Methodology
Placement Days

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 the number of placements and the number of placement days in the 12-month period by type of placement. For those placements that extend into adjacent 12-month periods, only the placement days in the 12-month period are counted when calculating placement days. Adoptive placements are excluded since they are not funded with foster care funds. They usually receive Adoption Assistance Program support. Non-foster care placements are also excluded. When a non-adoptive placement and an adoptive placement overlap because the adoptive placement starts before the non-adoptive placement ends, the overlapping days in the non-adoptive placement are included in the placement days count on the assumption that foster care funds are utilized until the formal foster care placement is ended. Other overlapping placements are treated as follows: (1) placements that start and end within another placement are excluded and (2) placements that end after another placement is reported to have started are assumed to have ended on the date the subsequent placement started. The child’s Title IV-E status is determined based on the reported Aid Code in effect on either the last day of the placement or the last date of the 12-month period, whichever is earlier.

Note: the count of placement days differs between the denominators of the federal measures 3-S1 and 3-P5 and the Placement Days report in several ways:

3-S1 includes placement episodes of 8 days or more. 3-P5 counts days for placement episodes that opened during the specified year (i.e., entries to care) and remained open for 8 days or more. The Placement Days report counts all days in care, regardless of time in care. Note: The Placement Days report can be filtered for entries during the year (In Placement before Period Start = 'No'), which approximates 3-P5, but counts placement days for entries, regardless of time in care.
For all three reports, age is calculated at the beginning of the period or at entry (if the child enters during the period). 3-S1 and 3-P5 include children under age 18 while Placement Days includes children under age 21. *Note - for 3-S1 and 3-P5, a child's 18th birthday and following care days are not counted in the denominator. Therefore, for a child who turns 18 in care during the period and remains in care, additional days will be added to the count in the Placement Days report, but not in 3-S1 and 3-P5.
The 3-S1 and 3-P5 denominators include Adoptive Placements, Trial Home Visits, and Runaways. Non foster care placements are also included if the placement episode includes other foster care placement types. The Placement Days report excludes Adoptive Placements, Trial Home Visits, Runaways and non foster care placements from the denominator.

Due to these differences in the count of placement days methodology, even when similar filters are applied, the reports will yield different results.

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

This measure 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.). Please see the links below for details:

In Placement before Period Start

Payment Age Groups

MethodologyPlacement Days

Methodology
Placement Days