CFSR/CFSP Coordinators Network Information Request: CFSR Exit Conferences

(03/31/2008)

"1. Which states in Round 2 have had Exit Conferences open to the public?
2. What has been the result? Good press/Bad press/Other?”
Respondent / State / Response
Susan Denney / Georgia / Ga. did not open their exit conference to the public. Our Major state Newspaper, The Atlanta Journal and Constitution received notice from one of our team members of the exit conference and location and sent a reporter. We politely advised them the exit was closed and that upon receipt of the full report we would share and discuss the outcomes. Shortly after receiving our report we did have a "sit down" with this reporter as well as open up the opportunity for other media to come to the meeting.
Katherine Guffey / Arizona / Arizona did not open the exit conference to the press
Debbie Shiell / Arkansas / 1) For Arkansas, our exit conference was open to the public. A member
of the state's newspaper was there, Charlotte Tubbs.
2) The article appeared in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette on the Saturday
following the Friday review. For the most part, it was fairly
representative of what was shared at the exit conference.
(A copy of the article is available on our extranet site)
Sallie Bond / Florida / 1. Which states in Round 2 have had Exit Conferences open to the public?
The Florida Department of Children and Families is a transparent organization and as such our meetings are open to the public. Many of our partners, stakeholders and others attended or listened via video teleconferencing to the Round 2 exit, hosted by the Children's Bureau.
2. What has been the result? Good press/Bad press/Other? There has been no
media attention at this time.
Angela Long / Oregon / Oregon had the press at our Exit Conference. I would say the result would be considered "bad press". The headline was that DHS failed children and they linked the outcomes from the on-site review back to high-profile cases previously reported on.
Pat Page / Arkansas / In Arkansas, we had an exit conference that was open to the public. I think the result was good. We got fairly good press. I think it was immensely more positive than it would have been to keep it closed (which would be difficult in Arkansas anyway with our laws).
Virginia Montero / District of Columbia / The District of Columbia did not open the Exit Conference to the public. However, we did invite everyone from the Agency and all of the stakeholders that participated in the process to attend. Our exit conference went well, but we would caution against opening the Exit Conference up to the public. Some states did not have public Exit Conferences.
Susan Denney / Georgia / Ga. did not open their exit conference to the public. Our Major state Newspaper, The Atlanta Journal and Constitution received notice from one of our team members of the exit conference and location and sent a reporter. We politely advised them the exit was closed and that upon receipt of the full report we would share and discuss the outcomes. Shortly after receiving our report we did have a "sit down" with this reporter as well as open up the opportunity for other media to come to the meeting.
We held a PIP kick off meeting in Ga. after the on-site review (about 1 1/2 months after) and presented our preliminary numbers there. Media was invited to the kick off, but no one came....
Debbie Shiell / Arkansas / 1) For Arkansas, our exit conference was open to the public. A member of the state's newspaper was there, Charlotte Tubbs.
2) The article appeared in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette on the Saturday following the Friday review. For the most part, it was fairly representative of what was shared at the exit conference.
Stephanie Yoder / Indiana / We did have exit conference open to the public. It was a good experience for Indiana. Several stakeholders, including most interviewees at the state level, came and were able to hear from CB where we were performing well and where we need to work. It helps inform them as we are looking for their partnership in moving forward. It also helped prep them for work to be done on the PIP. We invited the media and then invited them again to our PIP kickoff. This was also a good opportunity to educate the media on areas of strengths and areas to focus. Hope this helps.
Glenn Freitas / California / California's was open to the public, but had no press attend....that we are/were aware of.
Maryellen Bearzi / New Mexico / NM opened the exit to the public. Didn't get a lot of attendance. We notified media and did our own press release. We had only one TV station attend exit. Press was basically positive.
Liz Kromrei / Texas / We just completed the Texas CFSR On Site (Round 2). Our Exit conferences were open to the public. For the Friday, statewide exit, we notified the public by invitations to statewide assessment participants, CFSR On Site Review non-case specific stakeholders, legislators, Governor's office, and other key stakeholders. We did not post this as a public meeting or provide notice to the media, though anyone from the public (including the media) were welcome to attend.
For local site exits a similar process was done.
There has been no press information about the CFSR as of this time.
Stakeholders have indicated they appreciated being included.

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