Overview of Child and Parent Needs and Services Dashboards

BACKGROUND

During the week of April 12, 2010 the Children’s Bureau conducted the federal Child and Family Services Review (CFSR). As a result of the review, within the Program Improvement Plan (PIP) a strategy to improve family engagement and well-being was developed. Since February 2011, the Child and Adolescent Needs and Strengths (CANS) tool,a standardized assessment, has been implemented to assess the needs of each child placed in foster care to inform placement decisions, provide a mental health screening, identification of the child’s physical health, behavioral health, and educational needs. The CANS also includes a “Current Caregiver” and “Identified Permanent Resource” module to assess the needs of parents and caregivers across a variety of capacities including mental and physical health, family stress, organization, and problem solving. Within the PIP, Wisconsin agreed to analyze CANS data to identify gaps in well-being services provided to children and their parents, and generate recommendations to improve the provision of those services. This dashboard identifies the needs of children and their parents.  The gap analysis and recommendations are due at the end of CFSR Quarter 8 or by December 2012.

NEEDS

To illustrate the current needs of children in out-of-home care and their parents, Wisconsin Department of Children and Families (DCF) has created two dashboards containing up-to-date information specific to well-being indicators scored in the CANS. For children in out-of-home care, the well-being indicators include Trauma, Behavior/Emotional Risks, Physical health, and Education. For parents who have a child in out-of-home care and the parent is an identified permanency resource, the well-being indicators include: Substance Use, Mental Health, Physical Health, and Educational and Employment.

• The Child and Youth Needs - Parental Needs Dashboard, illustrates the needs of children and parents related to the well-being indicators. This dashboard allows users to filter by CANS age (Birth to 5) or (5 to 17), race and gender. Data can be viewed statewide, by county, or by region.
• The Child and Youth Co-Occurrence of  Needs Dashboard, illustrates how the well-being indicators for children in out-of-home-care overlap and the likeliness of co-occurring needs. This dashboard allows users to select two or more well-being indicators, and then see the relationship of the indicators with one another. Data can be viewed statewide, or by county, or by region.