Report 2021-112 Recommendation 13 Responses

Report 2021-112: The Child Abuse Central Index: The Unreliability of This Database Puts Children at Risk and May Violate Individuals' Rights (Release Date: May 2022)

Recommendation #13 To: Social Services, Department of

Until the Legislature amends state law and DOJ develops processes to use CWS/CMS, Social Services should by November 2022, collaborate with DOJ to identify and reconcile all reports that should have been submitted to CACI by counties and work with counties to send all reports to CACI by May 2023. This collaboration should not be limited to the reports of our four-year audit period.

Annual Follow-Up Agency Response From December 2024

The CDSS has partially implemented this recommendation. The CDSS issued guidance, in ACL No. 23-66, to county child welfare agencies on how to reconcile the approximately 27,000 historical records. Counties are expected to complete the reconciliation of these records by February 15, 2025. The CDSS will continue to monitor the progress of the CACI audit reconciliation and collaborate with the county child welfare agencies and DOJ to further refine ongoing reconciliation and submission processes and procedures for reporting to the CACI, including discussion of those records outside of the period examined by this audit.

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

Per Social Services' response, it has not fully implemented this recommendation.

Annual Follow-Up Agency Response From October 2023

CDSS has partially implemented this recommendation. CDSS issued guidance in the form of ACL No. 23-66, to county child welfare agencies on how to reconcile the 27,000 historical records. Counties are expected to complete the reconciliation of the historical records by February 15, 2025. CDSS will continue to monitor the progress of the reconciliation and collaborate with the county child welfare agencies and DOJ to further refine reconciliation and submission processes for CACI reports. CDSS and the DOJ are continuing discussions to determine processes for ensuring all reports that should be reported to CACI are being submitted, as described in the response for Recommendation 12.

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

Per Social Services' response, it has not fully implemented this recommendation.

1-Year Agency Response

The CDSS has partially implemented this recommendation. The CDSS has received the data needed to begin the reconciliation process. The CDSS and DOJ also entered into a data use agreement as of November 7, 2022, to receive, in addition, a small number of priority cases to disseminate to counties, which DOJ has provided. The CDSS will continue to collaborate with the county child welfare agencies and DOJ to prioritize reports for reconciliation, assess the resources needed to complete the initial qualitative case reviews in order to establish appropriate timeframes for reconciling the reports identified during the audit period, and further refine reconciliation and submission processes for CACI reports. The CDSS and the DOJ have had discussions to determine processes for ensuring all reports that should be reported to CACI are being submitted.

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

Per Social Services' response, it has not fully implemented this recommendation.

6-Month Agency Response

CDSS has partially implemented this recommendation. The CDSS has received the data needed to begin the reconciliation process. CDSS and DOJ have also entered into a data use agreement as of November 7, 2022 to receive, in addition, a small number of priority cases to disseminate to counties. The CDSS will continue to collaborate with the county child welfare agencies and DOJ to prioritize reports for reconciliation, assess the resources needed to complete the initial qualitative case reviews in order to establish appropriate timeframes for reconciling the reports identified during the audit period, and further refine reconciliation and submission processes for CACI reports.

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

Per Social Services' response, it will not fully implement this recommendation until May 2023.

60-Day Agency Response

CDSS has partially implemented this recommendation. CDSS is currently engaged in ongoing discussions with the County Welfare Directors Association and counties and has established a workgroup with county child welfare services agencies to develop a criteria and procedures for the reconciliation of the 27,000 reports that require qualitative case reviews. The case reviews will determine which reports may be appropriately submitted to the CACI. The ongoing collaboration includes prioritization of reports for reconciliation, how existing data and automation may be leveraged to support reconciliation efforts, and discussion of guidance, technical assistance, and resources necessary to implement these processes. These collaborative efforts are currently underway and focused on the implementation of reconciliation and submission processes for the reports identified during the audit period and the development of ongoing reconciliation efforts. CDSS is committed to working with counties to complete the reconciliation of a portion of the identified reports by November 2022, and will continue to collaborate with the counties and DOJ to prioritize reports for reconciliation, to assess the resources needed to complete the initial qualitative case reviews in order to establish appropriate timeframes for reconciling reports identified during the audit period, and to further refine reconciliation and submission processes for CACI reports.

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

Per Social Services' response, it will not fully implement this recommendation until November 2022.

All Recommendations in 2021-112

Agency responses received are posted verbatim.