12-4
New York State’s
Child and Family Services Plan
FY 2010 - 2014
Annual Progress and Services Report
Submitted
June 2012
Application for Funding:
· Stephanie Tubbs Jones Child Welfare Services (CWS)…
Title IV-B of the Social Security Act, Subpart 1
· Promoting Safe and Stable Families (PSSF)…
Title IV-B of the Social Security Act, Subpart 2
· Chafee Foster Care Independence (CFCIP) and Education and Training Vouchers (ETV) Programs …
New York State Office of Children and Family Services Website:
http://www.ocfs.state.ny.us/main/
New York State CFSP and APSR Contact:
Robert Dick, Jr. – CFSS2
52 Washington Street
Rensselaer, NY 12144
518-474-3475
Table of Contents
Mission……………………………………………………………………………...5
Agency Overview…………………………………………………………………..5
Introduction………………………………………………………………………..6
Service Continuum………………………………………………………………...9
Quality Assurance and Program Support………………………………………12
OCFS Evaluation and Research…………………………………………………20
Child and Family Services Review Program Improvement Plan (CFSR PIP).20
Child and Family Services Plan………………………………………………….21
Title IV-E Plan…………………………………………………………………….23
Child Welfare Laws, Policies, and Procedures………………………………….23
Case Worker Visits………………………………………………………..............25
Consultation, Collaboration, and Service Integration……………………….....27
Program Service Descriptions According to Goals:
Goal 1- “Families, Including Nuclear, Extended and Adoptive….”………...38
Goal 2- “Children Who Are Removed From Their Birth Families…”….......69
Foster and Adoptive Parent Recruitment……………………………….84
Services for Children under the Age of Five…………………………...106
Goal 3- “Victims of Family Violence, both Child and Adult Will…”………115
Goal 4- “Adolescents in Foster Care”…………………………………….......122
Goal 5- “Native American Families, Including Nuclear, Extended…”…….137
· Note: Assessment of Need, Performance Targets, Accomplishments, Plans, and Training are listed within Goal framework
Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA) Overview……….……148
CAPTA Annual State Data Report Items……………………………………....168
Juvenile Justice Transfers………………………………………………………..170
Chafee Foster Care Independence Program (CFCIP)………………………....170
Education and Training Vouchers (ETV)……………………………………....174
Supporting Information:
Inter-Country Adoptions……………………………………………………....176
Child Welfare Demonstration Projects…………………………………….....176
Health Care Services Overview…………………………………………….….176
Disaster Plans……….…………………………………………………………..180
Adoptive Incentive Payments………………….……………………….……....184
Appendices:
Appendix “A” 2011 New York State Citizen’s Review Panels Annual Report
Appendix “B” New York State Annual Report Response
Appendix “C” 2010-2011 NYS Annual ETV Report
Appendix “D” 2011 Child Protective Services Training – Local Districts
Appendix “E” Fiscal Attachments (CFS – 101s)
Appendix “F” Health Care Services Plan – Revised 2012
Appendix “G” OCFS CW Training Resource Guide
Appendix “H” 2012 Project Summary Chart
Vision:
Safety, Permanence, and Well-Being
For
New York’s Children and Families
New York State
Child and Family Services Plan
Annual Progress and Services Report
June 2012
Mission Statement
The New York State Office of Children and Family Services (OCFS) serves New York’s public by promoting the safety, permanency and well-being of our children, families and communities. We will achieve results by setting and enforcing policies, building partnerships, and funding and providing quality services.
Agency Overview
OCFS serves as the Title IV-B Agency for New York State. OCFS is dedicated to improving the integration of services for New York’s children, youth, families and vulnerable populations; to promoting their development; and to protecting them from violence, neglect, abuse and abandonment. The agency provides a system of family support, juvenile justice, child care and child welfare services that promote the safety and well-being of children and adults.
OCFS is responsible for programs and services involving foster care, adoption and adoption assistance, child protective services including operating the Statewide Central Register for Child Abuse and Maltreatment, preventive services for children and families, and protective programs for vulnerable adults. OCFS is also responsible for the functions performed by the State Commission for the Blind and Visually Handicapped and coordinates state government response to the needs of Native Americans on reservations and in communities.
OCFS provides oversight and monitoring of regulated child care (family day care, group family day care, school-age child care and day care centers outside of NYC), legally exempt child care, child care subsidies, child care resource and referrals, and the Advantage After-School Program, and also provides services and programs for infants, toddlers, pre-schoolers, and school-age children and their families.
OCFS is responsible for all elements of the state’s juvenile justice programs, administering and managing residential facilities, community-based group homes, day-placement centers, and reception center programs for juvenile delinquents and juvenile offenders placed in the custody of the OCFS Commissioner.
OCFS operates sixteen facilities, one reception center, one community residential home, and four day-placement centers for youth placed in the custody of OCFS by family and criminal courts. There are also fifteen Community Multi-Services Offices statewide that are responsible for services to the youth and family from day one of OCFS placement. OCFS works closely with municipalities such as local social services districts and county youth bureaus so that adequate youth development services and programs are available at the local level.
The Executive Office of OCFS, encompassing the Office of the Commissioner, the Office of the Executive Deputy Commissioner, the NYC Executive Office, the Office of the Ombudsman, the Office of Equal Opportunity and Diversity Development, and Executive Services, provides overall leadership, management, coordination, and administration of agency operation and mission-driven priorities.
OCFS divides its responsibilities into two main areas: program and support. The program divisions/offices include: Division of Child Care Services (DCCS), Division of Child Welfare and Community Services (DCWCS), Division of Juvenile Justice and Opportunities for Youth (DJJOY), and the Commission for the Blind and Visually Handicapped (CBVH). The support divisions/offices include: Division of Administration (Admin), Division of Legal Affairs (Legal), Division of Information Technology (IT), Office of Communications (Communications), Office of Strategic Planning and Policy Development (SPPD), and the Office of Special Investigations (SI).
OCFS maintains regional offices in Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse, Albany, Spring Valley, Long Island, and New York City to support agency programs and partnerships with stakeholders and providers.
Introduction
OCFS was established in 1998 to improve, strengthen and integrate services to the State’s children, youth and other vulnerable populations. The creation of OCFS responded to a growing recognition of the complexity and interrelatedness of today’s problems and solutions. All children, youth and adults require the support of their families and communities. Fundamental to securing the safety and well-being of all State residents is the ability to access supports, without regard for funding sources, service capacities, or having to reconcile differing approaches to services among providers.
In addition to directly providing services, OCFS funds and supervises local social services districts, youth bureaus, child care programs and community and voluntary agencies in directly providing or collaborating with other agencies to provide a wide range of developmental, preventive and remedial supports to New York State’s citizens. To succeed, OCFS must focus on efficiently and effectively maintaining and strengthening the self-sufficiency of families.
Under the leadership of Governor Andrew Cuomo and Commissioner Gladys Carrión, OCFS invests in, develops, and monitors programs that promote the self-sufficiency of families and individuals. The Governor has championed an agenda that encourages cooperation and collaboration between state agencies in an effort to maximize the benefit of public funds allocated to multiple service delivery responsibilities. A main focus of this plan will be to demonstrate how those collaborations work and, more importantly, how they benefit the children and families of New York State.
OCFS continues to specify and demand that outcomes be established and met for its substantial investment in the community. The ability to measure outcomes and define success continues to be a top priority for OCFS.
OCFS participates in many exciting initiatives that are detailed in this report. They reflect the efforts of countless committed professionals, families, volunteers and the communities in which they live and work. They reflect child care, youth development, juvenile justice, adult and child welfare and other services that are the responsibility of this agency. Most importantly, however, they reflect the diverse character and needs of the vulnerable populations found within the diverse regions of New York State.
OCFS serves to improve and integrate efforts to address the needs and build on the strengths of the State’s children, youth and other vulnerable populations. OCFS responds to a growing recognition of the complexity and interrelatedness of today’s problems and solutions. The ability to access supports without regard for funding sources, service capacities, or having to reconcile differing approaches to services among providers is fundamental to protecting the safety and well-being of all state residents.
The OCFS mission is to “serve New York’s public by promoting the well-being, safety and permanency of our children, families and communities. We will achieve results by setting and enforcing policies, building partnerships, and funding and providing quality services.” This mission statement guides OCFS’ administration of public funds aimed at meeting its multiple service delivery responsibilities. OCFS is responsible for the administration and oversight of a continuum of human development, prevention, early intervention, protective, out-of-home placement and community re-integration services. State law establishes a number of mandates for OCFS, both direct responsibilities and those that the local social services districts must provide under the supervision of OCFS. Direct responsibilities include:
· Providing fiscal support, technical assistance and oversight to municipal youth bureaus for the planning, coordination and funding of youth development services for the under-21-year-old population;
· Receiving and tracking through the Statewide Central Register of Child Abuse and Maltreatment of suspected reports of child abuse and maltreatment;
· Providing fiscal support and oversight to the statewide juvenile detention system;
· Coordinating the provision of training and technical assistance to voluntary agency and local government agency staff;
· Operating and overseeing programs designed to foster independence of the blind and visually handicapped
· Licensing and supervising voluntary foster care agencies, domestic violence and child care providers;
· Operating the New York State Adoption Service including adoption subsidies, photo-listing, and administration of the Interstate Compact on the Placement of Children;
· Administering the federal Indian Child Welfare Act; and
· Providing for the care and treatment of youth placed by the courts in OCFS custody.
OCFS supervises local administration of child welfare and adult protective services by fifty-seven counties, New York City and the St. Regis Mohawk Tribe. Services provided include child protective services, preventive services, foster care, adoption, protective services for adults, and child day care.
The following principles guide OCFS work.
SERVICES SHOULD BE DEVELOPMENTALLY APPROPRIATE. OCFS recognizes the importance of the stages of human development in guiding service delivery. The cognitive, emotional, physical and social skills of children, youth and adults are fundamental to their need for and ability to benefit from services. Recent studies in the separate fields of child development and youth development address the value of focusing on competencies rather than deficits. OCFS is committed to the use of strength-based approaches, with a focus on child and family strengths as opposed to problems or pathology. Building on individuals' strengths facilitates the efficacy of all services.
SERVICES SHOULD BE FAMILY-CENTERED AND FAMILY DRIVEN. Supporting families that foster the healthy development of their members requires serving the family as a whole, as well as individuals within the family. Research conducted on the development of children, from newborns through teens, emphasizes the crucial role of parents in the successful cognitive, emotional, physical and social development of their children. In fact, with the support of their communities, most families meet and exceed the expectations put on them. Strategies for family-centered services require family members, including youth, to participate actively with other stakeholders in identifying the design of community based family supports. OCFS is committed to the practice of planning for one child and family at a time, based on individual strengths and needs, not program categories.
SERVICES SHOULD BE COMMUNITY-BASED. Communities play a critical role in supporting the growth and development of their children and the self-sufficiency of their adults and families. The involvement of community-based organizations, schools, businesses, childcare providers, health care facilities, faith-based organizations, law enforcement and courts promotes culturally competent supports for children, youth, adults and their families in their neighborhoods. Development of comprehensive, collaborative, integrated, long-term community-based programs that address the full spectrum of child, youth, adult and family needs represent a wise investment of resources.
The diversity of New York State dictates that OCFS provides localities flexibility in tailoring programs to meet their unique circumstances. By supporting the provision of supports and services in family and community settings, OCFS supports the reduction of over-reliance on restrictive and expensive out-of-home placements and the reduction of the disproportionate representation of families and children of color in the child welfare and juvenile justice systems.
SERVICES SHOULD BE LOCALLY RESPONSIVE. The development of effective services and supports for individuals and families requires family and community involvement in decisions about service priorities, strategies and program interventions. OCFS is committed to delivering services that are culturally competent, recognizing that a family's cultural background might affect the determination of appropriate services. OCFS is committed to providing care that is unconditional, embracing the idea that services are provided to all in need regardless of how, when, or where they come in to the system.
The OCFS regional infrastructure offers the capacity to assist localities in tailoring local service delivery systems to community needs. Integrated local planning by local departments of social services and youth bureaus, with the involvement of community stakeholders, including families, has helped promote local public and private human services partnerships. The joint identification of local needs based on common definitions support program planning and development that addresses needs in a manner compatible with existing community resources and interests. The resulting shared outcomes and principles hold promise for effective service delivery and positive outcomes.
SERVICES SHOULD BE EVIDENCE AND OUTCOME BASED. The human services field has increasingly emphasized the use of outcomes for measuring program success. The move to outcome-based practice has resulted in a new series of questions about which practices most effectively produce desired outcomes. Too long guided by intuition and anecdote, human service providers and administrators now look for reliable and valid evidence to inform their service investments. OCFS specifies and demands that outcomes be established and met for its substantial investment in the community. The ability to measure outcomes and define success continues to be a top priority for OCFS as it seeks to achieve its core goals.
Service Continuum
Commissioner Carrión has championed a role that challenges and encourages local providers to take the initiative by preventing, rather than reacting to, family upheavals by intervening early with activities designed to reduce the need for removal of a child, youth or adult from the household. OCFS’ focus on prevention is why the Service Continuum has its broadest effects in services meant to support families and individuals in their communities. Indeed, even when such broad-based supports fail to prevent problems, early interventions should be available to individuals in the context of their families and families in the context of their communities.