ARKANSAS CAPTA PLAN

The Arkansas CAPTA State Plan assures that Arkansas directs funding to the CAPTA allowable and required programmatic areas. A varied collaboration of stakeholders developed this plan throughout the year utilizing multiple strategies. Stakeholders included, but were not limited to: community based providers; court personnel; Division of Children and Family Services(DCFS) field staff; foster parents; youth in foster care; families who receive services; and other child-serving divisions and agencies (e.g., Division of Youth Services, Division of Disabilities Services).

Strategies to elicit feedback and identify needs included: surveys; focus groups; individual meetings; contract monitoring activities; Quality Service Peer Review (QSPR) interviews; and unsolicited letters/correspondences to DCFS.

Steering committees comprised of internal and external stakeholders guided new initiatives from development to implementation to follow up.

Arkansas annually reviews and revises plans to reflect any changes in the State’s strategies or programs and so note in the APSR as well as directly notify the Regional Office (RO) for Arkansas.

There were no laws or regulations that would negatively impact CAPTA eligibility. Effective July 27, 2011 there were statues established to allow for development and implementation of:

  • Differential Response System (DRS);
  • Requirements for referral of services for children diagnosed with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD);
  • Plan of safe care.

The CAPTA State Plan for Arkansas will continue to align with the developed strategic plan and implemented to continually improve child welfare services and child and family outcomes in Arkansas.

Arkansas CAPTA Coordinator (State Liaison Officer) may be contacted at

CAPTA funding specifically supports

  • Case management including ongoing case monitoring and delivery of services and treatment to children and their families through:
  • Family Treatment Program contracts which provide parents and caregivers of sexually abused childrenwith treatment services (assessment, diagnostic, interview, psychiatric review, and individual/group psychotherapy);
  • Intensive Family Services (IFS) contracts;
  • Funding for 3 Citizen Review Panels;
  • Statewide Language Interpreter Services contracts for county staff with families who are not proficient in English.

Interpretation and telephone services areprovided 24 hours a day, seven days a week. This service also assists staff in documenttranslation.. Translation services were provided last fiscal year for the first time for legal documents, as well as some of DCFS publications.There are no planned changes to this service.

  • Developing, strengthening, and facilitating training topics including:
  • Research based strategies and these of differential response to promote collaboration with the families;
  • Legal duties of such individuals;
  • Early childhood, child, and adolescent development for Human Service Workers, IFS providers, and DCFS staff.
  • Developing, implementing, or operating programs to assist in obtaining or coordinating necessary services for families of disabled infants with life threatening conditions including:
  • Social and health services;
  • Financial assistance;
  • Services necessary to facilitate adoptive placement of any such infants who have been relinquished for adoption through an agreement with the Arkansas Chapter of Pediatrics for the availability of a physician to assist in responding to “Baby Doe” reports.
  • Developing and delivering information to improve public education relating to the role and responsibility of the child protection system and the nature and basis for reporting suspected incidents of child abuse and neglect through:
  • Child abuse prevention materials and promotional items distribution;
  • Prevention website updates;
  • Mandated reporter training for Human Service Workers, IFS providers, and ResourceCenter staff.

The following strategy plan for year FY 2012 will incorporate additional requirements into policy and practice

Goal: Address Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder in referral for services when identified.

1)Educate health care providers of new requirements through development of educational materials.

2)Transition current FASD Project protocols (project initially funded by a grant through SAMSHA) into policy and practice to include FASD awareness, prevention, screening, referral for assessment and diagnosis, and referral for intervention services.

3)Update policy and procedure to include plan of safe care for infant born and identified as being affected by FASD.

4)Provide training to DCFS staff on FASD and new policy/procedures.

Goal: Develop and implement a Differential Response Program (DRS) in Arkansas.

1)Identify specific DRS allegation types.

2)Establish a workgroup to assist in development and review of program.

3)Develop functional job descriptions for staff working with DCFS DRS.

4)Outline roles/responsibilities for hotline and providers of DRS.

5)Develop Request for Proposal (RFP) for potential DRS providers.

6)Coordinate technical assistance with Casey Family Programs.

7)Develop DRS policy and procedures.

8)Develop initial and ongoing DRS training.

9)Develop an oversight process to evaluate DRS implementation and sustainability of DRS program.

Goal: Address McKinney-Vento Homeless Act in DCFS practice.

1)Review DCFS policy to assure it reflects McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act and revise as necessary.

2)Createa Question and Answer format to address specific questions from DCFS staff about McKinney-Vento.

3)Develop practice guide for field staff on how to best serve the homeless youth population.

If at any time Arkansas changes policies, procedures, or statutes that impact CAPTA requirements, the Children’s Bureau will be notified and the State will make any corresponding changes to the APSR.

Juvenile Justice from APSR

Provides the number of children under the care of the State child protection system who are transferred into the custody of the State juvenile justice system:

  • 169 distinct foster children placed in Division of Youth Services (DYS).
  • 14 distinct foster children exited foster for ‘Custody Transfer to Another Agency.
  • 1 foster child placed in DYS and exited foster care for “Custody Transfer to Another Agency.”

Child Protective Services Workforce and Caseload Information

The DCFS workforce is compromised of DCFS supervisors, Family Service Worker Specialists (FSWS), and Family Service Workers (FSW) that handle the Child Protective Services function in the State. All DCFS workers (any level) must complete the New Worker Training and assume responsibilities for prevention, assessment, investigation, in home case management, and out of home case management. Although some positions specialize after the first year of employment (i.e. Investigators, Resource Workers, or Adoption Workers), they are all trained and expected to keep skills honed for this function.

Arkansas also has an interagency agreement with Crimes Against Children Division to operate the Child Maltreatment Hotline and conduct Priority I Child Maltreatment Investigations.

Please refer to pages 7-12 in the attached Training Plan for information regarding Educational, Qualifications, and Training requirements for DCFS staff.

From July 2010 to June 2011:

  • 122 FSW trained (new worker)
  • 12 FSW supervisors (new)
  • 290 FSW investigations and Investigative supervisors received Structured Decision Making (SDM) training

Workload Information

Arkansas does not set a workload standard as our practice model supports that each family’s needs and complexities impact the consideration of workload and case assignment.

Consideration for assigning family cases:

• Type of family case.

• Complexities.

• Current number of cases/complexities.

• Experience/Skills.

• Availability.

The current average statewide workload is 28 cases.

Attachments:

• CAPTA assurances (unsigned)

• Citizen Review Annual Report Area 1 & Response Letter

• Citizen Review Annual Report Area 4 & Response Letter

• Citizen Review Annual Report Area 7 & Response Letter

• Workforce Demographic Chart

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