Progress of the Michigan Department of Human Services, Period Three Monitoring Report, Dec 7, 2010

8/8/2019 Progress of the Michigan Department of Human Services, Period Three Monitoring Report, Dec 7, 2010

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Progress of theMichigan Department of

Human Services

Period Three Monitoring Report for

Dwayne B. v. Granholm

October 1, 2009March 31, 2010

Issued December 7, 2010


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Progress of the Michigan Department of Human Services

Period Three Monitoring Report for

Dwayne B. v. Granholm

October 1, 2009

March 31, 2010

ContentsI. Introduction & Overview ......................................................................................................... 1

II. Summary of Progress & Challenges Ahead ............................................................................. 2

III. Summary of Commitments...................................................................................................... 7

IV. Methodology ......................................................................................................................... 27

V. Demographics ........................................................................................................................ 28

A. Complaints, Investigations, and Substantiations of Abuse and Neglect ....................... 28

B. Population of Children in Custody ................................................................................. 29

VI. Building the Organizational Capacity to Support Reform ..................................................... 32

A. Building a Childrens Services Organization and Structure ............................................ 32

B. Strengthening Contract Oversight ................................................................................. 36

C. Assessing the Adequacy of Resources for Reform ......................................................... 38

D. Assessing the Needs of Children and Families ............................................................... 39

VII. Developing the Workforce to Deliver High Quality Services ................................................. 40

A. Increasing Worker Qualifications ................................................................................... 40

B. Expanding Training to Strengthen the Workforce ......................................................... 41

C. Lowering Caseloads ........................................................................................................ 44

D. Challenges Ahead ........................................................................................................... 50

VIII.Developing the Capacity for Assessment & Implementation ............................................... 51

A. Accessing and Utilizing Data........................................................................................... 51

B. Federal Outcome Reporting ........................................................................................... 55

C. Implementing Quality Assurance ................................................................................... 62

IX. Improving Safety .................................................................................................................... 66

A. Establishing a Statewide Child Abuse Hotline ................................................................ 66

B. Assessing CPS Capacity & Performance ......................................................................... 67


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C. Building a Robust CPS Quality Assurance System .......................................................... 68

X. Addressing Abuse and Neglect in Placement ........................................................................ 69

A. Structure and Reporting ................................................................................................. 71

B. Coordination ................................................................................................................... 74

C. Deploying New Accountability Tools ............................................................................. 75

D. Special Reviews .............................................................................................................. 78

XI. Improving Placement Practice ............................................................................................... 79

A. Implementing a Child Placement Process ...................................................................... 79

B. Changing Specific Placement Practices .......................................................................... 80

XII. Recruitment, Retention & Licensing Capacity ....................................................................... 88

A. Relative, Foster and Adoptive Homes ............................................................................ 88

B. Developing Placement Resources .................................................................................. 89C. Needs Assessment.......................................................................................................... 90

D. Adoptive Home Recruitment ......................................................................................... 92

XIII.Achieving Permanency for Children and Youth ................................................................... 102

A. Permanency Planning Goals ......................................................................................... 103

B. Concurrent Permanency Planning ............................................................................... 105

C. Assessments and Service Plans .................................................................................... 106

D. Team Decision Making/Permanency Planning Conferences ....................................... 107

E. Permanency Tracking System ...................................................................................... 109

F. Caseworker Contacts and Visitation ............................................................................ 110

G. Adoption ....................................................................................................................... 113

H. Improving the Adoption Process .................................................................................. 115

I. Supporting Adoptive and Guardianship Families ......................................................... 116

J. Focusing on Waiting Youth in Need of Permanency: The Backlog Cohorts ................ 118

K. Focusing on Youth Who Do Not Achieve Permanency: Youth Aging Out of Care ...... 121

XIV.Improving the Well-Being of Children in DHS Custody ....................................................... 124

A. Ensuring the Physical and Mental Health of Children in Custody................................ 124

B. Provision of Educational Services................................................................................. 124


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Appendices

Appendix A - Plaintiffs Notice of Non-Compliance and Related Documents ............................. A-1

Appendix B - Complaints, Investigations, Substantiations, and Timeliness .............................. A-25

Appendix C - Ages of Children in Custody by County ................................................................ A-30

Appendix D - Length of Stay by County ..................................................................................... A-33

Appendix E - CPS Caseloads by County ...................................................................................... A-36

Appendix F - Foster Care Caseloads by County/Agency ............................................................ A-41

Appendix G - Adoption Caseloads by County/Agency ............................................................... A-46

Appendix H - Licensing Caseloads by County/Agency ............................................................... A-51

Appendix I - POS Caseloads by County ...................................................................................... A-55

Appendix J - Supervisory Staff Ratios by County/Agency .......................................................... A-58

Appendix K - Foster Homes Licensing Targets by County .......................................................... A-62

Appendix L - Reunification Permanency Backlog Cohort Progress by County .......................... A-65

Appendix M - Legally Free Permanency Backlog Cohort Progress by County ........................... A-68


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Tables

Table 1 Comparison of Pre-Service Training in Period Two and Period Three .......................... 41

Table 2 Implementation Schedule for In-Service Training ........................................................ 43

Table 3 CPS Caseloads ................................................................................................................ 45

Table 4 Foster Care Caseloads ................................................................................................... 47

Table 5 Adoption Caseloads ....................................................................................................... 48

Table 6 Licensing Caseloads ....................................................................................................... 49

Table 7 POS Monitor Caseloads ................................................................................................. 49

Table 8 Supervisor to Staff Ratios .............................................................................................. 50

Table 9 CFSR Measures .............................................................................................................. 57

Table 10 Period Three Special Reviews ..................................................................................... 64

Table 11 Licensing FTEs .............................................................................................................. 99

Table 12 Licensing Training ...................................................................................................... 102

Table 13 Federal Goals ............................................................................................................. 104

Table 14 Permanency Goal Approval Requests ....................................................................... 105

Table 15 Permanency Planning Conferences........................................................................... 108

Table 16 Subsidy Expenditures ................................................................................................ 117

Table 17 Backlog Cohort Performance .................................................................................... 119


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Figures

Figure 1 Ages of Children in Custody ......................................................................................... 30

Figure 2 Race of Children in Custody ......................................................................................... 30

Figure 3 Placement of Children in Custody ................................................................................ 31

Figure 4 Length of Stay in Custody............................................................................................. 32

Figure 5 Foster and Relative Homes Licensed ........................................................................... 89

Figure 6 Children Remaining in Relative Backlog Cohort........................................................... 96

Figure 7 Children Newly Placed with Relatives .......................................................................... 97

Figure 8 Children Placed with Unlicensed Relatives .................................................................. 97

Figure 9 Worker Contacts with Parents (First Month)............................................................. 111

Figure 10 Worker Contacts with Parents (Subsequent Months) ............................................. 112

Figure 11 Parent and Child Visits ............................................................................................. 113

Figure 12 Ages of Older Youth in Care ..................................................................................... 121


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I. Introduction & OverviewThis document serves as the third report to the Honorable Nancy Edmunds of the United States

District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan in the matter ofDwayne B. v. Granholm. On

July 3, 2008, the parties, the State of Michigan, the Michigan Department of Human Services

(DHS), and Childrens Rights (CR), signed an Agreement to resolve pending litigation regarding

Michigans child welfare system. DHS is a statewide multi-service agency providing cash

assistance, food stamps, and child protection, prevention and placement services for the State

of Michigan. Childrens Rights is a national advocacy organization with more than two decades

of experience in class action reform litigation on behalf of children involved in child welfare

systems. The court formally approved the Agreement on October 24, 2008, and appointed

Kevin Ryan of the Public Catalyst Group as the monitor charged with overseeing and reporting

on DHS progress implementing its commitments. In turn, he assembled the Michigan

monitoring team composed of members of Public Catalyst with experience with child welfare

reform in other jurisdictions, both as former administrators and advocates. The monitoring

team is responsible for assessing the State s performance under the Agreement. The parties

have agreed that the monitoring team shall take into account timeliness, appropriateness, and

quality in reporting on DHS performance.

The Agreement is structured into six-month periods with public reporting by the monitoring

team following each period. This report is for Period Three October 1, 2009 through March

31, 2010. Reports issue approximately every six months until such time as DHS complies with

the terms of the Agreement and Court jurisdiction ends.

The Agreement reflects the parties joint desire to improve outcomes for children and families

in Michigans child welfare system as quickly as possible. The parties stressed several goals in

the Agreement:

Achieving permanent homes for more than 6,000 legally free children and youth; Safely reuniting more than 4,000 children and youth with their families; Investing in infrastructure and developing practices designed to improve safety,

permanency and well-being outcomes for children in foster care;

Enhancing investigative practice to better identify, address and reduce instances of childabuse and neglect in the community and in foster care; and

Providing increased supervision, services and support to children in foster care who areplaced with relatives, rather than non-relative foster families.


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In order to accomplish these goals, the Agreement also provides for a series of necessary

foundational elements, including:

Supporting the workforce by lowering caseloads and enhancing training; Expanding and focusing services for children and families; Building planning, data, and continuous quality improvement capacity; and Developing an organizational structure to better support child welfare service delivery

and to build stronger links and improved accountability among the public offices in the

counties, the private agencies, and central office leadership.

On March 10, 2010, after issuance of the Period Two monitoring report, plaintiffs filed a notice

of non-compliance alleging that DHS was not in substantial compliance with the Agreement.

DHS responded to that notice on March 25, 2010, and the parties met with the monitoring

team to confer in good faith regarding those allegations. During that process, DHS leadership

made a number of commitments regarding efforts they would undertake going forward to

ensure that they achieved the Agreements requirements, which were documented in a

memorandum drafted by the monitoring team. Plaintiffs did not accept those commitments as

a resolution of the issues raised in their notice of non-compliance; instead, plaintiffs expressly

reserved their right to institute legal action and seek strict compliance with the terms of the

Agreement after receipt of the monitoring report for Period Three. Plaintiffs notice of non-

compliance, DHS response, the monitoring teams memorandum documenting DHS

commitments, and plaintiffs comments regarding that document are attached as Appendix A.

As will be discussed later in this report, during verification for Period Three the monitoringteam discovered significant issues with the quality of DHS data reporting for the period.

Because of those issues, DHS was unable to produce Period Three data they represented as

complete until August, more than 120 days after the end of the reporting period and well

outside of the 60-day period authorized by the Agreement. This caused a significant delay in

the issuance of this report. Due to that delay the monitoring team has, in some instances,

included relevant and material information that post-dates Period Three.

II. Summary of Progress & Challenges AheadHighlights

In FY 2009, DHS and the Michigan Judiciary achieved permanency through adoption for 3,030

foster children and youth, the highest number of adoptions in a single year on record in

Michigan. This data became available in Period Three and represents a significant achievement


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resulting in an award of $3.5 million from the federal government that can be utilized to

develop services to support children, youth and families.

DHS has maintained its commitment to place children in family settings, while apparently1

continuing to reduce the use of institutional care.

At the close of Period Three, 85 percent of children and youth in DHS custody lived infamily settings, including foster families (30 percent), with relatives (32 percent), with

their own parents (16 percent), and with families who intend to adopt the child (seven

percent).

At the same time, 891 children and youth lived in institutional settings, includingresidential treatment and other congregate care facilities, which appears

2to be a

significant decline from the beginning of the reform effort.

DHS has implemented a Treatment Home program to offer intensive services in a family-likesetting to children and youth with special needs, and at the conclusion of Period Three reported

utilizing at least 100 new Treatment Home beds since the beginning of the reform effort.

DHS has maintained foster care caseload standards and, for the first time, reported on and

achieved a number of new caseload standards.

DHS maintained its performance achieving caseload standards for foster care workers,with 95 percent of staff with 30 or fewer children, 92 percent of staff with 25 or fewer

children, and 84 percent of staff with 22 or fewer children.

For the first time, DHS reported on caseloads for licensing workers, with 81 percent ofthose staff managing 36 or fewer cases, exceeding the target of 60 percent.

Also for the first time, DHS reported on purchase of service monitoring caseloads, with89 percent of those staff with 55 or fewer cases, exceeding the target of 60 percent.

DHS also reported on the ratios of supervisors to staff for the first time, with 63 percentof supervisors having responsibility for five or fewer caseload-carrying staff, exceeding

the target of 50 percent.

1Because of data issues for Periods One and Two that surfaced for the first time in Period Three, the monitoring

team does not have baseline data to establish this trend with sufficient certainty.

2See n.1, supra.


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Challenges

As documented in the Period Two report, one year into the reform, DHS leadership had fallen

behind on delivering some critical, core aspects of the reform effort. The Honorable Nancy

Edmunds, U.S.D.J., gathered the parties in March 2010 and emphasized the need for

improvement in four core areas where DHS had made commitments but performance was

lacking. Those areas included achieving all agreed-upon caseload standards, including those for

child protective services and adoptions; ensuring adequate training for staff; identifying and

reporting maltreatment in care accurately; and achieving permanency for thousands of the

longest-waiting legally free children. Unfortunately, DHS performance in most of these areas,

and several others, stalled or eroded during Period Three.

DHS did not achieve critical commitments with respect to ensuring there were sufficient staff to

conduct timely and thorough investigations, work with families in homes where safety issues

were identified or meet all adoption standards. Nor did DHS meet all of its commitments withrespect to ensuring training for new workers before they had responsibility for children and

families or for supervisors before they began to supervise caseworkers.

DHS again failed to achieve by a wide margin caseload standards for child protectiveservices workers, both those who investigate allegations of child abuse and neglect and

those who provide ongoing services to children and families. DHS performance

worsened from Period Two to Period Three, and continued to decline through June

2010. As this report was being finalized, DHS indicated that more than 1,300 staff will

be retiring from the agency. DHS reports that one impact of this wave of retirementswill be to slow their attempts to fill staff positions. As a result, they do not anticipate

that they will achieve compliance with child protective services caseload standards in

Periods Four or Five. DHS also failed to achieve two of the three adoption caseload

standards, with performance on each of those two standards eroding compared to

Period Two.

DHS has been unable to ensure that all newly hired workers are being adequatelyprepared to investigate child abuse and neglect and advance children s safety and well-

being before they are fully deployed to the field. DHS was unable to provide data

demonstrating that newly-hired workers had responsibility for no more than three caseswhile in pre-service training and notified the monitoring team the data provided in the

prior monitoring period was incorrect.

DHS performance in the recruitment, retention, and licensing of foster and relative homes for

children in placement declined during Period Three.


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DHS licensed 189 fewer foster homes in Period Three than in Period Two, a 15 percentdecline in performance that further exacerbated the lack of an adequate number of

placements for children in DHS custody. DHS closed more homes than were licensed in

Period Three, leading to a net loss of 75 homes for children.

DHS has been unable to license most new relative placements, only licensing or waivinglicensure for seven percent of the relative homes in which 1,918 children were placed

during the period. This failure deprives those relative homes of the support and

resources available to non-kin foster homes.

In the Agreement, DHS committed to complete the licensing process within 90 days.Currently, DHS reports the licensing process is taking an average of six and a half

months, more than twice the 90-day period.

The monitoring team identified significant issues with basic and critical data reporting by

DHS leadership that undermine the completeness of much of the data reported by DHS in the

prior two monitoring periods.

When DHS produced data regarding the number of children in care at the end of PeriodTwo, children who had entered and exited care during Period Three, and the number of

children in care at the end of the period, the monitoring team immediately noticed a

basic math problem. Beginning with the number of children in care at the end of Period

Two, adding the number of all children entering care during Period Three, and

subtracting all children who left care during Period Three, should have equaled the

number of children in care at the end of Period Three. It did not. When questioned,

only then did DHS identify a series of data issues that implicate the completeness of the

data proffered by DHS in prior reporting periods.

For the first time, DHS identified significant time delays in the entry of data, rangingfrom 106 days to enter 95 percent of adoption finalizations to as much as 225 days to

enter 95 percent of placement data. These data lags prevented DHS from reporting

data within 60 days, as required by the Agreement.

After analysis, DHS revised the number of children they previously reported as being incare at the end of Period Two upward, adding more than one thousand additional

children and youth, including a group of key concern in the Agreement, several hundred

children in the adoption program.

DHS has not made the strides envisioned by the Agreement to improve permanency practices

to better help youth achieve timely permanency.


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DHS performance on the backlog of children who are legally free and awaiting adoptionwas woefully inadequate during this period. DHS did not achieve permanency for the

target of 50 percent of these children that was due by September 30, 2009, even with

the six additional months of Period Three. By the end of Period Two, DHS had achieved

permanency for 33 percent of children, and added only six percent of children in PeriodThree. This performance does not bode well for the likelihood of DHS achieving the

target of 85 percent of these children achieving permanency by the end of Period Four.

DHS did not achieve the targets for visitation between caseworkers and parents andparents and children, missing by a wide margin.

Despite the commitments in the Agreement, DHS has not yet seen an expansion in thenumber of older youth whose cases are kept open past age 18. DHS data shows a 28

percent increase in the number of youth aging out without permanency. DHS is in part

reducing the population of children in foster care by closing cases of older youth who

have not achieved permanency despite committing to keep those cases open longer toprovide supportive services.

As forecast in the Period Two monitoring report, Period Three presented significant challenges

for DHS in its effort to reform Michigans child welfare system. DHS leadership faced the

formidable task of launching reforms for the first time during the period while at the same time

attempting to catch up with reforms that were targeted during earlier periods but not yet

achieved. Unfortunately, DHS leadership has increasingly fallen behind and, worse, lost ground

on important fronts.

The scope of DHS non-compliance with the Agreement is substantial, and recorded in detail inthis report. There is a palpable sense of disappointment with the reform effort across the

system, which has only grown over time. Child welfare managers and staff across Michigan, in

both the private and public sector, are working very hard, but their best efforts are often

undone by poor planning and a lack of adequate coordination. Public and private child welfare

managers who expected that the reform era would usher forth manageable child protection

and adoption caseloads, an expanded pool of available foster homes, well-coordinated training

and enhanced services for families have often been sorely disappointed. Adolescents in care

who hoped for permanency or, at the least, the skills to help them survive on their own, often

aged out with neither. Most of the children in the legally free backlog cohort the longestwaiting children in the Michigan child welfare system languished through Period Three, still

waiting for their forever families. DHS leadership has not been able to offer sufficient support,

guidance, and resources necessary to focus, prioritize, and sequence the work. Unless there is a

fundamental adjustment in their approach to this undertaking, it is unlikely this reform will


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reach most of the children and families of the Michigan child welfare system in the foreseeable

future.

III. Summary of CommitmentsSettlement Agreement Commitment

Due

Date Completed Comment

I.H & I Funding: Defendants shall request

funds sufficient to effect the provisions in

this Agreement in connection with any

budget, funding, or allocation request to the

executive or legislative branches of State

government. See page 38 Ongoing Partially

State requested

additional but

insufficient support

from the Michigan

Legislature.

III.D Maltreatment in Foster Care: By the end

of Reporting Period Two, the percentage of

children not maltreated while in foster care

will be 99.68% or higher. See page 56 9/30/09 NoIII.E.1 Timely and Permanent Reunification:

DHS shall meet an interim CFSR target score

of 99 by Reporting Period Two and report on

each of the individual component measures

for Composite One. See page 56 9/30/09 Yes

III.E.2 Timeliness to Adoption: DHS shall

meet an interim CFSR target score of 93 by

Reporting Period Two and report on each of

the individual component measures for

Composite Two. See page 56 9/30/09 Yes

III.E.3 Permanency for Long-waiting Childrenin Foster Care: DHS shall meet an interim

CFSR target score of 118 by Reporting Period

Two and report on each of the individual

component measures for Composite Three.

See page 56 9/30/09 Yes

III.E.4 Placement Stability in Foster Care:

DHS shall maintain a CFSR score of 101.5 or

higher for all Reporting Periods, and report

on each of the individual component

measures. See page 56 Ongoing Yes

IV.A.5 CSA Oversight: The Childrens ServicesAdministration shall hold responsibility for

evaluating the performance of contract

providers of childrens services. See page 36 Ongoing Yes


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Settlement Agreement Commitment

Due


IV.A.6 Bifurcation: Individuals within the

Childrens Services Administration shall not

hold responsibility for any of DHS other

functions, such as cash assistance, Medicaid,and adult services. See page 32 Ongoing Yes

IV.B CSA Structure: DHS, plaintiffs, and the

Monitor will meet to review the progress of

implementation of the organizational

changes from the organizational structure

section. See page 32

Ongoing Yes

Although DHS

complied with this

commitment during

Period Three, DHS

changed the

organizational

structure during Period

Four in a manner that

is not compliant with

the Agreement.

V.A CA/N System: DHS shall ensure that its

system for receiving, screening, and

investigating reports of child abuse and

neglect is adequately staffed and that

investigations of all reports are initiated and

completed within the time periods required

by state law. See page 67 Ongoing No

V. B Hotline-Wayne County Pilot: DHS shall

pilot a 24-hour hotline in Wayne County that

is adequately staffed and equipped for the

receipt, screening, and assignment for

investigation of reports of abuse and neglect.See page 66 10/31/09 No

V.C CPS QA: DHS shall establish and

implement a quality assurance process to

ensure that reports of abuse and neglect are

competently investigated and addressed.

See page 68 Ongoing Partially

Yes, as to

implementing a local

QA process; no as to

implementing a

statewide process.

V.D Specialized Investigative Units: DHS

shall establish separate units to investigate

all allegations of abuse or neglect relating to

any child in the foster care custody of DHS in

the Designated Counties by October 2009.See page 71 10/31/09 Yes

VI.A.1 & 4 BSW Requirement: Entry level

caseworkers in both DHS and private

agencies will have a bachelors degree in

social work or a related human services field.

See page 40 Ongoing Yes


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Due


VI.A.2 & 4 Pre-service Training: All entry

level DHS and CPA caseworkers will complete

an eight week pre-service training that

includes a total of 270 hours of competency-based classroom and field training followed

by a competency-based examination. See

page 41 Ongoing No

VI.A.2 & 4 Pre-service Training: As part of

pre-service training, a trainee may be

assigned specific tasks or activities with an

experienced worker & may have a training

caseload not to exceed three cases. See

page 41 Ongoing No

VI.B.2 & 6 Supervisor Training: All newly

hired or promoted supervisors in both the

public and private agencies shall complete

the supervisory training program and pass a

competency-based performance evaluation

within three months of assuming the

supervisory position. See page 43 Ongoing No

VI.B.4 MSW Requirement: All staff hired

from outside DHS or promoted from within

DHS to fill positions including responsibility

to supervise child welfare casework will have

earned a masters in social work from an

accredited school of social work or a masters

or higher degree in a comparable/equivalentfield or receive an approved waiver as a

condition for such hiring or promotion. See

page 40 Ongoing Yes

VI.B.5 University Based Training

Opportunities: DHS shall encourage staff to

pursue masters level work under a tuition

reimbursement program. DHS shall develop

relationships, joint programs and other

programs with universities to enhance and

improve existing training opportunities. See

page 43 Ongoing Partially

No, DHS has not

implemented tuition

reimbursement; Yes,

DHS has developed

relationships with

universities.

VI.C Licensing Worker Training: DHS shall

ensure all staff responsible for conducting

home studies, licensing inspections, annual

evaluations & other activities related to

licensing of foster homes or residential

facilities are trained. See page 101 Ongoing No


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Due


VI.D Training Oversight: There will be a

designated individual within the DHS central

office who is solely responsible for

overseeing and ensuring compliance with alltraining requirements for both DHS and

private agency workers and supervisors. Ongoing Yes

VI.E.2.a. Supervisor Staff Ratios: By January

2010, 50% of Foster Care, Adoption, and CPS

supervisors will supervise no more than five

caseworkers. See page 50 1/31/10 Yes

VI.E.3.a. Foster Care Worker Caseloads:

95% of Foster Care workers will have

caseloads of no more than 30 children and

60% of Foster Care workers will have

caseloads of no more than 25 children. See

page 46 Ongoing Yes

VI.E.3.b. Foster Care Worker Caseloads: 70%

of Foster Care workers will have caseloads of

no more than 22 children. See page 46 10/31/09 Yes

VI.E.4.a. Adoption Caseloads: 60% of

Adoption workers will have caseloads of no

more than 25 children. See page 47 Ongoing Yes

VI.E.4.b. Adoption Caseloads: 95% of

Adoption workers will have caseloads of no

more than 30 children. See page 47 Ongoing No

VI.E.4.c. Adoption Caseloads: 70% of

Adoption workers will have caseloads of nomore than 22 children. See page 47 10/31/09 No

VI.E.5.a.(i) CPS Investigations Caseloads: 95%

of CPS workers will have caseloads of no

more than 16 open cases. See page 45 Ongoing No

VI.E.5.a.(ii) CPS Investigations Caseloads:

60% of CPS workers will have caseloads of no

more than 14 open cases. See page 45 10/31/09 No

VI.E.5.b.(i) CPS On-Going Services Caseloads:

95% of CPS workers will have caseloads of no

more than 30 families. See page 45 Ongoing No

VI.E.5.b.(ii) CPS On-Going Services Caseloads:60% of CPS workers will have caseloads of no

more than 25 families. See page 45 10/31/09 No

VI.E.6.a. POS Monitoring Caseloads: 60% of

POS monitoring workers will have a caseload

of no more than 55 cases. See page 49 10/31/09 Yes


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Due


VI.7 Licensing Caseloads: 60% of Licensing

Workers will have a caseload of no more

than 36 cases. See page 48 10/31/09 Yes

VI.E.9 Caseload Tracking and Reporting: DHSwill provide regular reporting, at least

quarterly, on the percentage of supervisors

and workers in each of the categories whose

workloads meet the standards. Ongoing Yes

VII.C Team Decision Making: A TDM shall be

held to make or recommend critical case

decisions; shall be led by a trained facilitator;

and shall include the parent(s) from whom

the child has been or may be removed, foster

parent(s), child(ren) if of age to participate,

family, friends, or other supports identified

by the parent(s) and child(ren); other service

providers as appropriate, and the caseworker

with supervisory participation when

necessary. For children placed with a private

CPA, the private CPA caseworkers, and the

private CPA supervisor when necessary, shall

also be present. See page 107 3/31/10 Partially

Yes, DHS implemented

team decision making

and trained facilitators;

No, DHS did not meet

their commitment to

hire all of the full-time,

non-caseload carrying

facilitators in the 14

largest counties.

VII.F.1-7 Permanency Planning Goals (All): A

child shall be assigned only one permanency

goal at any time and this goal shall be a

federally-recognized permanency goal.

Where appropriate, a child shall also beassigned a concurrent goal in conformity

with federal regulations and section VII.F.2 of

this Agreement. See page 103 Ongoing Yes

VII.F.2 Concurrent Planning: Strategic

planning and preparation for possible

adoptive placement of a child shall occur

concurrently with the delivery of

reunification services to the childs birth

parents unless clearly inappropriate for

documented case-specific reasons. See page

105 Ongoing YesVII.F.3 Goal Change to Adoption: If a childs

goal is changed to adoption, DHS and the

assigned contract agency shall within 30 days

of the goal change: a. Assign a worker with

adoption expertise to the case; b. Determine

whether the childs foster parents or Ongoing No


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Due


relatives are prepared to adopt the child and

if so, take appropriate steps to secure their

consent to adopt; c. If no adoptive resource

has been identified, register the child onadoption exchanges; and d. Develop a child

specific recruitment plan if no adoptive

resource has been identified. See page 115

VII.F.3 Barriers to Adoption or Guardianship:

DHS in consultation with the Monitor shall

develop a process that will identify barriers

to adoption and guardianship in cases in

which a permanent home has not been

identified within six months of the childs

permanency goal becoming adoption or

guardianship. See page 115 Ongoing Partially

Yes, DHS developed

the process; No, DHS

did not implement the

process during Period

Three.

VII.F.4 TPR Petition: The process of freeing a

child for adoption and seeking and securing

an adoptive placement shall begin as soon as

the childs permanency goal becomes

adoption, but in no event later than as

required by federal law. A TPR petition shall

be filed within two weeks of the date on

which the goal is changed to adoption. See

page 115 Ongoing No

State did not provide

requested information.

VII.F.8 Adoption Subsidies: Notification

process. Upon identification of an adoptive

family for a child legally freed for adoption,DHS shall within 14 days provide the putative

adoptive family with an adoption subsidy

application and explanatory material

regarding the adoption subsidy program in

Michigan and related federal Title IV-E

regulations and DHS policies. DHS shall

include a written record of the delivery of

such materials in the childs file. See page

116 Ongoing Partially

Yes, DHS developed

the process; No, DHS

unable to trackimplementation.

VII.F.9 Tracking Disrupted Pre-Adoptive

Placements: DHS shall track and report onchildren whose pre-adoptive placements

disrupt prior to finalization. See page 115 Ongoing Yes

VII.G.4a & b PPS Staffing: DHS shall continue

to employ and/or contract for sufficient

Permanency Planning Specialists, as

required, to pursue legal permanency for 10/1/09 No


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backlog cohort cases. See page 120

VII.G.4a & b PPS Staffing: DHS shall continue

to assign the Permanency Planning

Coordinator to manage, monitor and reporton the Backlog Project. 10/1/09 Yes

VII.G.3c Permanency Backlog Cohort: DHS

shall achieve legal permanency for at least

50% of the children in the legally free backlog

identified in Section VII.G.1. See page 118 9/30/09 No

VII.G.3c Permanency Backlog Cohort: DHS

shall achieve legal permanency for at least

50% of the children in the reunification

backlog identified in Section VII.G.1. See

page 118 9/30/09 Yes

VII.H.2 Worker-Parent Visits: For each child

with a goal of reunification, the caseworker

will have face-to-face contacts with the

childs parent(s) at least two times for the

first month in care and at least once every

month thereafter. See page 110 10/31/09 No

VII.H.3 Parent-Child Visits: Every child shall

have at least two monthly visits with parents,

barring the stated exceptions. See page 112 10/31/09 No

VII.H.4 Sibling Visits: Siblings not placed

together shall have at least monthly visits,

barring stated exceptions. See page 110 10/31/09 No

State did not provide

requested information.

VIII.A.1 Provision of Healthcare Services:DHS shall take all necessary and appropriate

steps to ensure that each child entering

foster care receives any needed emergency

medical, dental and mental health care and a

full medical examination within 30 days of

the childs entry into care. See page 124 10/31/09 No

VIII.A.2d Medicaid Card: Each child entering

care will be assigned a Medicaid number and

the foster parent or other placement

provider will receive a Medicaid card, or an

alternative verification of the childsMedicaid status and number, within 30 days

of the childs entry into care. See page 124 Ongoing No


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VIII.A.3 Mental Health Spending: DHS shall

redirect at least $3 million to fund mental

health services and will analyze services

available in each county to ensure thatchildren in care have access to necessary

services. If they do not, DHS will reallocate

those funds accordingly as follows: a. By

October 2009, in Wayne, Kent, Oakland,

Genesee, and Macomb Counties; b. By

October 2010, in Berrien, Calhoun, Ingham,

Jackson, Kalamazoo, Muskegon, Saginaw, St.

Clair, and Washtenaw Counties; and c. By

October 2011, in all remaining counties. 10/24/08 Yes

VIII.A.4.a Youth in Transition (YIT) Supports:

DHS will ensure that children age 14 and

older in foster care and youth transitioning

from foster care to adulthood have access to

the range of supportive services necessary to

support their preparation for and successful

transition to adulthood. See page 122 Ongoing No

VIII.A.4.b(i) Michigan Works Referrals: DHS

will refer all children age 14 and older in

foster care and youth transitioning from

foster care to adulthood to Michigan Works!

Agencies for participation in youth programs

and services administered under the

Workforce Investment Act, 29 U.S.C. 2801 etseq., designed to assist youth in developing

job skills and career opportunities, and will

refer suitably qualified children for summer

training, mentorship, and enrichment

opportunities. See page 123 11/15/08 No

VIII.A.4.b(ii) Placement to 20/Services to 21:

DHS will develop and implement a policy and

the necessary resources to extend all foster

youths eligibility for foster care custody until

age 20 and to make available independent

living services through the age of 21. Seepage 122 11/15/08 No

VIII.A.4.b(iii) Medicaid Enrollment for YIT:

DHS will develop and implement a policy and

process by which all children emancipating

from the foster care system at age 18 or

beyond are enrolled for Medicaid managed Ongoing No

Significant

improvement

demonstrated in

Period Three; currently

79 percent of children


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care coverage so that their coverage

continues without interruption at the time of

emancipation. See page 122

enrolled.

VIII.A.4.b(iv) Housing Referrals for YIT: DHSwill refer all children without an identified

housing situation at the time of

emancipation from the foster care system at

age 18 or beyond to the Michigan State

Housing Development Authority for rental

assistance and services under the Homeless

Youth Initiative. See page 123 Ongoing No

VIII.A.4.b(v) Education Planners: By October

2009, DHS shall hire 14 regional Education

Planners who shall provide consultation and

support to youth age 14 and older inaccessing educational services and in

developing individualized education plans,

including identifying all available financial aid

resources. See page 124 10/31/09 No

VIII.A.5.a Educational Screening: DHS shall

ensure that each child is screened for general

and educational needs within 30 days of

his/her entry into care. See page 124 10/31/09 Partially

Yes, developed a

process. No, process

not implemented.

VIII.A.5.b School Registration and

Attendance: DHS shall take reasonable steps

to ensure that school-aged foster children

are registered for and attending schoolwithin 5 days of initial placement or any

placement change, including while placed in

congregate care or emergency placement.

No child shall be schooled pursuant to MCL

Section 380.1561(3)(f). See page 124 10/31/09 Yes

Flex Funds: DHS shall implement a system

statewide that designates appropriate and

knowledgeable administrative staff to be

responsible for determining the specific

funding source to be drawn upon for the

provision of goods and services identified asneeded by the case manager/TDM team and

for coding and processing the necessary

paperwork. See page 35 10/31/09 No

VIII.B.1a Foster Home Capacity: DHS shall

ensure that each county has a sufficient

number and adequate array of foster homes Ongoing No


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capable of serving the needs of those

children coming into care for whom foster

home placement is appropriate. See page 89

VIII.B.1b Foster Home Capacity: DHS shallensure that relatives of children in foster

care and non-relatives with whom a child has

a family-like connection are identified and

considered as potential foster home

placements for children; where a relative or

non-relative with whom the child has a

family-like connection is an appropriate

foster home placement for a child, DHS shall

ensure that appropriate steps are taken to

license the relative or non-relative as a

licensed foster home as set forth in VIII.B.7

See page 93 Ongoing Partially

Yes, as to utilization ofrelatives as a

placement resource;

No, as to ensuring

timely licensure.

VIII.B.2 Recruitment Plan for Special

Populations: By December 15, 2008, DHS

shall develop and provide to the monitor and

plaintiffs a recruitment plan to increase the

number of available placements for

adolescents, sibling groups, and children with

disabilities. The recruitment plan shall

include, for each category of placements, the

number of placements to be developed; the

strategies to be followed in developing such

placements; and specific timetables withinterim targets. Within 30 days of receiving

the proposed plan, the monitor shall, in

consultation with the parties, either approve

the plan or, if the monitor determines that

the plan is not appropriate, convene the

parties for the purpose of revising the plan so

that the plan can be approved within an

additional 30 days. DHS shall implement the

approved recruitment plan consistent with

the timetable and interim targets set forth

therein. See page 91 9/1/09 Partially

Yes, for adolescents;

No, for sibling groups

and children with

disabilities.

VIII.B.3.b Treatment Home Expansion: DHS

will have 100 treatment foster home beds

available. See page 93 10/31/09 Yes


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VIII.B.4 Foster Home Needs Analysis: As part

of the Needs Assessment process, DHS will

gather, analyze, and report relevant data and

identify the extent to which its present arrayof available foster and adoptive homes is

appropriate to the characteristics and needs

of the foster care population. This review

will focus on issues relating to both

recruitment and retention of foster and

adoptive homes. The assessments of foster

and adoptive home capacity will be

completed for the entire state. See page 90 10/31/09 Yes

VIII.B.5 State Oversight of Foster Home

Recruitment: A designated unit or person

within the central office shall be responsible

for monitoring the development and

implementation of the foster and adoptive

home recruitment and retention plans by

county offices; providing or arranging for

technical assistance to the county offices

concerning recruitment and retention; and

reporting to the Childrens Services Cabinet

on progress and problems in achieving the

goals set forth in the recruitment and

retention plans. Ongoing Yes

VIII.B.6 Determination of Care: In order to

ensure that payments to foster parents aresufficient to meet the needs of the children

in foster care, DHS shall ensure that the

Determination of Care (DOC) process is

applied consistently and appropriately across

all counties and offices. See page 34 6/12/09 Yes

VIII.B.6 Determination of Care: DHS shall

identify, after consultation with the monitor

and plaintiffs, a state office responsible for

ensuring that Determinations of Care and

decisions regarding payment of a specialized

administrative rate to contract providers aremade uniformly across the state and in

accordance with DHS policy. See page 34 6/12/09 Yes

VIII.B.6 Determination of Care: DHS shall

also establish procedures by which a foster

parent or CPA may obtain review by a

designated official in the central office of a 6/12/09 Yes


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DOC or administrative rate (general or

specialized) decision. See page 34

VIII.B.7b Placement with Unlicensed Kin:

When placing a child with a relative who hasnot been previously licensed as a foster

parent, DHS shall: i. Prior to placement, visit

the relatives home to determine that it is

safe; ii. Within 72 hours following placement,

check law enforcement and child abuse

registry records for all adults residing in the

home; and iii. Within 30 days, complete a

home study determining whether the

relative should, upon completion of training

and submission of any other required

documents, be licensed as a foster parent.See page 93 Ongoing Yes

VIII.B.7b Placement with Unlicensed Kin:

Other than pursuant to a waiver, no child

shall be placed in an unlicensed foster home

unless there is an order of the juvenile court

that the child be so placed. See page 93 Ongoing No

VIII.B.7c Foster Care Rates-Licensed Kin: All

licensed relative foster care providers shall

receive the same foster care maintenance

rates paid by DHS to similarly-situated

unrelated foster care providers, including the

ability to qualify for enhanced DOC rates. Ongoing Yes

VIII.B.7d Foster Care Rates-Permanent

Wards: All permanent wards living with

relative caregivers shall be provided foster

care maintenance payments equal to the

payments provided to licensed foster

caregivers. Ongoing Yes

VIII.B.7e Relative Licensing Waiver: If it is in

a childs best interest to be placed with a

relative who desires to forego licensing, the

exceptional circumstances for waiving

licensing must be documented in the childsrecord, and must be approved by the county

child welfare director in the designated

counties or the Childrens Services Field

Manager for any other county. See page 93 Ongoing Yes


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VIII.B.7j(ii) Licensing: DHS shall designate

sufficient licensing staff to review all current

unlicensed foster homes and to complete the

licensing process for each family within 90days. See page 95 Ongoing No

VIII.B.7k Relative Licensing - New: Beginning

October 1, 2008, with regard to all children

entering DHS foster care custody as of that

date, relatives providing foster care for

children in DHS foster care custody will be

licensed unless exceptional circumstances

have been documented and approved. See

page 96 Ongoing No

VIII.B.7o(i & ii) Relative Licensing: DHS shall

continue to employ or contract for relative

licensing staff as necessary and to maintain

licensing teams, as required, to address all

remaining cases within the relative caregiver

backlog cohort; and continue to assign the

relative licensing coordinator to oversee

implementation of the backlog review and to

monitor and report on progress. 10/1/09 Yes

VIII.B.8. Child Placement Process-Statewide:

DHS shall submit for review and approval by

the monitor plans for implementation of

adequate child placement processes in the

remainder of the state, along with anymodifications to the CPN process in Wayne

County. See page 79 9/30/09 No

VIII.B.8.a Child Placement Process-Statewide:

DHS shall fully implement an adequate

placement process in Oakland, Genesee,

Kent, and Macomb counties. See page 79 10/31/09 No

VIII.B.9 Post Adoption Services: DHS shall

develop and implement a full range of post-

adoption services to assist all eligible special

needs children adopted from foster care and

their permanent families and shall maintainsufficient resources to deliver such post-

adoption services to all children and families

who qualify. See page 116 Ongoing Yes

IX.D, E Needs Assessment: DHS shall develop

services in accordance with the timeline

established by the monitoring team in the Ongoing No


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Needs Assessment recommendations. See

page 38

X.B.1 Limitations on Out of County

Placements: DHS shall place all childrenwithin their own county or within a 75 mile

radius of the home from which the child

entered custody (whichever is greater)

except as provided in the Agreement. See

page 82

7/7/09 No

No, all children

requiring an exceptionwere not reviewed. Of

those remaining,

insufficient

information to

evaluate whether all of

those children were

placed according to the

terms of this provision.

X.B.2 Limitations on Separation of Siblings:

Siblings who enter placement at or near the

same time shall be placed together, unless

doing so is harmful to one or more siblings,

one of the siblings has exceptional needs

that can only be met in a specialized program

or facility, or the size of the sibling group

makes placement impractical despite diligent

efforts to place the group together. See page

83 Ongoing No

DHS did not provide

requested information

to evaluate.

X.B.3 Limitations on Number of Children in

Foster Home: For children entering the

foster care system, no child will be placed in

a foster home if that placement will result in

more than three foster children in that fosterhome, or a total of six children, including the

foster familys natural and/or adopted

children. No placement will result in more

than three children under the age of three

residing in a foster home. Exceptions to

these limitations may be made in a childs

best interest by the county Administrator of

Childrens Services in a Designated County

and in any other county by the Childrens

Services Field Manager. See page 84 7/7/09 No

DHS did not provide

requested information

to evaluate.

X.B.4 Limitations on Use of Emergency orTemporary Facilities: Children shall not

remain in emergency or temporary facilities,

including shelter care, for more than 30 days

or more than one time within a 12-month

period, barring stated exceptions. See page

87 10/31/09 No


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X.B.5 Detention, Jail, Correctional Facility:

No child in DHS foster care custody will be

placed, by DHS or with knowledge of DHS, in

a jail, correctional, or detention facility unlesssuch child is being placed pursuant to a

delinquency charge. Within 90 days of the

signing of this Agreement, DHS will notify the

State Court Administrative Office and the

Michigan State Police of this prohibition, and

provide written instructions to immediately

notify the local DHS office of any child in DHS

foster care custody who has been placed in a

jail, correctional, or detention facility. See

page 84 Ongoing No

X.B.6 Limitations on Placement of High Risk

Youth: DHS shall not place any child

determined by a DHS assessment to be at

high risk for perpetrating violence or sexual

assault in any foster care placement with

foster children not so determined. See page

85 Ongoing No

X.B.7 Limitation on New Residential Care

Placements: No child shall be placed in an

RTC or any other group care setting with a

capacity in excess of 8 children (campus

wide) without express written approval by

the designated county director or childrensservices field manager. The need for a

residential placement shall be reassessed

every 90 days. Children may not be placed in

a residential placement for more than six

months without express authorization. No

child may be placed in a residential

placement for more than 12 months without

the express authorization of the Director of

the CSA or a higher-ranking official. See page

85 7/7/09 No

XI.A.1 Prohibition on PsychotropicMedications: Psychotropic medication shall

not be used as a method of discipline or

control for any child. See page 70 Ongoing Yes


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XI.A.2 Psychotropic Med Policies &

Procedures Review: Within six months of the

signing of this Agreement, DHS will

undertake a review of the policies andprocedures surrounding the use of

psychotropic medications. This evaluation

will be designed in close collaboration with

the monitor and any additional experts on

the use of psychotropic medication for

children it deems appropriate. See page 70 1/3/09 No

XI.A.5 Psychotropic Medication

Documentation: DHS shall establish and

implement processes to ensure

documentation of psychotropic medication

approvals, documentation by contract

agencies of all uses of psychotropic

medication, and review of such

documentation by appropriate DHS staff,

including the Medical Director, on an

ongoing basis. See page 70 1/15/09 No

XI.B.1 Prohibition on Physical Discipline: DHS

shall prohibit the use of Positive Peer

Culture, peer-on-peer restraint, and any

other forms of physical discipline in all foster

care placements. All uses of physical

restraint for children in any placements, and

all uses of seclusion/isolation in group,residential, or institutional placements, shall

be reported to the QA unit. Such reports

shall be made available to the licensing unit

and the Medical Director for appropriate

action. See page 70 Ongoing No

The reporting system

was not in place at the

close of Period Three.

XI.B.2 Restraint & Seclusion Policies &

Procedures Review: DHS shall undertake a

review of the policies and procedures

surrounding all forms and use of physical

restraint and seclusion/isolation of children

in foster care. This evaluation will bedesigned in close collaboration with the

monitor and any additional experts on the

use of physical restraint and

seclusion/isolation of children it deems

appropriate. See page 70 7/7/09 Yes


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XII.B Performance Based Contracting: All

DHS contracts with CCIs or private CPAs that

provide placements and child welfare

services to plaintiff class members shall beperformance-based contracts that require an

annual review of the CPAs and CCIs

performance. See page 37

6/1/09for CPAs;

7/31/09

for CCIs Yes

XII.B Performance Based Contracting: DHS

shall incorporate all applicable performance

outcome goals set forth in Section III and

process requirements in the Agreement into

the performance-based contracts; and

develop a set of enforcement measures to be

imposed in the event that a contract agency

fails to comply with material terms or

requirements of the performance-based

contract. See page 37 10/31/09 Yes

XII.C Maltreatment in Care & CPAs: DHS will

give due consideration to any and all

substantiated incidents of abuse, neglect,

and/or corporal punishment occurring in the

placements licensed and supervised by a

contract agency at the time of processing its

application for licensure renewal. See page

77 Ongoing No

XII.C Maltreatment in Care & CPAs: The

failure of a contract agency to reportsuspected abuse or neglect of a child to DHS

will result in an immediate investigation to

determine the appropriate corrective action

up to and including termination of the

contract or placement of the provider on

provisional licensing status, and a repeated

failure within one year will result in

termination of the contract. See page 76 Ongoing No

XII.D CPA Data Reporting: DHS will ensure

that all CCIs or private CPAs that provide

placements and child welfare services toplaintiff class members report to DHS

accurate data on at least a six-month basis in

relation to the requirements of this

Agreement. 3/31/09 Yes

XII.F DHS Staffing Capacity for Contract

Oversight: DHS shall maintain sufficient Ongoing Yes


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resources to permit its staff to undertake

timely and competent contract enforcement

activities. See page 36

XII.G POS Function Review: DHS will, incoordination with the monitor, review the

effectiveness of the DHS POS monitoring

function in providing case-level oversight of

private CPAs. See page 34 Ongoing No

XIII.A Data Reporting: DHS shall generate

from an automated system accurate and

timely data reports regarding each of the

requirements and outcome measures set

forth in this Agreement and regarding those

other requirements of this Agreement for

which automated reporting is reasonable and

appropriate, as determined by the monitor in

consultation with the parties. Extensions

allowing additional time during which DHS

may supply particular reports based upon

manual counts may be granted by the

monitor after consultation with plaintiffs.

See page 51 10/31/09 No

XIII.B Permanency Tracking: In consultation

with the Monitor and in coordination with

Childrens Services Administration, Field

Operations Administration, private CPA

representatives, and Local/Regional DHSoffice representatives, DHS will design a

permanency tracking system and associated

reports. The system will, at a minimum, be

capable of reporting pertinent status

information sorted by individual child, DHS

worker/CPA, and county, for all children in

foster care. See page 109 9/30/09 No

XIII.C Federal Data Reporting: Both leading

up to and subsequent to the full

implementation of a SACWIS, DHS shall at all

times satisfy all federal reportingrequirements and shall maintain data

integrity and accuracy on a continuous basis.

See page 51 Ongoing No

XIV.A QA Program: DHS shall, in consultation

with and subject to the approval of the

monitor, develop and implement a statewide Ongoing Yes


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QA program that will be directed by a QA

unit established within the DHS central

office. See page 62

XIV.C QA Capacity: The QA unit shall beadequately staffed, and its staff shall receive

specialized training to fulfill all unit

responsibilities. See page 62 Ongoing Yes

XIV.D Public Reporting: All reports provided

by the QA unit shall become public record so

long as any individually identifying

information in relation to the temporary or

permanent wards in DHS foster care custody

is redacted from such report consistent with

applicable state and federal confidentiality

laws. See page 62 Ongoing Yes

XIV.E Performance Reporting: The QA unit

shall, within 60 days following the end of

each reporting period, compile and provide,

in consultation with the monitor, all

pertinent data regarding statewide

performance in relation to the requirements

and outcome measures in the Agreement.

See page 51 Ongoing No

XIV.F.1.a Maltreatment-Single Allegation:

DHS shall conduct reviews designed to assess

and meet the needs of children who have

been the subject of an allegation of abuse orneglect in a residential care setting or a

licensed or unlicensed foster home between

June 2007 and September 2008, and who

remain in the facility or home in which the

maltreatment is alleged to have occurred.

See page 63 Ongoing Yes

XIV.F.1.b Maltreatment-Multiple Allegations:


and meet the needs of children who have

been the subject of three or more reports

alleging abuse or neglect in a foster home,the most recent of which was filed during or

after July 2007, and who remain in the foster

home in which maltreatment is alleged to

have occurred. See page 63 Ongoing Yes

XIV.F.1.c Multiple Placements: DHS shall

conduct reviews designed to assess and meet Ongoing Yes


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the needs of children who, at the time of

review, have been in three or more

placements, excluding return home, within

the previous 12 months. See page 63XIV.F.1.d Long-term Residential Care: DHS

shall conduct reviews designed to assess and

meet the needs of children who, at the time

of review, have been in residential care for

one year or longer. See page 63 Ongoing Yes

XIV.F.1.e Unrelated Unlicensed Caregivers:


and meet the needs of children who, at the

time of review, are in unrelated caregiver

placements, defined as an unlicensed home

in which the caregiver is not a relative of the

child but has been approved as a placement

resource because of prior ties to the child

and/or the childs family. See page 63 Ongoing Yes

XIV.F.2 Special Review Plan: DHS shall

develop, subject to the approval of the

monitor and in consultation with the

plaintiffs, a plan setting forth: a. The dates

and processes by which DHS shall have

compiled an accurate list of children subject

to review; b. The number and type of special

reviews DHS proposes to undertake in the

upcoming 90-day period, and the rationalefor these choices; and c. The data to be

reported at the conclusion of the 90-day

period. See page 63 Ongoing Yes

XIV.F.3 Special Review Reporting: At the

conclusion of the initial 90-day period, DHS

will report to the monitor and plaintiffs the

results of the reviews conducted during the

period, and will develop and implement a

corrective action plan, as appropriate, to

address the findings. See page 63 Ongoing Partially

DHS did not report

every 90 days but did

report at the end of six

months.

XIV.G Fatalities: DHS shall ensure that areview, conducted by qualified and

competent individuals and independent of

the county in which the fatality occurred, has

been conducted, and the findings and

recommendations of that review conveyed

to the monitor and plaintiffs, of each child Ongoing Yes


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who died while in the foster care custody of

DHS, as follows: 1. For such children who

died during the three-year period ending

March 31, 2008, no later than November 15,2008; 2. For child fatalities occurring after

March 31, 2008, within six months of the

date of death. Findings and

recommendations of these reviews will be

incorporated into all relevant QA activities,

program improvement, contract agency

oversight, and other related policies and

practices. See page 65

XV. Implementation Plan: DHS will develop a

detailed implementation plan, approved by

plaintiffs and the monitor that will become

part of this Agreement and fully enforceable.

The implementation plan will set forth the

steps, timetables, and persons responsible

for DHS to achieve compliance with the

terms of this Agreement. The parties will

review this implementation plan on an

annual basis to determine whether

modifications are necessary to ensure that

DHS achieves compliance in the manner and

within the time periods contained in this

Agreement. Ongoing Partially

Plaintiffs counsel

approved a portion of

the Implementation

Plan but did not

approve certain

sections due to a lack

of specificity or

inconsistency with the

terms of the

Agreement.

XVI. Named Plaintiffs Updates: DHS willprovide Plaintiffs counsel with regular

quarterly updates of the individual named

plaintiffs case records until such time as the

named plaintiffs are no longer in DHS foster

care custody. Each quarter thereafter, the

parties will meet and confer in good faith

regarding the named plaintiffs case plans

and placements and services. Ongoing Yes

IV. MethodologyIn preparation for this report, the monitoring team conducted extensive verification activities

to evaluate DHS progress implementing its commitments in the Agreement. These activities

included meetings with DHS leadership, verification visits to DHS offices and private agencies

throughout the state, and reviews of individual case records and other documentation. During

field office visits, the monitoring team reviewed a random sample of childrens cases


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investigated by the newly-created specialized investigative units; interviewed staff and

supervisors; and talked to public and private managers about the pace, progress, and

challenges of the reform. The monitoring team also completed extensive verification work at

DHS central offices regarding relative home, foster home and institutional licensure and re-

licensure processes; training; waiver processes; and investigations of institutional complaints.

For Period Three, the monitoring team conducted verification activities in DHS operations for

fourteen counties and five private agencies. To date, the monitoring team has visited the six

largest urban counties at least twice; all of the nine next largest counties; and a random sample

of the remaining medium and small counties. In all, the monitoring team has conducted

verification work in offices serving more than 75 percent of the children in DHS custody.

The monitoring team reviewed extensive aggregate and detail data produced by DHS. All of the

data cited in this report was produced by DHS, unless otherwise noted. The monitoring team

analyzed these data for internal consistency and cross-verified them against other data setsproduced by DHS to assess data quality. As detailed in the data section below and in the

relevant areas of the report, the monitoring team surfaced significant data issues, which DHS

must resolve in order to achieve compliance with the commitments in this Agreement.

V. DemographicsA. Complaints, Investigations, and Substantiations of Abuse and Neglect

During Period Three, DHS received 59,287 child protective services complaints. While

complaints remain stable, the percentage of complaints triggering investigations continues toincrease. DHS reports that from FY2000 to FY2007 the percentage of reports requiring

investigation ranged between 54 and 56 percent. However, in FY2008, that rate grew to 60

percent, and in FY2009 to 61 percent. During Period Three, DHS referred 38,445, or 65 percent,

to local offices for investigation. An increase to 65 percent in such a short period of time is

significant. Forty-five of the 83 counties had an uptick in the number of investigations during

Period Three, with nine offices experiencing increases of 25 percent or more. By county, the

median percentage referred for investigation was 60 percent, with a low of 31 percent referred

(Clare) to a high of 100 percent referred (Keweenaw). Of the 38,445 that DHS referred for

investigation, DHS substantiated abuse or neglect in 10,431, or 27 percent of those cases. Bycounty, the median percentage substantiated was 26 percent, with a range of 9 percent

(Leelanau) to 50 percent (Keweenaw). Variation in CPS practice at the county level remains

wide. For full detail by county, see Appendix B.


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B. Population of Children in CustodyAs noted in the Methodology section above, during verification work for Period Three the

monitoring team identified a significant issue with the manner in which DHS had reported

previously on the number of children in DHS custody. In short, DHS had improperly excluded a

number of children who were in custody, and had improperly included a number of children

who were not in custody. As a result, the monitoring team requested that DHS undertake

extensive analysis subject to verification by the monitoring team to explain and rectify this

significant discrepancy. DHS has done that work and offered an explanation.

Specifically, for the last monitoring report DHS reported that there were 16,224 children in

custody3

as of September 30, 2009, the last day of monitoring Period Two. After the

discrepancy was identified and DHS worked to rectify it, DHS now reports that there were in

fact 17,461 children in custody as of September 30, 2009, a difference of 1,237 youth. The

explanation for this significant discrepancy is described in more detail in the data section of thisreport.

The data that DHS ultimately produced shows that there were 16,857 children in custody as of

March 31, 2010. Comparing that to DHS recalculated number of children in custody as of

September 30, 2009 (17,461), 16,857 represents a decrease of 3.5 percent (604 children) during

the monitoring period. According to DHS, 4,000 children entered custody and 4,604 exited

during the monitoring period. Because of the questions regarding DHS data reported for

Periods One and Two, however, the monitoring team cannot assess with precision whether this

suggests a trend.

As of March 2010, of the 16,857 children in custody, the largest group 7,173 are children

who are six or under. Michigan continues to have a large population of older youth in custody.

Twenty-nine percent (4,949) are 12 to 17, and eight percent (1,277) are 18 and over, as detailed

in the following chart:

3The references in this report to children and youth placed in DHS supervision, custody or care refer to

child welfare and do not include children and youth who are the responsibility of DHS through the

juvenile justice system unless those children and youth also have an open child welfare case.


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Figure 1

For full detail by county, see Appendix C.

With regard to gender, the population is split equally, 50 percent male and 50 percent female.

With regard to race, the population of children in care is primarily split between African-

American (42 percent) and White children (49 percent):4

Figure 2

4DHS has changed the race categories from the data reported for Periods One and Two, adding multi-racial.

Asian, 23, 0%

African

American,

7,013, 42%AmericanIndian/Alaskan

Native, 172, 1%

Native

Hawaiian/

Pacific Islander,

13, 0%

Unable to

Determine, 121,

1%

White, 8,300,

49%Multi-Racial,

1,214, 7%

Race of Children in Custody(March 2009)

(n-16,857)

Ages 0-6,

7,173,

42.5%Ages 7-11,

3,458, 20.5%

Ages 12-17,

4,949, 29%

Ages 18 and

older, 1,277,

8%

Ages of Children in Custody

(March 2010)(n=16,857)


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In addition, six and one-half percent of children are identified with Hispanic ethnicity.

As the chart below demonstrates, 85 percent of children in DHS custody live in family settings,

including foster families (30 percent), with relatives (32 percent), with their own parents (16

percent), and in homes that intend to adopt the child (7 percent).5

Of children in custody, 891

(5 percent) live in institutional settings, including residential treatment and other congregate

care facilities. Another 1,229, or seven percent, reside in independent living placements, which

serve youth on the cusp of aging-out of care. The remaining three percent reside in other

settings, with unrelated caregivers, or are AWOL or unidentified.

Figure 3

*Includes in- and out-of-state

**Includes out-of-state facilities (1), detention, jail, community justice & court treatment (86), legal

guardians (42), mental health hospitals (11), and other placements (39)

Of the children in care on March 31, 2010, 41 percent were in care for less than one year, while

21 percent were in care for more than 3 years:

5While all of these placement categories have been impacted by the DHS data issues referenced above, the

number and percentage of children in adoptive placements was significantly impacted by DHS under reporting in

prior periods.

Adoptive Home,

1,211, 7%

Relatives*,

5,298, 32%

Foster Care

Families*,

4,956, 30%

Own ParentHome*, 2,722,

16%

Institutions,incl. shelters,

891, 5%

IndependentLiving,

1,229, 7%

Unrelated

Caregiver,

116, 1%

Other**,

179, 1%

AWOL, 214, 1%

Unidentified,

41, 0%

Placement of Children in Custody(March 2010)

(n=16,857)


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Figure 4

For full detail by county, please see Appendix D.

VI. Building the Organizational Capacity to Support ReformA. Building a Childrens Services Organization and Structure

DHS committed to a number of organizational, structural, and functional changes to better

drive and manage reform. Those include modifications to DHS organizational structure,

implementing a clear division between DHS child welfare and other responsibilities (referred toas bifurcation); cr

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