Alameda County outlines five-year child-welfare improvement plan after state review flags gaps at Assessment Center

Alameda County officials told the Social Services Committee on Jan. 27 that the county’s five-year System Improvement Plan (SIP), built from a county self-assessment and peer review, targets persistent shortfalls in permanency outcomes and delays in timely investigations identified through the California Child and Family Services Review process.

Why it matters: The SIP is the county’s response to federal and state oversight designed to improve child-safety outcomes, decrease reentry into foster care and ensure timely investigations. County leaders said the SIP will guide investments, practice changes and interagency coordination over the next five years.

Key metrics: Bud Seeley, management analyst, said the county’s performance on the P3 permanency measure was 23.8% for quarter 1 of 2024, compared with a national standard of 37.3% (231 children formed the baseline cohort). For related investigation measures, the county reported 89.1% for immediate (24-hour) responses (state standard 90%), but only 31.8% for investigations that must start within 10 days (state standard 90%), leaving 296 investigations outside the required window in the sample quarter.

Drivers and proposed fixes: Staff attributed much of the shortfall to staffing vacancies (the department reported roughly 40% of child-welfare worker positions unfilled overall, and only 43% of emergency-response positions staffed in a recent period). Proposed SIP strategies include updating permanency guides and producing youth-friendly materials; enhancing family-finding and engagement methods (resuming work with Casey Family Programs and adding partners); creating a dedicated 10-day investigations unit to reduce assignment disruption; reducing administrative documentation burdens via system updates; and continuing a continuous-hiring program.

Assessment Center findings: The committee also reviewed an independent assessment of the Alameda County Assessment Center by the California Department of Social Services. The CDSS review (site visits, focus groups and 26 case-record reviews) identified strengths—intentional efforts to reduce overstays, high rates of initial sibling placement and use of Child and Family Team (CFT) meetings—but also found significant issues: 58% of the reviewed youth were not placed within three days, placement histories were frequently incomplete, and many youth with complex needs experienced placement disruption. CDSS recommended clearer placement-episode documentation, tailored safety-planning and capacity-building for complex-care placements.

Funding and corrective steps: Staff reported the county has opted into the KinFirst Accelerator and was allocated $2,500,000 in one-time funds to enhance family-finding and support specialized services; the county said many CDSS recommendations are already in progress (policy for placement episodes, documentation and interagency MOU work) and that CDSS will post the SIP on the state website after approval. Supervisors asked for the SIP and related materials to be posted online and discussed forming a joint follow-up meeting with health, probation, education and community-based organizations to ensure interagency alignment.

Quotes from staff and supervisors: "Our performance was 23.8% and the national standard is 37.3%," Seeley said, underlining the numeric gap the SIP aims to close. Agency staff told the committee they will deploy a mix of policy, staffing adjustments and process changes and return progress updates to the Board.

Next steps: Staff said the SIP will be submitted to the state for review and must return to the Board for approval before posting on the CDSS website; the assessment-center recommendations have specific 90-day and ongoing implementation items, and county officials recommended interagency and community meetings to ensure CBO input and to address the needs of youth who do not fit existing placement systems.

Ending: The committee asked staff to post materials online, continue interagency work, use KinFirst funds to strengthen family finding, and return with updates and the SIP for board approval once the state review is complete.