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DFCS gives monthly corrective-action update; committee presses for safety-plan quality checks and real-time reviews
Summary
DFCS told the Children, Seniors and Family Committee that it finalized a safety-planning review tool and would start randomized CQI reviews in March while supervisors pressed the department to show how the tool will capture plan quality and real-time implementation.
Department of Family and Children Services (DFCS) staff presented a monthly update on the child-welfare corrective action plan to the Children, Seniors and Family Committee on March 27, outlining work in the areas of safety, workforce development and partnerships.
What DFCS reported Sarah Duffy, DFCS deputy director, said the department completed a final draft of a safety-planning review tool and will begin a randomized, qualitative continuous-quality-improvement (CQI) review in March in partnership with the California Department of Social Services. "We are finalizing the methodology for the randomized review of cases," Duffy said. DFCS staff also reported ongoing supervisory monitoring of safety plans while the CQI review is operationalized.
Training and coaching: DFCS provided a tracker of trainings and coaching sessions delivered to managers, supervisors and social workers and said it is developing a follow-up survey with the Office of Research and Evaluation to gather participant feedback.
Partnership work: DFCS said it had deep-dive technical assistance with CDSS on child fatality reporting and is continuing work with behavioral health, courts, the Childrens Advocacy Center and other partners.
Committees questions: quality, timing and monitoring Supervisors pressed DFCS on how the safety-planning review tool will evaluate whether short-term safety measures actually mitigate the safety threats that prompted the plan. Committee members asked whether the tool is a retrospective documentation audit or whether it will support real-time review and coaching. DFCS said the tool will be used both retrospectively and during implementation; supervisors requested the department return with the six tools in the corrective action plan and a timeline for initial CQI results.
Public comment: members of the public raised serious allegations about child abuse and expressed skepticism about whether corrective actions are protecting children in specific individual cases. DFCS said state law restricts disclosure of details related to ongoing investigations and affirmed that cross-agency responses to child-abuse allegations take place among DFCS, law enforcement, the Childrens Advocacy Center and the district attorney.
Action: committee received the report The committee voted to receive the report, and supervisors asked DFCS to return with additional detail on tool deployment and early CQI results so the committee could track whether safety-planning practice is improving.
Ending: DFCS agreed to supply more detailed tool documentation and said it would return with initial CQI findings later in the summer.
