Report 2013-110 Recommendation 6 Responses

Report 2013-110: Child Welfare Services: The County Child Welfare Services Agencies We Reviewed Must Provide Better Protection for Abused and Neglected Children (Release Date: April 2014)

Recommendation #6 To: San Francisco Human Services Agency, City and County of

To ensure that the statewide case management system contains accurate and complete information for each referral, the San Francisco County CWS agency should update its policies or otherwise provide clear guidance to social workers about the importance of ensuring that all alleged perpetrators, victims, and types of maltreatment are accurately recorded upon intake.

Annual Follow-Up Agency Response From September 2015

Policy The new Hotline Intake and Emergency Response/After Hours (ER/AH) Policies and Desk Guides (DG) were completed and distributed to all staff on 7/29/2015. Initial training and review was conducted with the Front End staff during the summer. Based on the feedback received, formalized training sessions are scheduled for all staff on the new policies beginning in October 2015.

Quick Guide/Flow Charts (QG) for screeners have been completed and distributed and provide detailed instructions for completing the Referral Intakes. The QG directs PSWs on how to document each client, alleged perpetrator, and types of maltreatment accurately upon intake. Additionally, the new policies require systematic reviews by the Program Directors, to ensure that the supervisors are reviewing for accuracy.

The Hotline DG provides screeners with step by step instructions for correctly documenting in CWS/CMS.

The ER/AF Policy and DGs were also completed and distributed to all staff on 7/29/2015. The ER/AH DG specifically directs After Hours staff on all required actions which must be done when completing a referral including inputting into CWS/CMS and utilizing the SDM Hotline tool.

Training CWS/CMS Hotline Referral Entry Training is now required before a PSW or a Supervisor can work in the After Hours program. The importance of ensuring that accurate and complete information is entered in each referral is addressed in the training and in policies.

Intake staff continues to abide by the new guidelines.

See Supporting Documentation

California State Auditor's Assessment of Annual Follow-Up Status: Fully Implemented

1-Year Agency Response

Policy The new Hotline Intake and ER/AH Policies and DGs, have been developed and will be published to all staff by the end of April. Quick Guide/Flow Charts (QG) for screeners have been completed and provide detailed instructions for completing the Referral Intakes.

The QG directs PSWs on how to document each client, alleged perpetrator, and types of maltreatment accurately upon intake. Additionally, the new policies require systematic reviews by the Program Directors, to ensure that the supervisors are reviewing for accuracy.

The Hotline Intake Policy is in the final approval stage and should be published by April 14th. The Hotline DG provides screeners with step by step instructions for documenting correctly in CWS/CMS.

The ER/AF Policy and DGs are also completed and will be ready for distribution to staff in late April. The ER/AH DG direct After Hours staff on all required actions which must be completed when finishing up a referral and inputting it into CWS/CMS and utilizing SDM Hotline tool.

Training CWS/CMS Hotline Referral Entry Training, is now required before a PSW or a Supervisor can work in the After Hours program. The importance of ensuring that accurate and complete information is entered in each referral is addressed in the training and in policies.

Intake staff is now abiding by the new guidelines. We anticipate final approval and publication of the policies and desk guides by the end of this month.

- See Supporting Documentation

California State Auditor's Assessment of 1-Year Status: Partially Implemented

San Francisco County CWS agency's policy referenced above did not address all aspects of our recommendation. The agency stated it will add more explicit language to emphasize the importance of ensuring that all alleged perpetrators, victims, and types of maltreatment are accurately recorded upon intake. Once the agency does so, this recommendation will be fully implemented.

6-Month Agency Response

Please refer to response #2.

Additionally, the new Training Coordinator will work with members of the management team to develop and standardize training for staff in this area.

The Policy Unit will be responsible for developing policies and Desk Guides for intake staff. The Desk Guides will include specific guidelines/expectations for staff to ensure that all alleged perpetrators, victims, and types of maltreatment are accurately recorded at intake.

The CQI unit will conduct monthly reviews using the new CSFR case review tool to monitor compliance in this area.

California State Auditor's Assessment of 6-Month Status: Pending

60-Day Agency Response

To date we have hired a Policy Supervisor who will develop policies and procedures requiring supervisory review of the hotline tool. The supervisor will come on board June 9, 2014. Additionally, we are in the process of redirecting 5 Protective Services Worker (PSW) positions to the Policy unit. We expect to have them on board by July 21, 2014. Once the policy unit is established, policies and procedures will be developed requiring supervisory review of all hotline referrals for accuracy and completeness for each referral.

Once established, the Policy Unit will update existing policies and develop relevant Quick guides for staff use.

We are waiting for approval to hire 6 Quality Assurance (Q.A.) staff including 1 supervisor and 5 analysts to ensure compliance with new policies that require supervisory reviews to be completed timely and accurately for all hotline referrals. Once in place, Q.A. will develop a monitoring system and tools for ongoing compliance monitoring.

California State Auditor's Assessment of 60-Day Status: Pending

All Recommendations in 2013-110

Agency responses received are posted verbatim.