Saturday, 15 January 2005 - 4:00 PM

This presentation is part of: Outcomes in Foster Care

Utilization As An Immediate Outcome In Foster Care Review

Although foster care review is a firmly established practice that is legitimated by public policy, there is a dearth of research on foster care review. Among the challenges for evaluation research on foster care review is a lack of clarity about immediate outcomes from foster care review that could influence potential long term outcomes, such as time to permanency. Utilization, defined as Foster Care Review Board (FCRB) recommendations being reflected in subsequent foster care service planning, can serve as an immediate outcome that may inform future studies of foster care review. This study asked two questions: (1) How accurately can the relationship between FCRB recommendations and foster care service planning be measured? (2) What proportion of FCRB recommendations are utilized by foster care case managers? Data were gathered from the Utah Foster Care Citizen Review Board (FCRB) and Utah child welfare (DCFS) databases. A stratified random sample of 410 cases from a total of 1,856 that were reviewed in Utah during 1999 were selected from the FCRB database, resulting in a 4.3% margin of error at the 95% confidence level. The variables in this study were measured through a coding procedure, using two teams of two coders each. One quarter of the cases were paired within and across coding teams, and measurement accuracy was assessed using point-by-point inter-rater agreement rates and Kappa coefficients. Results indicated acceptable measurement accuracy for coded questions that related to foster care caseworker utilization of FCCRB recommendations in service planning, with inter-rater agreement rates between 76.9% and 86.7% and Kappa coefficients between .55 and .74. Utilization results demonstrated that DCFS service plans reflect utilization rates of 55%, 52%, and 44% for recommendations about permanency goals, temporary custody and placement, and case activities, respectively. Although the descriptive data from this study is useful for the Utah foster care review and child welfare systems, a more far reaching result was achieved. Specifically, through effective concept translation and acceptable measurement accuracy utilization was established as a variable to use in future research and evaluation on foster care review. Since the U.S. Congress enacted the Adoption Assistance and Child Welfare Act of 1980 (Public Law 96-272)mandating foster care review procedures across the United States countless resources have gone into this process. Utilization as a variable can contribute to an increased understanding of how well foster care review is improving the permanency prospects of children in the foster care system.

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