SB1458 - 562R

Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Arizona:

Section 1. Section 8-526, Arizona Revised Statutes, is amended to read:

START_STATUTE8-526. Child welfare; reporting requirements

A. The department shall make available program and outcomes data on its website as provided in this section, in a format that can be downloaded and that is conducive to analysis.

B. The department shall make available the following information on a semiannual basis by September 30 for the period ending the prior June 30 and by March 31 for the period ending the prior December 31:

1. Success in meeting training requirements.

2. Caseloads for child safety workers.

3. The number of new reports and reports that have been closed.

4. The number of case-carrying caseworkers in each region.

5. The number of investigations by region.

6. The number of children being served in-home and the number of children being served out-of-home by each region.

7. The total number of reports received, by major category and by priority.

8. The number of reports not responded to, by priority, by county and statewide.

9. The number of reports assigned for investigation by priority and by major category, by county and statewide for the current and previous reporting periods.

10. The number of reports for investigations completed by priority and by major category, by county and statewide for the current and previous reporting periods and as categorized by investigations that resulted in:

(a) A substantiated report.

(b) A report currently proposed for substantiation.

11. The number of reports assigned for investigation that remain open for investigation by priority and by major category, by county and statewide for the current and previous reporting periods.

12. Of the number of children reported to the department, the percentage of children placed in out-of-home care by county and statewide.

13. The number of newborn infants delivered to safe haven providers pursuant to section 13-3623.01.

14. The number of children entering out-of-home care by county during the reporting period, and the number and percentage of the children entering out-of-home care by county during the reporting period who are voluntary placements for children under eighteen years of age.

15. The number and percentage of children removed during the reporting period, by county and statewide, who had been in out-of-home care:

(a) Within the previous twelve months.

(b) Within the previous twenty-four months, excluding the children included in subdivision (a) of this paragraph.

16. The number and percentage of children who have remained in a shelter or receiving home for more than twenty-one consecutive days, by the child's age group.

17. The total number of licensed foster homes, the number of licensed foster homes considered kinship homes, the number of licensed community foster homes and the number of available spaces in licensed community foster homes.

18. The number of licensed foster homes that receive the required visitation by licensing agency representatives pursuant to section 8-516.

19. The number of children placed in the care, custody and control of the department at the end of the reporting period and the number of these children who receive the required visitation by case managers pursuant to section 8-516.

20. The number and percentage of children who are in the care, custody and control of the department at the end of the reporting period and who are in out-of-home placement and as categorized by:

(a) Age.

(b) Ethnicity.

(d) (e) Type of out-of-home placement, categorized by age and ethnicity.

(e) (f) Length of time in out-of-home placement of less than thirty days, thirty-one days to twelve consecutive months, twelve to twenty-four consecutive months and more than twenty-four consecutive months, including the median, average and range of the number of out-of-home placements.

(f) (g) Primary legal status including voluntary placement for a child under eighteen years of age, temporary custody, adjudicated dependent, free for adoption, voluntary placement for a child over eighteen years of age, dually adjudicated or any other legal status.

21. The number and percentage of dependent children who are under twelve years of age and who experienced a congregate care placement during the current reporting period and as categorized by:

(a) Age.

(b) Ethnicity.

(d) Type of congregate care placement.

(e) Reason for congregate care placement.

(f) Length of time in congregate care placement of less than thirty days, thirty-one days to twelve consecutive months, twelve to twenty-four consecutive months and more than twenty-four consecutive months, including the median, average and range of the number of out-of-home placements.

(g) The number of director approvals sought and received for the placement of a child who is under twelve years of age in a congregate care setting.

(h) The number of court approvals sought and received for the placement of a child who is under twelve years of age in a congregate care setting.

21. 22. If the case plan is to return the child to the parent, the percentage of parents who receive the required contact by case managers.

22. 23. The number and percentage of children who left the custody of the department during the reporting period by reason for leaving care and as categorized by:

(a) Age.

(b) Ethnicity.

(d) Average length of time in care.

23. 24. The number of children with a petition for termination of parental rights granted and not granted during the reporting period by county and statewide.

24. 25. The number and percentage of children with a case plan goal of adoption and who are not placed in an adoptive home at the end of the reporting period and as categorized by:

(a) Age.

(b) Ethnicity.

(d) Legal status.

25. 26. The number and percentage of children with a case plan goal of adoption and who are placed in an adoptive home at the end of the reporting period and as categorized by:

(a) Age.

(b) Ethnicity.

(d) Length of time from change of case plan goal to adoptive placement.

(e) Legal status.

(f) Marital status and relationship of the adoptive parent or parents to the child.

26. 27. The number of children whose adoptive placement was disrupted during the reporting period and as categorized by:

(a) Age.

(b) Ethnicity.

(d) Marital status and relationship of the adoptive parent or parents to the child.

27. 28. The number of children whose adoptions were finalized during the reporting period and as categorized by:

(a) Average length of time in out-of-home placement before adoptive placement.

(b) Average length of time in adoptive placement before the final order of adoption.

28. 29. The number of children who died while in the custody of the department by the county where the death occurred and as categorized by:

(a) The cause of death.

(b) The type of out-of-home placement at the time of death.

29. 30. The number of children with an open or active child safety services case who died due to abuse, categorized by the person or persons who had care or custody of the child at the time of the child's death as follows:

(a) Biological parent or parents.

(b) Other family member.

(d) Foster care parent or parents.

(e) Other out-of-home care provider.

30. 31. The number of children with an open or active child safety services case who died due to abuse allegedly caused by an adult household member who is not listed pursuant to paragraph 29 30 of this subsection.

31. 32. The ratio of supervisors to specialists by region.

32. 33. The source and use of federal monies in the department.

33. 34. The source and use of state monies in the department.

34. 35. Information regarding the educational placement of foster children pursuant to section 8-530.04, including:

(a) The number of best interest educational placement determinations conducted.

(b) The number of children who entered foster care and who did not receive a best interest educational placement determination.

C. Based on the data presented in each reporting period, the department, in as brief a format as possible, shall describe three to five major challenges the department faces in achieving the goal of safe, permanent homes for abused and neglected children.

D. Within three months after the end of each reporting period the department shall submit a written report in as brief a format as possible to the governor, the president of the senate, the speaker of the house of representatives, the chairperson of the house human services committee, the chairperson of the senate family services committee, or their successor committees, and the cochairpersons of the joint legislative committee on children and family services. The department shall submit a copy of the report to the secretary of state.

E. The department shall make available the following information on an annual basis:

1. The percentage of substantiations upheld by the office of administrative hearings.

2. The demographics and number of children placed with relative caregivers.

3. The demographics of kinship foster caregivers.

4. The number of relative children per kinship foster care family.

5. The department's success at maintaining kinship foster care placements.

6. The type and cost of services provided to kinship foster care families by licensed and unlicensed caregivers.

7. The cost of services provided to kinship foster caregivers compared to the cost of out-of-home placements.

8. The number of children and families, by district, receiving services through the housing assistance program during the previous fiscal year.

9. The total amount of money spent on the housing assistance program by region.

10. A programmatic and fiscal evaluation of the effectiveness of the housing assistance program that includes the amount of foster care expenditures avoided.

11. The number of children in the independent living program by age, county and education status.

12. Beginning with the 2022 data period, the statewide number of children in substantiated reports for investigation that are received in the twelve months before the current annual reporting period and that allege neglect as defined in section 8-201, paragraph 25, subdivision (c) and the number of children in these reports who were:

(a) Removed within thirty days after the date the report is received.

(b) Removed within six months after the date the report is received.

F. The department shall make available the following information on a monthly basis:

1. Operations and workforce data measures that include:

(a) Staff vacancy levels by position category and turnover.

(b) New hires, separations, turnover and voluntary attrition delineated by field position, safety specialists, hotline staff, caseworkers in training, program, program supervisors, case aides, office of child welfare investigations staff and administrative staff.

(d) Reports received by maltreatment type, priority and response time.

(e) Inactive cases by disposition.

(f) Open reports.

(g) Entries and exits from the foster care population by exit type.

(h) Support service provision.

(i) Demographics, placement types and case plan goals of the foster care population.

(j) The number and type of licensed foster homes that leave the foster care system and the reason for the exit.

2. Financial data that compares total expenditures each month and year-to-date as compared to prior year totals, appropriation totals and projected expenditure totals, delineated by appropriation and appropriated fund source.

G. The department shall make the information required pursuant to subsection F of this section available within sixty days after the end of the applicable reporting period.

H. The department shall notify the president of the senate, the speaker of the house of representatives, the director of the joint legislative budget committee and the director of the governor's office of strategic planning and budgeting when an update is made on information that must be made available pursuant to subsection B or F of this section. END_STATUTE

Sec. 2. Title 8, chapter 4, article 4, Arizona Revised Statutes, is amended by adding section 8-530.06, to read:

START_STATUTE8-530.06. Dependent children under twelve years of age congregate care placement; director approval; assessment; court approval; definitions

A. A child may be placed in a congregate care setting only with the prior written approval of the director. The written approval of the director shall document that the placement is required for any of the following reasons:

1. To place the child with the child's siblings.

2. To place the child with a parent who has been adjudicated a dependent child.

3. To address the child's documented exceptional needs, which can be met only by a specifically identified congregate care provider.

4. To complete an evaluation of the child's placement needs.

B. Before seeking the approval of the director to place a child in a congregate care setting, the department shall do all of the following:

1. Assemble a family and permanency team for the child consisting of the following:

(a) The child, if developmentally appropriate.

(b) The child's attorney.

(d) Appropriate professionals, including medical or mental health providers, teachers or clergy.

2. Initiate efforts to identify adult relatives or persons with a significant relationship with the child as provided in section 8-514.07 for possible placement.

3. Conduct a preplacement visit to the congregate care setting unless impracticable. The visit shall include the child, if developmentally appropriate, the child's attorney and members of the child's family and permanency team.

4. Engage the child, if developmentally appropriate, the child's attorney and members of the child's family and permanency team in making a recommendation for the child's placement.

5. Document the child's family and permanency team's placement recommendations, including any alternatives considered, for review by the director before approving or disapproving placing the child in a congregate care setting.

C. Notwithstanding subsection B, paragraph 1 of this section, the department may use teams that were previously established to support the child and the child's FAMILY as the child's family and permanency team.

d. Within thirty days after placing a child in a congregate care setting, a qualified individual shall work with the child, the child's attorney, the child's family members and the child's family and permanency team to do all of the following:

1. Assess the child's strengths and needs using an age-appropriate, evidence-based, validated and functional assessment tool.

2. Determine whether the needs of the child can be met through placement with adult relatives or persons with a significant relationship with the child or in a foster home. If the child's needs cannot be met through placement with adult relatives or persons with a significant relationship with the child or in a foster home, the child, the child's attorney, the child's family members and the child's family and permanency team shall determine which setting will provide the most effective and appropriate level of care for the child in the least restrictive environment and be consistent with the short-term and long-term goals for the child.

3. Develop a list of child-specific short-term and long-term behavioral health goals.

e. Within thirty days after placing a child in a congregate care setting, the department shall document in the child's case plan all of the following:

1. The department's reasonable and good faith efforts to identify and include all the individuals described in subsection B or c of this section on the child's family and permanency team.

2. Any evidence demonstrating that the parents from whom the child was removed provided input on the members of the child's family and permanency team.

3. Contact information for members of the child's family and permanency team, including contact information for other adult family members and persons with a significant relationship with the child who are not part of the child's family and permanency team.

4. Evidence that meetings of the child's family and permanency team, including meetings relating to the assessment prescribed by subsection d of this section, are held at a time and place that is convenient for the child's family.

5. Evidence of the department's ongoing efforts to identify potential placement with an adult relative or other persons with a significant relationship with the child pursuant to section 8-514.07.

6. Evidence that the assessment prescribed by subsection d of this section was conducted with the child's family and permanency team.

7. Information regarding the placement preferences of the child's family and permanency team. The placement preference shall recognize a preference for a child to be placed with the child's siblings unless there is a finding by the court that such placement is contrary to the best interest of the child.

8. If the placement preferences of the child and the child's family and permanency team are not the placement setting recommended by the qualified individual conducting the assessment prescribed by subsection d of this section, the reasons why the preferences of the child and the child's family and permanency team were not recommended.

f. If the qualified individual conducting the assessment prescribed by subsection d of this section determines that the child should not be placed with an adult relative or person with a significant relationship with the child or in a foster home, the qualified individual shall specify in writing the reasons why the needs of the child cannot be met by an adult relative or person with a significant relationship with the child or in a foster home. A shortage or lack of foster homes shall not be considered a reason for determining that the needs of the child cannot be met in a foster home. The qualified individual shall also specify in writing why the recommended placement in a congregate care setting will provide the child with the most effective and appropriate level of care in the least restrictive environment and how that placement is consistent with the short-term and long-term goals for the child.

g. Within sixty days after a child is placed in a congregate care setting, the court shall conduct a hearing. At the hearing, the court shall do all of the following:

1. Consider the assessment, determination and documentation made by the qualified individual who conducted the assessment prescribed by subsection d of this section.

2. Determine whether the needs of the child can be met through placement with an adult relative or person with a significant relationship with the child or in a foster home. If the court determines that the needs of the child cannot be met through placement with an adult relative or person with a significant relationship with the child or in a foster care home, the court shall determine whether the placement of the child in a congregate care setting provides the most effective and appropriate level of care for the child in the least restrictive environment and whether that placement is consistent with the short-term and long-term goals for the child.

3. Approve or disapprove the congregate care placement. the court's approval or DISAPPROVAL of the child's PLACEMENT shall be included in the child's case plan pursuant to subsection e of this section.

h. If the child is removed from a congregate care setting and placed with an adult relative or person with a significant relationship with the child or in a foster home within sixty days after being placed in a congregate care setting, the department may notify the court of the change in placement and request that the hearing prescribed by subsection g of this section be vacated.

i. At each status review and permanency hearing held after the placement of the child in a congregate care setting, the department shall submit all of the following information to the court:

1. Evidence that ongoing assessments of the child continue to demonstrate that the needs of the child cannot be met through placement with an adult relative or person with a significant relationship with the child or in a foster home.

2. Evidence that the placement in a congregate care setting provides the most effective and appropriate level of care for the child in the least restrictive environment.

3. Evidence that the placement is consistent with the short-term and long-term goals of the child.

4. Documentation of the child's specific treatment or service needs that are being addressed in the congregate care placement and the length of time the child is expected to require the treatment or services.

5. Documentation of the department's efforts to prepare the child to return home or to be placed with an adult relative, a person with a significant relationship with the child, a foster family, a legal guardian or an adoptive parent.

j. At each status review and permanency hearing held after the child is placed in a congregate care setting, the court shall do all of the following:

1. Consider the evidence and documentation provided by the department.

2. Make a finding as to whether the needs of the child can be met through placement with an adult relative or person with a significant relationship with the child or in a foster home. If the needs of the child cannot be met through placement with an adult relative or person with a significant relationship with the child or in a foster care home, the court shall determine whether the continued placement of the child in a congregate care setting provides the most effective and appropriate level of care for the child in the least restrictive environment and whether that placement is consistent with the short-term and long-term goals for the child.

3. Approve or disapprove the child's continued congregate care placement.

k. If a child is placed in a congregate care setting for more than six consecutive or nonconsecutive months, the department shall submit a report to the court every thirty days. The report shall include both of the following:

1. Updated evidence and documentation submitted pursuant to subsection i of this section.

2. A request from the director for court approval of the continued placement of the child in the child's current congregate care placement.

l. On receipt of the report submitted pursuant to subsection k of this section, the court shall do all of the following:

1. Consider the evidence and documentation submitted by the department.

2. Determine whether the continued placement of the child in a congregate care setting provides the most effective and appropriate level of care for the child in the least restrictive environment and whether that placement is consistent with the short-term and long-term goals of the child.

3. Approve the child's continued congregate care placement or set a hearing for further consideration of the child's ongoing placement in a congregate care setting.

m. On its own motion or at the request of any party, the court may set a hearing to consider the child's placement in a congregate care setting.

n. For the purposes of this section:

1. "Child" means a dependent child who is under twelve years of age.

2. "Congregate care":

(a) Means any facility that is operated by a child welfare agency that is licensed by the department to provide twenty-four hour group care to unrelated children, including shelter care facilities that are intended to provide short-term care for a group of children and residential group care facilities that are intended to provide care for a group of children for longer periods of time.

(b) Does not include a qualified residential treatment program.

3. "Qualified individual" means an objective licensed mental health professional who has at least two years' experience working with dependent children, who is not an employee of the department and who is not affiliated with any placement setting in which children are placed by the department.

4. "Qualified residential treatment program" means a qualified residential treatment program as defined in 42 United States Code section 672(k)(4) that serves children with specific treatment needs who need short-term out-of-home placement and that qualifies for funding under the family first prevention services act (P.L. 115-123). END_STATUTE