THE
DIVISION OF CHILDREN AND FAMILY SERVICES
The
Division of Children and Family Services (DCFS)
DCFS is
committed to protecting children and preserving families. Every child deserves to grow up in a
permanent family. The primary and preferred
way of achieving this goal is to provide families experiencing turmoil with
services to prevent the need to place children outside their home. When a child must be separated from his/her
family, DCFS will provide a safe environment and will make efforts to provide
services to reunite the family or to find the child a permanent home.
In
State Fiscal Year (SFY) 2001, 19,822 reports of abuse and neglect were accepted
for investigation. Of these 19,822
reports of abuse and neglect, 709 could not be completed because the family
could not be located, five reports were exempt due to religious reasons and 100
were still pending at the end of the fiscal year. Of the 19,722 assessments completed, 5,771 were determined to be
true and 13,237 were unsubstantiated.
This unit
serves as the repository of all child maltreatment reports. The Child Maltreatment Reporting Act
requires that a statewide central registry be established within the Department
of Human Services (DHS) for the collection of information relative to the child
maltreatment reports. The registry
contains identifying data, dates and circumstances of any persons requesting or
receiving information from the registry. There were 34,276 registry checks made in SFY 2001.
Arkansas
State Police (Crimes Against Children Division)
In 1997, DHS and the Arkansas State Police entered into a contractual
agreement that formed the Family Protection Unit now known as the Crimes
Against Children Division (CACD). The
CACD is composed of three sections: 1) the Child Abuse Hotline, 2) civilian
employees who assess child maltreatment reports, and 3) a law enforcement unit
which conducts criminal child maltreatment investigations. The CACD maintains an around-the-clock
statewide intake process (The Child Abuse Hotline) for accepting reports of
alleged child maltreatment. The CACD’s
civilian employees are responsible for assessing Priority l allegations of
severe maltreatment, involving placements that are managed, approved or
licensed by DHS for the care of children including day care homes, DHS foster
homes, residential facilities and pre-adoptive homes and any allegations of
maltreatment involving schools or DHS employees.
DCFS
County Staff
DCFS staff housed in DHS county offices assesses allegations of child maltreatment in which the perpetrator is in the home and not the specific responsibility of CACD. DCFS staff in the county office has primary responsibility for assessing an allegation of child maltreatment and seeks to ascertain the existence, cause, nature and extent of child maltreatment, the existence of previous injuries and the names and conditions of other children in the home. DCFS remains primarily responsible for ensuring the health and safety of the children, even if the primary responsibility for the investigation belongs to the CACD. DCFS has the responsibility for the assessment of Priority II reports. In addition, DCFS investigates Priority I reports of abandonment, failure to protect, medical neglect of disabled infants, failure to thrive, malnutrition and substantial possibility of severe maltreatment. In SFY 2001, 70% of all completed investigations were performed by DCFS.
The Child Maltreatment Assessment Protocol (PUB-357) is used for screening and prioritizing all allegations of child maltreatment. This protocol is used when a DCFS Family Service Worker (FSW) or the CACD conducts a Child Maltreatment Assessment. It identifies and defines the various types of child maltreatment a FSW/CACD worker may encounter during an assessment. The protocol also identifies when and from whom an allegation of child maltreatment may be taken. Finally, it identifies those conditions, which must be met before an allegation of abuse or neglect can be founded (determined to be true).
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THE DIVISION OF CHILDREN AND FAMILY SERVICES
(continued)
Preventive services are available in a variety of service types. Alternate Caregivers Support Group for Kinship Care Homes is a program for relatives and kids operating in Pulaski County. It provides supportive services such as assessment, parenting education, specialized counseling for reunification, specialized counseling for adoption, transportation referrals, legal services, and advocacy development. Services are offered to both formal kinship caregivers who have legal custody, and informal kinship caregivers who do not have legal custody.
The Latchkey Children Initiative is a collaborative effort between the Division of Children and Family Services and local school districts. The initiative is designed to provide a safe, structured, academic environment for children in kindergarten through the 6th grade. Services provided are school based, family-centered and driven by the needs of children and youth. In SFY 2001, 1,149 children were served.
The school based Human Services Worker Initiative is a collaborative effort between the Division of Children and Family Services and local school districts to establish a human services program within a school. In SFY 2001, over 6,000 children were served.
When there is no abuse or neglect present, but a family requests services, DCFS opens a Supportive Services case. In SFY 2001, DCFS served 942 children and their families.
When an investigation is determined to be true, DCFS opens a protective service case and works with the child(ren) and family in the home or, if the abuse is severe, DCFS places the child in a safe and home-like setting. In SFY 2001, DCFS served 9,625 children and their families. The purpose of services is to provide the child with a continuous, safe and stable living environment, promote family autonomy, strengthen family life where possible and promote the reunification of the child with the parent, guardian or custodian, when applicable.
There are a limited number of situations when children cannot safely remain at home and must be separated from their family. When a child must be separated from the family, DCFS will provide a healthy and safe environment and will make appropriate and timely efforts to provide services to reunite the family. DCFS placed 6,286 in substitute care settings: Kinship Care, Foster Care, Therapeutic Foster Care, Residential Care, Shelters, etc.
All children deserve a permanent home. One option is to terminate parental rights to free a child for adoptive placement when it has been determined to be in the best interest of the child. In SFY 2001, there were 398 children placed in adoptive homes and 13 adoption disruptions.
When a child
has been removed and needs a foster home placement, DCFS places the child in an
approved foster home. The approval
process ensures that a potential foster parent attends training and meets
health, safety, and physical requirements and satisfies other standards
outlined in the Standards for Approval of Foster Family Homes. In SFY 2001, there were 325 new foster homes
approved, resulting in a total of 1,015 foster homes in Arkansas.
Children’s
Reporting and Information System (CHRIS)
CHRIS was
implemented in December 1997 as DCFS’ worker-based information system and
source of data for state, federal and management reports. Data described in this report was pulled
from the CHRIS system.
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AR DHS Statistical Report SFY 2001 |
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