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Children's committee endorses quarterly DCF scorecard, plans six annual data reviews
Summary
Sen. Cece Marr and stakeholder appointees agreed the SAC will review DCF data six times a year, use multiple data sources beyond the CFSR, and work toward publishing elements of a DCF scorecard in January 2025 while completing a new case-management system in August 2025.
Sen. Cece Marr convened a meeting of the Children's Committee and stakeholders to organize how the State Advisory Council (SAC) and the Department of Children and Families (DCF) will present and review child-welfare data.
The committee agreed the SAC will review six topic areas twice across the year — effectively meeting six times annually to examine safety, permanency, well‑being and prevention measures both statewide and regionally. "We're looking at the data six times a year and we're looking at each measure twice," Sarah Loughrey, co‑chair of the SAC and chief operating officer at the Children's Center of Hamden, said during introductions.
Committee members described a planned public DCF scorecard and the reporting cadence. Nicole Dionysus, DCF director of continuous quality improvement, said, "I believe the data is gonna be refreshed quarterly," and later clarified, "we hope that some of that information will be publicly available in January" 2025. Vinny Russo, DCF chief of government relations and policy, added that DCF is preparing a new child‑welfare information system scheduled for August 2025.
Members pressed DCF staff on data sources and sample sizes. Brendan Burke, assistant child advocate, asked whether relying on the federal Child and Family Service Review (CFSR) — a relatively small sample — would be sufficient for quarterly analysis, saying the CFSR sample was "relatively small, like 50 cases or so." Committee staff and DCF officials replied that the SAC will combine multiple sources (CFSP/ASPR reporting, internal Grama and link reports, qualitative case reviews and CFSR reviews) to create consistent scorecard indicators and to allow regional analysis.
Senators and stakeholder representatives emphasized the value of operational and qualitative data in addition to federal reports. Brendan urged that monthly operational and qualitative data — which DCF uses internally to inform practice — should help explain the story behind trend lines and support timely practice improvements.
There were no formal motions or votes recorded during this meeting. The committee concluded with an agreement to form follow‑up scheduling: Sen. Marr asked that a staff member (Christian) circulate meeting dates so the group can continue the planned data reviews and refinement of the scorecard.
The committee's immediate next steps are to: finalize the SAC review schedule (six meetings per year, topic rotations), publish initial scorecard elements (target January 2025), continue building the scorecard with quarterly refreshes, and prepare for the agency's new child‑welfare information system in August 2025.
