which reviewers may receive a case that was opened for both in-home services and foster care during the period under review.

This reviewer brief provides instructions on how to calculate, for the purposes of the CFSR, the “15 out of the 22 most recent months” provision for determining whether to file a termination of parental rights (TPR) for children in foster care. The TPR requirement, as outlined in the Social Security Act at § 475(5)(E), requires states to make timely decisions regarding permanency for children in foster care by having states and applicable tribes file a TPR petition when a child has been in foster care for at least 15 of the most recent 22 months and an exception or a compelling reason does not apply.

The CFSR Round 4 Statewide Data Indicators Workbook provides detailed, state-by-state performance on the Child and Family Services Reviews (CFSR) Round 4 statewide data indicators and comparisons to national performance for the most recent 12-month reporting period.

This issue of Child and Family Services Reviews Update contains the following sections: Round 4 Year 1 Schedule, diverse agile staff sought for CFSRs, Round 4 Procedures Manual released, Round 4 Online Monitoring System (OMS) launched, Round 4 Data Profiles, visualizations released, new resources added to the CFSR Information Portal, and the Child Welfare Virtual Expo.

This resource provides information on recruiting reviewers who participate in the Child and Family Services Reviews (CFSRs) conducted by the Children's Bureau.