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Methodology
In Care 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 In Care 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 In Care Rate for a given year is computed by dividing the Point In Time state count of children in child welfare supervised foster care by the state child population and then multiplying by 1,000 (for an In Care Rate per 1,000 children in the population). Similarly, each county's In Care Rate for a given year is computed by dividing the county count of children in child welfare supervised foster care by the county child population and then multiplying by 1,000.

This rate looks at only those children with an open case or referral under the supervision of Child Welfare on the count day.

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. Therefore, county values may not sum to statewide total.

In Care Rates are based on children under the age of 18, therefore they do not directly correspond to the Foster Care: Point In Time/In Care reports which are based on children ages 0-20. For one-to-one correspondence with the Point In Time reports users must restrict to the age subgroup 0-17 using the filters.

The most recent available year for the In Care Rates will not necessarily correspond to that of the other rates reports, because In Care Rates are based on a point in time and the other reports are based on activity over a calendar year. In Care Rates are calculated using the July 1 count of children and youth in foster care, which is first available as part of the Quarter 2 extract. For example, In Care Rates for 2009 were first published using the Quarter 2, 2009 data extract. The Allegations, Substantiations, and Entries rates--since they use a full calendar year of data--are available with the Quarter 4 extract. The 2009 reports for these rates were therefore first published with the Quarter 4, 2009 extract.

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

In Care 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