Child Welfare Services

County of San Diego System Improvement Plan and the California Child and Family Services Review (C-CFSR) System

The California Child and Family Services Review (C-CFSR) System was formed as a result of the passage of the Child Welfare System Improvement and Accountability Act (AB 636) in 2001 and modeled after the Federal CFSR. The C-CFSR was designed to improve outcomes for children in the child welfare system while holding county and state agencies accountable for the outcomes achieved. This statewide accountability system includes the completion of a County Self-Assessment (CSA) which includes a peer review, development of a five-year System Improvement Plan (SIP), the submission of annual SIP Progress Reports, and quarterly monitoring of SIP strategies and the effects on Child Welfare outcomes.

County Self-Assessment (CSA)

The C-CFSR process begins with the County Self-Assessment (CSA). The CSA is a comprehensive review of the County of San Diego’s child welfare system and probation placement programs. The CSA is completed every five years in coordination with community partners and it analyzes the effectiveness of practice, programs and resources while identifying areas of improvement. A Peer Review is completed as part of the CSA. The Peer Review provides qualitative information by examining practice and policies that impact outcomes for children and families.   

County System Improvement Plan (SIP)

The County’s System Improvement Plan (SIP) serves as a roadmap of measurable goals and strategies to be implemented to improve safety, permanency and well-being of children. The SIP is the County’s commitment to specific measurable improvements in the system of care of children and families that is completed every five years. The County will provide the California Department of Social Services (CDSS) with an annual update to the County SIP.  These updates will show both progress made during the year and changes needed based on additional information.

Quarterly Data Reports

In order to measure the county's progress in meeting outcomes, the State provides the County with data reports. The data source for these reports is the Child Welfare Services/Case Management System (CWS/CMS), which became fully operational in all 58 counties on December 31, 1997. Counties are responsible for inputting data on CWS/CMS as part of their process to manage their caseloads of children and families who receive child welfare services. The accuracy of the information derived from CWS/CMS is continuously improving.

Comparison of data across counties should be done with caution. First, counties may have different data management practices. Though data are recorded on one statewide database system (CWS/CMS), differences in data entry and update may influence outcome measures reported here. Second, the social and economic contexts within which child welfare services are provided vary widely among the 58 counties of California. Data on the outcome measures can be found on the University of California - Berkeley Child Welfare Research Center's website:http://cssr.berkeley.edu/ucb_childwelfare/

 

For more information phone 858-614-9127 or send us an email.