North Carolina’s plan was published in June 2017 and is part of the state’s response to its Child and Family Services Review. Prior to development of the plan, the state experienced problems with data consistency across counties. The Division of Social Services (DSS) knew how many foster families it had, but was unable to drill down for more detailed information about actual capacity and actual need. DSS developed the new Diligent Recruitment and Retention (DRR) plan collaboratively with input provided at three regional stakeholder meetings attended by representatives of the provider community, the courts, foster parents, youth, county child welfare leaders, licensing staff, caseworkers, advocates and others. DSS continues to solicit input from stakeholders with quarterly peer-to-peer calls.
One of the goals of the new DRR plan is that “the state, counties and child placing agencies have the capacity to use data to inform and monitor recruitment and retention efforts.” The plan requires each county department of social services to submit its own individualized plan annually. The state also requires each county to create, maintain, update monthly and submit to the state annually a data profile that includes the following: characteristics of children in care, characteristics of families available for placement, average length of time from initial inquiry to licensure, total number of licensed beds, total number of available beds, number of children placed out of county due to lack of available beds, and number of placement disruptions or changes. Although private agencies are not required to submit data profiles, larger agencies have that capacity and the state encourages them to do so.
Data profiles are considered program tools rather than report cards and will be used by DSS to guide its technical assistance efforts, including informational websites, training, webinars, and publications such as “Treat Them Like Gold: A Best Practice Guide to Partnering with Resource Families”. The data are also intended to increase transparency and consistency of messaging across public and private agencies.1