OPPORTUNITIES AND RECOMMENDATIONS RECOMMENDATION 10: Use data to understand baseline performance, establish prevention measures for ongoing tracking. Building on the recent Prevention Dashboard efforts, we recommend elevating a set of prevention measures for routine use. For example, prevention success may be measured by timely referrals to voluntary services, high uptake rates by families, low frequency of recurring child protection investigations following prevention services, and expanding use of supports like home visiting and Help Me Grow/Plans of Safe Care. The Foster America team has proposed a set of baseline measures, including items that monitor declining investigation/out-of-home placement as well as creation/use of voluntary prevention alternatives. These metrics are based on an understanding of current DCYF data-collection capabilities without extensive new technological builds or additional data sharing agreements. They include both lead measures (early data that may change often but nonetheless suggest whether interventions are effective and lag measures (those that take longer to change but are more reflective of progress toward the desired end state). We propose finalizing these measures in early 2025, then collecting and reporting on these items at least every six months. New measures should be added as CCWIS technology upgrades and data-sharing agreements with other public agencies permit. We recommend moving forward with the data currently available rather than delaying progress while waiting for more advanced prevention metrics. Identifying desired metrics not currently available can also help ensure that CCWIS build-outs and data-sharing agreements prioritize prevention measures alongside well-defined child welfare metrics (especially the federally required Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System measures that could otherwise take precedence.
EXHIBIT: BASELINE MEASURES
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