Report 2018-126 Recommendation 3 Responses

Report 2018-126: Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services: It Has Not Adequately Ensured the Health and Safety of All Children in Its Care (Release Date: May 2019)

Recommendation #3 To: Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services

To ensure that it protects children by completing investigations, assessments, home inspections, and background checks in a timely manner, by November 2019 the department should implement a tracking mechanism to monitor and follow-up on uncompleted or undocumented initial home inspections and background checks.

1-Year Agency Response

On November 27, 2019, DCFS went live with the Foster Care Search System (FCSS) update detailed in the Department's 6-month response to the State.

As indicated in the 6-month response, the entry of background check completion dates for caregivers and other adults are now a prerequisite for placement packet requests submitted electronically. The mandatory background check data fields now appear when an FCCS placement packet is flagged as being an emergency placement (i.e., a child was placed into the home prior to Resource Family Approval).

To assist with oversight and monitoring efforts, a dedicated workgroup identified how to use a specific set of CWS/CMS data fields to evaluate entries related to home inspections for prospective emergency placements. The information was used to develop a management tracking report that monitors compliance with home inspection and background check requirements. The report was finalized in mid-April and is now available for regional managers to regularly access and use.

Additionally, on November 26 and 27, 2019, relevant policy updates/bulletins were published detailing how to enter home inspection and background check information onto FCSS and CWS/CMS (refer to attachments).

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

The department provided documentation demonstrating that it implemented the tracking mechanism described in its response.

6-Month Agency Response

On August 30, 2019, the Department issued a For Your Information (FYI) bulletin reiterating the need to complete both background checks and initial home inspections prior to placing children in out-of-home care. The FYI provided instructions on where to document the checks and inspections on Child Welfare Services/Case Management System (CWS/CMS) and informed staff that efforts were underway to determine how best to streamline documentation practices.

The Department's Business Information Systems Division subsequently developed enhancements to its Foster Care Search System (FCSS), a web-based application that conducts electronic searches of placements for children/youth based on their characteristics/needs and also generates foster care placement agreements and other documents known as foster care placement packets. Mandatory data fields were added to FCSS to capture when emergency pre-placement searches were completed on California Law Enforcement Telecommunications System, Child Abuse Central Index, and CWS/CMS, and system function limits were built, requiring the entry of dates for background checks and home inspections on requests for foster care placement packets. This system enhancement now equips FCSS with internal safeguards, since placements cannot not occur without foster care placement packets and foster care placement packet requests cannot be submitted without details of completed background checks.

Relevant policies and procedural guides were revised to reflect changes in practices and documenting procedures, and meetings were held with labor partners to discuss the potential workload impact of such changes.

The FCSS system enhancement and related policy updates will be released by the end of November 2019, barring any unforeseen circumstances.

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

60-Day Agency Response

The Department is exploring how best to track initial home inspections and background checks to ensure that they are completed appropriately in accordance with mandated time frames. Several ideas have been presented and are being evaluated. The Department is considering the most feasible options given its worker caseloads, workflow processes, and ability to develop, enhance, or reengineer existing applications/programs to implement a sufficient tracking system.

In the interim, the Department is developing a For Your Information (FYI) bulletin reiterating the need to complete both background checks and initial home inspections prior to placing children in out-of-home care. The pertinent policy will be revised and updated to reflect the adopted monitoring practices, once the necessary tracking mechanisms are in place.

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

All Recommendations in 2018-126

Agency responses received are posted verbatim.