Methodology
Exits

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 all exits from out-of-home care (i.e., placement episodes that were terminated) for a specified year.

Exit type is based on PLACEMENT_EPISODE.TERMINATION_REASON_TYPE (PLC_EPST.TERM_TY_C) unless otherwise specified:

Reunified

Reunified with Parent/Guardian (Court) [5439]
Reunified with Parent/Guardian (Non-Crt) [5440]
Child Released Home [5513]

Adopted

Adoption Finalized [5426, 5505]
Private Adoption Agency (Non-CWS) [5438, 5519]
Tribal Customary Adoption Finalized [6530, 6531]

Kin-GAP

An exit from care to a relative through the Kin-GAP program (please note that, because Exit to Kin-GAP is not a Placement Episode Termination Reason and exits to Kin-GAP must be inferred from the case closure reason, an unknown proportion of these exits are reported in this analysis as “Other Guardianship”) [case closure to Kin-GAP, CLS_RSNC=5950, within 60 days of end of spell].

Other Guardianship

Guardianship [5434, 5516]

Aged Out/Emancipated

Age of Majority [5427, 5506]
Emancipation [5433, 5510]
NMD Eligible for Reentry [6803, 6812]
NRLG Eligible for Reentry [6804, 6813]
NMD Age Limit Exit [6805, 6814]
NRLG Eligible for Reentry [6806, 6815]
Note: With the implementation of Assembly Bill 12 (AB 12) the maximum age for eligibility for foster care payments and services has changed: Prior to 2012: 18 or, with education exceptions, 19 years old; 2012: 19 years old; 2013: 20 years old; and 21 years old from 2014 onwards.

Other

*Other [5435, 5517]
*Child Abducted [5428, 5507]
*Child Ran away from Placement [5430, 5511]
Child in Med Fac (Dependency Susp/Dism) [5429]
Chld Cmtd to State Hosp (Dpnd Susp/Dism) [5508]
Incarcerated [5632]
*Child Refused Services [5431, 5512]
Death of Child [5432, 5515]
Other non-CWS Agency has Jurisdiction [5436, 5514]
Parent Rejects Voluntary (FR) Services [5437, 5518]
Child Dependent in Other State [5509]
CWS Agency has Jurisdiction [5611]
Child Adjudged 601/602 [6309, 6310]

'*' in front of the description means code is inactive

A selection of "Children Exiting" or “Last Exit” for the “Episode Count” variable will produce frequency counts of distinct (unduplicated) children exiting care.

With the “Children Exiting” option, data are unduplicated separately for the state and for each county. To the degree that children have exited care in more than one county during the reporting period, the sum of exits by county will exceed the statewide total. In addition, a selection of two or more grouped counties may produce a slight overcount as children exiting care in more than one county during the year are counted for each county. An individual selection (California or any individual county) produces a true unduplicated count.
"Last Exit" is a count of unique children who experienced their last known exit during the time period. Please note that an exit originally reported as "Last Exit" may shift to "Other Exit" in a later data extract if a child or youth has a subsequent exit from care.

If “Other Exit” or “All Exit” is selected, reported frequencies will be at the exit-event level: multiple exits by the same child during a specified time period will be counted.

Age is calculated at the placement episode end date during the specified time period.

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

These reports may also be run with filters in place 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.). County is assigned in this analysis using the county specific code from the case assignment table that is active during the specified time period. Placement type in this analysis refers to the placement facility type corresponding with the last out of home placement in the placement episode during the specified time period. Caregiver relationship in this analysis refers to the last value of the substitute care relationship to child variable during the specified time period. Please see the links below for details:

Census-based Ethnicity Coding

Sex at Birth

Last Placement Type

Caregiver Relationship

Episode Count

MethodologyExits

Methodology
Exits