Report 2011-101.1 Recommendation 8 Responses

Report 2011-101.1: Child Welfare Services: California Can and Must Provide Better Protection and Support for Abused and Neglected Children (Release Date: October 2011)

Recommendation #8 To: Social Services, Department of

To determine whether the hold harmless provision has been effective in reducing caseloads and whether it should be revised or rescinded, Social Services should refine and use CWS/CMS to calculate and report county CWS caseloads.

Annual Follow-Up Agency Response From November 2016

CDSS continues to disagree with this recommendation and will not implement. The annual Child Welfare Realignment report does include a section reporting county caseloads (self-reported).

California State Auditor's Assessment of Annual Follow-Up Status: Will Not Implement

Annual Follow-Up Agency Response From October 2015

CDSS continues to disagree with this finding, as the state's hold harmless policy does not significantly influence caseload for the Child Welfare Services program. There are significant variations on how county programs assign workers based on tasks or cases, and the state also does not have access to county staffing levels at consistent points in time that could be used for statewide reporting. County staffing levels also are not included in the CWS/CMS system.

California State Auditor's Assessment of Annual Follow-Up Status: Will Not Implement

Annual Follow-Up Agency Response From October 2014

The CDSS does not agree with this finding, as the state's hold harmless policy does not significantly influence caseload for the CWS program. There are significant variations on how county programs assign workers based on tasks or cases, and the state also does not have access to county staffing levels at consistent points in time that could be used for statewide reporting. County staffing levels also are not included in the CWS/CMS system.

California State Auditor's Assessment of Annual Follow-Up Status: Will Not Implement

Annual Follow-Up Agency Response From October 2013

Remains Not Implemented/Disagree with Recommendation. While CDSS agrees that CWS/CMS could and should be used to calculate and report county caseloads, the Department does not agree with this finding, as the state's hold harmless policy does not influence overall caseload for the CWS program. It is a fiscal policy related to county administrative costs. Due to budget constraints, the state has not funded county cost increases since FY 2001-2002. This policy was instituted to avoid creating a disincentive for counties that create innovative programs or have other factors that result in decreases in out of home care for children.

The CDSS continues to disagree with this recommendation for the reasons listed above. Additionally, funding for child welfare has been realigned directly to counties. As a result, this will be CDSS' final response to this particular recommendation.

California State Auditor's Assessment of Annual Follow-Up Status: Not Fully Implemented

Annual Follow-Up Agency Response From November 2012

In its October 2011 response to the audit report, Social Services disagreed that one purpose of the hold harmless provision was to reduce caseloads, but nonetheless agreed that CWS/CMS could and should be used to calculate and report county caseloads. Rather than provide an update on its progress towards creating this measure, Social Services once again asserted its disagreement regarding our description of the purpose of the hold harmless provision.

California State Auditor's Assessment of Annual Follow-Up Status: Not Fully Implemented

All Recommendations in 2011-101.1

Agency responses received after June 2013 are posted verbatim.