Methodology
Point in Time/In Care

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.

Note: As of 01/19/2024, the Point-in-Time/In Care Report has been updated to exclude children and youth in Non Dependent Legal Guardianship (NDLG) Placements, defined as being in a Guardian type home (PLC_HM_T.PLC_FCLC=5411) with a Guardian Non-Relative (1404) or Probate NRLG (6539) Legal Authority for Placement (LG_AUTHT.PLC_ATHC). The purpose of this update is to align the Point-in-Time/In Care Report with children and youth who are in foster care.

Note: As of the Quarter 4, 2018 extract, we revised our county assignment procedures for a number of reports to account for data changes in CWS/CMS. This resulted in changes in the number of children and youth reported as having a missing county, especially in early time periods (before approximately 2012) compared to previously published extracts. We are investigating additional modifications to these procedures.

Note: As of the Quarter 1, 2018 data extract, we use the CWS/CMS placement history table, PLACEMENT_FACILITY_TYPE_HISTORY (PFACHIST), and placement history data derived from an analysis of facility type change between extracts to more accurately determine placement types over time.

Note: Prior to mid-2017, it was not possible for Resource Family Approval (RFA) early implementing counties to accurately capture the number of children living in 'Kin' placement types (now called `Relative/NREFM`). Early implementing counties were instructed to enter all new placements with resource families into the Child Welfare Services/Case Management System as `Foster` placement types, including those placed with relatives. To obtain accurate information regarding relative placements, reports should be filtered/restricted by `Relative` caregiver relationship type. Please note, non-related extended family members could not be identified for resource family homes at this time and were reflected as a `Nonrelative` caregiver relationship type.

These reports include all children who have an open placement episode in the CWS/CMS system (excluding children who have an agency type of 'Mental Health' (6133), 'Private Adoption' (36), or 'KinGAP' (6134)) on a user-specified count day (e.g., January 1, April 1, July 1, October 1) and year. On the user-specified count day, children are assigned to the county in which they have an open case or referral (for cases under the supervision of Child Welfare, Probation, or Other) or state id county code (for cases under the supervision of Probation and Other). Please see the Agency Type link below for additional coding details. Also, placement type and caregiver relationship in this analysis were assigned by the record that corresponds with the date that the point in time was counted.

Effective Quarter 1 2007, children with a Substitute Care Provider Relationship coded as ‘Relative/Nonguardian’ are no longer automatically classified as Kinship Care placements. We instead provide a Caregiver Relationship filter that allows users to restrict report data based on a child’s relationship to the substitute care provider.

Please note that the Child Welfare caseload may be inflated by children who are no longer in care, but are still being counted in the ‘Trial Home Visit’ and ‘Other’ rows. County staff are encouraged to review these rows and close placement episodes when appropriate. Further, due to data quality issues, the probation count is suspected to be an over count, particularly in the ‘Runaway’, ‘Trial Home Visit’, and ‘Other’ rows.

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.). Please see the links below for details:

Agency Type

Age Group

Ethnic Group

Census-based Ethnicity Coding

Caregiver Relationship

MethodologyPoint in Time/In Care

Methodology
Point in Time/In Care