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Methodology
Entry Rates

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 compute annual Entry Rates based on population projections from the California Department of Finance. Please consult the Population methodology for important details.
http://cssr.berkeley.edu/cwscmsreports/methodologies/default.aspx?report=Population

The statewide Entry Rate for a given year is computed by dividing the unduplicated state count of children entering foster care by the state child population and then multiplying by 1,000 (for an entry rate per 1,000 children in the population). Similarly, each county's entry rate for a given year is computed by dividing the unduplicated county count of children entering care by the county child population and then multiplying by 1,000.

Entry Rates will correspond to the Foster Care Entries Reports when either the “All Children Entering” option is chosen (as this restricts the count of foster care entries to unique children) or when “Children with First Entries” is specified (as this also restricts the count to unique children as a child may only experience one first entry to care).

Rate Type: Users are given the option of specifying one of three rate types based on the type of entry.

  1. All Children Entering: An entry rate based on an unduplicated child count of all children entering foster care during the time period.
  2. Children with First Entries: An entry rate based on the count of unique children for whom this is the first ever entry to foster care.
  3. Children with Other Entries: An entry rate based on an unduplicated count of children who had at least one non-first entry to foster care during the time period.

Rates are not calculated for children with missing county assignment since there is no corresponding population level data. Children with missing county assignment are included in the statewide calculation. In addition, when ‘all children entering’ or ‘children with other entries’ is selected as the rate type, children may be counted in more than one county during a year, but are only counted once statewide. Given these methods, county values may not sum to the statewide total.

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

Entry Rate data are also available broken out by age, ethnicity, and gender. See the links below for details:


Age Group

Ethnic Group

Sex at Birth