Report 2018-126 Recommendation 7 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 #7 To: Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services

To ensure that supervisors review investigations, assessments, and other documentation on time, the department should, by November 2019, specify time frames by which each type of document should be reviewed. In doing so, the department should acknowledge the particular urgency of reviewing safety assessments and related safety plans, which are key to determining whether to leave a child in the home.

6-Month Agency Response

The Department continues to follow its foundational Structured Decision Making (SDM) policy which clearly delineates time frames for the completion and approval of various SDM assessment tools, as previously detailed in the 60-day update to the State.

Additionally, on August 8, 2019, the Department published updates to the "Disposition of Allegations and Closure of Emergency Response Referrals" policy and it now includes a table with time frames specifying when safety and risk assessments must be completed by Children's Social Workers. Further updates made to this policy included the addition of hyperlinks to more detailed SDM information, including a comprehensive table with SDM assessment completion and approval time frames.

NOTE: Although departmental policies are typically published with an issue (or revised) date, the changes put forth in the aforementioned policy were not substantive and did not require the usual vetting process with the Department's labor partners, managers, and other vested stakeholders. The policy issue date therefore did not change, and still reflects the issue date of May 2, 2019. Further, the policy is currently under revision and will include a table further clarifying supervisor approval time frames within the body of the new version. The Policy Review Committee was held to discuss these updates on November 13, 2019, and the updated policy will be published upon final approval.

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

60-Day Agency Response

The Department issued a For Your Information (FYI) bulletin titled "Timely Submission and Approval of Structured Decision Making (SDM) Tools" on May 29, 2019 delineating due dates for the completion and approval of various SDM assessment tools for Children's Social Workers (CSWs) and Supervising Children's Social Workers (SCSWs). The Department further issued a foundational policy titled "Structured Decision Making (SDM)" on June 24, 2019 with guidelines regarding the different SDM assessments. The policy provides specific procedural instructions and includes information covering Goals of SDM; Decision Points & Their Corresponding SDM Tools; Hotline Tools; Safety Assessment; Substitute Care Provider (SCP) Safety Assessment; Risk Assessment; Risk Reassessment (for In-Home Cases); Reunification Reassessment (for Out-of-Home Cases); and Time Frames for Assessment and Documentation among other topics.

The Department is working on updating its policy titled "Disposition of Allegations and Closure of Emergency Response Referrals" so it clearly outlines the time frames for completing relevant or required investigatory checks and assessments.

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

All Recommendations in 2018-126

Agency responses received are posted verbatim.