2014 -- S 2504 SUBSTITUTE A

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     STATE OF RHODE ISLAND

IN GENERAL ASSEMBLY

JANUARY SESSION, A.D. 2014

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S E N A T E   R E S O L U T I O N

RESPECTFULLY REQUESTING THE DEPARTMENT OF CHILDREN, YOUTH, AND

FAMILIES TO ENHANCE THE CHILD WELFARE SYSTEM'S CAPACITY TO COLLECT

AND UTILIZE DATA

     Introduced By: Senators Sheehan, Nesselbush, Cool Rumsey, Satchell, and Miller

     Date Introduced: February 27, 2014

     Referred To: Senate Health & Human Services

     WHEREAS, State health and human service agencies increasingly turn to robust data

systems to support their strategic planning, actions, and investments. Targeted data collection and

analyses have allowed these agencies to identify gaps in services, to monitor the status of children

and other vulnerable populations served in publicly-funded health and human services delivery

systems, to track outcomes, and to direct resources to programs that demonstrate their

effectiveness. These activities often result in publicly available reports that provide additional

transparency in government spending; and

     WHEREAS, The Executive Office of Health and Human Services (EOHHS) currently

compiles a great deal of information related to the activities of the health and human services

agencies, and the Department of Children, Youth and Families (DCYF) compiles data related

specifically to child welfare, collected in response to Child and Family Services Reviews, Title

IV-E foster care eligibility reviews, the Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System

assessment reviews, the Statewide Automated Child Welfare Information System, and the

quarterly Program Improvement Plans to the federal Administration for Children and Families.

Some, but not all, of this data is submitted on a regular basis to EOHHS data warehouse to be

integrated with information on services provided by other EOHHS agencies; and

     WHEREAS, DCYF has worked closely with the Office of Management and Budget

(OMB) and the Pew-MacArthur Results First Initiative to establish a cost-benefit model to

examine policies and procedures in the state's criminal justice system. As part of this effort,

DCYF has reported on a number of indicators related to the child welfare system, but certain

other measures that are critical to documenting children's well-being remain uncollected and if

collected have not been shared with EOHHS data warehouse; and

     WHEREAS, In 2013, the Senate's Health and Human Services Committee conducted

hearings on DCYF which included extensive testimony on how DCYF's data collection and

reporting could support better policy and decision-making; now, therefore be it

     RESOLVED, That this Senate of the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations

hereby respectfully requests that EOHHS work in collaboration with the DCYF to enhance

EOHHS' capacity to aggregate, collect, and utilize data to inform programmatic and policy

decisions for children, youth, and families and all health and human service agencies that assist

children and families at risk; and be it further

     RESOLVED, That this Senate hereby respectfully requests that EOHHS work in

collaboration with DCYF to build the analytical capacity to include in its reporting, to the extent

practicable, the five measures identified in the November 2013 report of the Senate Health and

Human Services Committee oversight of DCYF, including the incidence of maltreatment in foster

care (on an annual basis), incidence of advance transition plans for youth transitioning from care,

timelines of achieving permanent child placements (on a semi-annual basis), median length of

stay in congregate care, and average open cases per social worker; and be it further

     RESOLVED, That this Senate hereby respectfully requests that EOHHS collaborate with

all state health and human service agencies, the Family Court, the Rhode Island Department of

Elementary and Secondary Education, and other agencies to identify and report common

measures on youth in the foster care system, those entering the juvenile justice system, and

children and families receiving preventative services; and be it further

     RESOLVED, That this Senate hereby respectfully requests that EOHHS provide

direction to DCYF and Department of Behavioral Healthcare, Developmental Disabilities and

Hospitals (BHDDH) to enter into a memorandum of agreement by December 31, 2014, which

specifically provides for youth who are identified with Severe Emotional

Disturbance/Developmental Disability to be referred to BHDDH five years prior to their

transition, and that specifically outlines the responsibilities of both DCYF and BHDDH to ensure

the effective transition of youth identified as eligible for BHDDH services on their 21st birthday

or before their 21st birthday if transition from DCYF to BHDDH is approved by the Family

Court; and be it further

     RESOLVED, That this Senate hereby respectfully requests that EOHHS facilitate

DCYF's development of system-level measures to strategies, actions, and outcomes in its annual

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reporting to the General Assembly, to see how system-wide results can be strengthened; and be it

further

     RESOLVED, That this Senate hereby respectfully requests that EOHHS present a report

to the Senate detailing additional costs and resources that relate to the requested data collection

and reporting, for those measures that are not readily available; and be it further

     RESOLVED, That the Secretary of State be and hereby is authorized and directed to

transmit duly certified copies of this resolution to the Governor, the Director of the Department of

Children, Youth, and Families, the Secretary of the Executive Office of Health and Human

Services, and the Commissioner of Education.

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