STRENGTHENING COMMUNITIES, FAMILIES, AND CHILDREN:

MEASUREMENT, RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT & SYSTEM PLANNING

Erwin McEwen & Dana A. Weiner

Illinois Department of Children & Family Services

Northwestern University

Keep the focus…

“on protecting children, by strengthening and supporting families”

Violence, Crime, Poverty, Lack of Resources

Stress, Trauma, Lack of Resources

Trauma, High Risk for Negative Outcomes

Community

Family

Child

Using data to support & strengthen the child welfare system

Inform new initiatives, identify resource gaps

Monitor effectiveness of interventions, identify

emerging needs

Support for decision-making, identify

needed resources Caseworker

System

Program

Measurement for Transforming of Child Welfare Practice Evaluation considerations

Target/goalsTimingAssessment Strategies

Evaluation Targets/GoalsTargets: Casework level Service Level Agency level System levelGoals: Decision making Determining effectiveness of

interventions Continuous Quality Improvement Planning needed resources

Family & Youth Program System

Decision Support Service Planning; CANS-

Recommended Service Report from

SPD

Placement Decision Making - CAYIT

Maps of CANS-assessed Needs and

Resources from SPD

Outcome Monitoring

CANS Compare Report

Parent Readiness for Reunification Report

Evaluation – SOC Outcomes

Performance Based Contracting in Foster Care & Residential Placement

Quality Improvement

Case ManagementSupervision

Data Summits for individual programs

– CAYIT, IA

Statewide Trauma Plan

DCFS Evaluation Activities

Timing: Evaluation as an ongoing process Initial assessments The value of adding subsequent

measurementsObserving changePredicting outcomesGuiding treatment planning decisions

IA CANS

Statewide Provider Database

Gap Analysis: Are resources sufficient

to meet needs?

Initial

Data on Child/Family Needs

Data on Community

Resources

Analytic Tools

6 Months 12 Months

ACR CANS

CANS Changes Report: Did services

address needs?

Record of services

delivered

ACR CANS

Trajectory Analysis: Are the services

effectively addressing needs?

Record of Services Delivered

Illinois CANS 2.0 Revisions & Additions

Enhanced caregiver sectionTrauma & strengths in the forefront

Utilization All cases at 6 month intervals Specific programs & processes (SOC, Residential, CAYIT

to guide decision making or track progress) Integration

Service Planning with Statewide Provider DatabaseGeomapping for Gap AnalysisPlanning new initiatives (JJ, Differential Response)Understanding trends (Strengths, Trauma, and Risk

behaviors; Strengths and Placement Instability)

Enhanced Caregiver section incorporates: Strengthening Families protective factors:

1. Parental Resilience

2. Social Connections

3. Knowledge of Parenting and Child Development

4. Concrete Support in Times of Need

5. Social and Emotional Competence of Children

6. Healthy Parent-Child Relationships

Parent /Caregiver Commitment to Permanency Safety items

CANS for Case Work Staff Website

Parent Readiness for reunification worksheet

Juvenile Justice and Child Welfare

Proportion of Actionable Items or Usable Strengths, Controlling for Trauma History

Never Incarcerated (%)

Ever Incarcerated (%)

Risk Ratio P value

Trauma Experiences 28.80 28.43 1.00 1.0000

Trauma Symptoms 21.26 21.19 1.27 0.1761

Child Strengths 52.48 40.04 0.41 0.0463

Life Domain Functioning 28.97 38.02 3.30 0.0084

Emotional/Behavioral Needs 20.36 27.44 2.73 0.0000

Risk Behaviors 17.16 27.41 4.06 0.0000

Older Adolescent Items 21.24 27.08 1.87 0.0229

Juvenile Justice and Child Welfare – Service Needs

N=151 youth assessed with CANS in Cook County Probation

Placement Trajectories based on Mean CANS Domain Scores

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

-2 -1 0 1 2 3

Year

CA

NS

Ov

era

ll C

hil

d S

co

re

ALLILORFCFCSFCTLPGHRES

CANS-Based Trajectories by Placement Type

ALL ILO RFC FC SFC TLP GH RESb b b b b b b b

Intercept 8.81** 7.75** 7.01** 6.51** 8.16** 8.86** 9.09** 10.72**TE 0.58** 0.8** 0.63** 0.66** 0.56** 0.59** 0.53** 0.59**TS 0.25** 0.04 0.25** 0.2** 0.19** 0.36* 0.24** 0.26**CS 0.51** 1.11** 0.58** 0.46** 0.44** 0.51** 0.41** 0.41**LDF 0.66** 0.58 0.56** 0.77** 0.57** 0.11 0.57** 0.53**

CBEN 0.59** 0.64 0.55** 0.32** 0.58** 0.84** 0.44** 0.46**CRB 0.82** 0.45 0.67** 0.42** 0.48** 0.43* 0.4** 0.66**

Hinge 1 0.32** -1.74** 0.06 0.54** 0.23* -0.37* 0.06 0.65**TE 0.06 0.41 0.25 0.26 -0.11 -0.03 0.05 0.03TS 0.21** -1.15 0.29 0.14 0.26* 0.31 0.14 0.12CS 0.1 2.14 0.07 0.04 0.01 -0.21 0.3* 0.17LDF 0.55** -0.9 0.8** 0.56** 0.35* 0.32 0.78** 0.44**

CBEN 0.32** 0.7 0.07 0.39* 0.3* 0.49 0.18 0.39**CRB -0.17 -0.48 -0.27 -0.22 0.18 -0.12 0.13 0.08

Hinge 2 -0.31** 0.37 -0.02 -0.15 0.51** 0.14 0.3 -0.98**TE -0.28** -1.45* -0.38* -0.48** -0.33 0.36 -0.24 -0.21TS -0.17* 1.71** -0.25 0.02 0.02 0.22 -0.17 -0.23CS -0.25** -1.45 -0.59** -0.42** -0.16 -0.01 -0.21 -0.2LDF -0.42** 1.32 -0.23 -0.2 -0.19 -0.55 -0.48* -0.66**

CBEN -0.42** 0.62 -0.8** -0.25 -0.36 -1.11 -0.62** -0.28CRB 0.14 -0.44 0.67** 0.22 -0.05 0.97 0.08 -0.26

Logtime -0.41** -0.64 -0.29* -0.25* -0.62** -1.4** -0.58** -0.36**TE 0 1.86 0 0.1 -0.01 -0.83 -0.15 0.09TS -0.09 -0.95 -0.14 -0.4** -0.22 -0.22 0.08 0.02CS -0.09 -3.73* 0.06 0.06 -0.02 0.41 -0.08 -0.18LDF 0.06 -0.38 0.05 -0.27 -0.03 0.76 -0.05 0.29*

CBEN 0.04 1.71 0.27 0.03 -0.1 0.17 0.36 -0.1CRB -0.12 -0.12 -0.3 0.09 0.04 -1.04 -0.24 -0.19

n case 2656 38 535 642 521 103 487 981n spell 3808 38 600 778 606 106 517 1163n cans 22953 303 4056 4661 4375 1016 5600 10340

Statewide Provider Database Online Search Tool Geocoded service delivery locations Highly detailed descriptions of programs

and services Broad user base invested in helping to

maintain current data Integrated with CANS, Child Placement

Data, and Geomapping website

19

20

22

24

25

26

Strengthening Communities with SPD Raising awareness of resources

Regular training in the use of SPDParticipation in community “resource fairs”

Providing access to resource information in exchange for shared responsibility for maintenance

Inter-agency collaboration to ensure adequate resource availability

Community Collaboration – SPD Training Chicago Public Schools

Social Workers YMCA Chicago Police Department

Community Policing Unit

Kane County Learning Network

Youth 1st Alternative Schools

Network (mentors) South Suburban Family

Shelter CDPH

Northwestern Legal Clinic

La Rabida Family Focus -

Nuestra Familia LAN 79 Birth Parent Council

Summit Safety Networks Cook County

Probation

EBP Trained/Certified Staff

EBP Qualification by Type

0

50

100

150

EBP Type

# o

f s

taff

Trained 6 5 26 22 104

Certified 2 5 25 10 41

CPP CADV EMDR SPARCS TFCBT

IDCFS Geomapping Website

50 Cases PerSquareMile

Service Accessibility & Outcomes

Rural

10 m

5 m

2.5 m

Lt. Urban

Urban

Independent variables

Age Clinical characteristics – CANS scale scores

Risk behaviorsEmotional/behavioral needsStrengthsTrauma experiencesTrauma stress symptomsAcculturationLife domain functioning

Service Accessibility

Overall Predictors of Placement DisruptionCovariates Beta SE Wald P value Exp (B) C.I.

Age .03 .01 14.09 <.001 1.03 1.01-1.04

Provider Access

-.24 .06 16.44 <.001 .79 .71-.89

Trauma Experiences

.03 .01 10.34 <.01 1.03 1.01-1.04

Strengths -.04 .01 17.41 <.001 .97 .95-.98

Risk Behaviors

.07 .01 29.81 <.001 1.07 1.04-1.09

Predictors by Land UseCovariates Beta S.E. Wal

dP Value

Exp (B)

C.I.

Rural

Access -.86 .038

5.23 <.05 .42 .20-.88

Risk Behaviors

.14 .03 27.06

<.001 1.15 1.09-1.21

Light Urban

Access -.20 .09 4.47 <.05 .82 .68-.98

Trauma Experiences

.05 .01 16.88

<.001 1.08 1.06-1.13

Functioning .08 .01 35.56

<.001 1.08 1.06-1.13

Urban

Age .04 .01 8.42 <.01 1.04 1.01-1.06

Strengths -.03 .01 5.60 <.05 .97 .95-.99

Risk Behaviors

.06 .02 9.28 <.01 1.06 1.02-1.11

Barriers to CANS implementation Technology keeping pace with

innovation Change in practice requiring an

additional tool Comfort/familiarity with data driven

decision-making

Future Directions

Coordinate between child-serving agencies using child assessment and provider data

Integrate access information, trajectory models, and other tools into contracting approaches to make efficient use of resources

Continue to educate staff on the use of data and new tools to support decision-making