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Methodology
Foster Care Entry Cohorts

Notes on Source Data

IMPORTANT NOTE: The following methodology may include references to report features not available on the public site version. On the public site, masking is performed to protect the privacy of individuals served by CDSS and comply with CDSS data de-identification guidelines. Values of 1 to 10 and calculations based on values of 1 to 10 are masked ('M' or '*'). In stratified views of the data, additional values (the lowest available) are masked to prevent calculation of values 1 to 10.

These reports are derived from a longitudinal database and provide information on the status of children entering foster care during specific 12-month periods (“entry cohorts”) at various times, from 3 months to 13 years, after entry into care. The report is limited to single placement episodes, thus children whose placement episode ended, e.g., by reunification, who later reentered care are reported as having exited care.

Cohort: A cohort is composed of children who enter foster care in a 12-month period. The user may limit the cohort in a number of ways including demographic characteristics, time in care, and previous placement experience. Youth who enter foster care at age 18 or more are excluded. For children with multiple episodes during the same 12-month period, this measure evaluates the first episode within the period.

In the drill-down reports, an entry cohort may be restricted to children entering foster care for the first time ever (‘first entry’) or to ‘other entry’. Days in care selection may be limited to the default of 8 days or more, 7 days or less, or all entries. Exit status can be tracked from 3 months up to a maximum of 156 months (13 years), depending on the available follow-up data for the selected entry cohort. That is, earlier cohorts may be tracked for longer time periods.

Status: The status of children at set time periods after entry into care is reported. If the child has left care, this status shows the Exit Type at the end of the placement (Reunification, Adoption, Guardianship, Emancipation, or Other). If the child is still in care in the cohort episode, the child is reported as still in care. The measure is limited to single placement episodes. Thus children who reentered care in a new episode are reported by the way in which the cohort placement episode ended, e.g., reunification.

Notes:
  • County is assigned based on the first county with an open case during the placement episode. However, if the child was only in referral status or was in referral status for more than six months during the placement episode, the first responsible county is defined as the first county responsible for the referral.
  • Agency Type is based on the responsible agency at the placement episode start date.
  • Age is the child’s age at the placement episode start date
  • In the 'Exit Status at Most Recent Available Follow Up Period' analysis, rows and columns with no data are not displayed in report output. Please note that this may result in an unusual table structure for queries involving small counties or other small frequency counts.
  • The Trial Home Visit adjustment is applied consistent with the federal methodology for 3-P1. For children whose trial home visits ended in permanency (usually reunification) more than 30 days after the beginning of the trial home visit, the Trial Home Visit Adjustment calculates the date of discharge to permanency as 30 days after the beginning of the trial home visit, thus shortening the time in care. Note that this adjustment is applied to 3-P1, but not to the other Federal measures.

Cells containing a period (".") represent a value of zero. In cells representing quotients, a period may also indicate the indeterminate form 0/0.

Stratification and Filters: This measure may be run with filters to restrict the data to various subgroups of other variables (e.g., Black subgroup of the Ethnicity variable, <1 year old subgroup of the Age variable, etc.). Please see the links below for details:


Agency Type

Age Group

Ethnic Group

Sex at Birth

Placement Type

Caregiver Relationship

Exit Status

ICWA Status

Tribal Membership Status