CFSP 5 Year Plan - RI Department of Children, Youth & Families

During the implementation of the 2005-2009 five year plan, there was a marked change in
the volume of families requiring
DCYF intervention. In the
following table, data as of
December 31 for the past three
years represent a steady decline
in active caseloads and in the
number of children in substitute
care.
Active Caseloads – Number of Children
As of December 31 2006 2007 2008
# Active Caseloads 9,414 8,843 8,203
# Children in Substitute Care 3,311 3,042 2,654
# Children at Home 3,418 3,138 2,824
At the same time, the number of children able to be maintained in their own homes under
DCYF supervision was greater than the number of children placed in foster care in each year.
These trend lines represent steady progress for the Department, as throughout this period there was
ongoing preparation with staff and the provider community toward greater emphasis on home and
community-based services. Much of this emphasis was focused on the front-end of the
Department’s service system – helping child protection investigators to work more diligently with
families and community providers to avert families from being opened to the DCYF wherever
possible and appropriate.
LARGER SYSTEM ENHANCEMENTS –
The Department of Children, Youth and Families is now one of four state departments
serving children and families under the umbrella of the Executive Office of Health and Human
Services (EOHHS). The EOHHS was statutorily created in the 2006 legislative session.
The EOHHS is now comprised of the Departments of Children, Youth and Families;
Human Services; Mental Health, Retardation and Hospitals; and Elderly Affairs. During State
Fiscal Year 2009, the State received authorization from the Center of Medicare and Medicaid
Services (CMS) to implement a Consumer Choice Global Medicaid Waiver which is designed to
consolidate all of the State’s Medicaid funded services under the broad reach of the global waiver
to ensure a community-based system of care that will greatly reduce reliance on residential
treatment or other long-term institutional care – with the intent to provide more flexibility in the
delivery of home and community-based services. The EOHHS has responsibility for coordinating
administration and financing of Medicaid benefits across the four departments.
The agencies are currently focusing on the necessary tasks to prepare for implementation
through various work groups that are identifying and designing data systems changes and work
flow strategies that are needed to meet various data tracking requirements and match service needs
to the populations.
As part of this overall system transformation, the Department is continuing its efforts to
fully redesign its Integrated System of Care through a two-pronged approach: 1) the
establishment of Family Care Community Partnerships (FCCPs) to address the front-end needs of
the child welfare and children’s behavioral health systems; and, 2) a redesign of residential
R.I. Department of Children, Youth and Families
Title IV-B Child and Family Service Plan – 2010 - 2014
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