Arizona-2024-SB1458-Engrossed

Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Arizona:

Section 1. Section 8-526, Arizona Revised Statutes, is amended to read:

START_STATUTE8-526. Child welfare; reporting requirements

A. The department shall make available program and outcomes data on its website as provided in this section, in a format that can be downloaded and that is conducive to analysis.

B. The department shall make available the following information on a semiannual basis by September 30 for the period ending the prior June 30 and by March 31 for the period ending the prior December 31:

1. Success in meeting training requirements.

2. Caseloads for child safety workers.

3. The number of new reports and reports that have been closed.

4. The number of case-carrying caseworkers in each region.

5. The number of investigations by region.

6. The number of children being served in-home and the number of children being served out-of-home by each region.

7. The total number of reports received, by major category and by priority.

8. The number of reports not responded to, by priority, by county and statewide.

9. The number of reports assigned for investigation by priority and by major category, by county and statewide for the current and previous reporting periods.

10. The number of reports for investigations completed by priority and by major category, by county and statewide for the current and previous reporting periods and as categorized by investigations that resulted in:

(a) A substantiated report.

(b) A report currently proposed for substantiation.

11. The number of reports assigned for investigation that remain open for investigation by priority and by major category, by county and statewide for the current and previous reporting periods.

12. Of the number of children reported to the department, the percentage of children placed in out-of-home care by county and statewide.

13. The number of newborn infants delivered to safe haven providers pursuant to section 13-3623.01.

14. The number of children entering out-of-home care by county during the reporting period, and the number and percentage of the children entering out-of-home care by county during the reporting period who are voluntary placements for children under eighteen years of age.

15. The number and percentage of children removed during the reporting period, by county and statewide, who had been in out-of-home care:

(a) Within the previous twelve months.

(b) Within the previous twenty-four months, excluding the children included in subdivision (a) of this paragraph.

16. The number and percentage of children who have remained in a shelter or receiving home for more than twenty-one consecutive days, by the child's age group.

17. The total number of licensed foster homes, the number of licensed foster homes considered kinship homes, the number of licensed community foster homes and the number of available spaces in licensed community foster homes.

18. The number of licensed foster homes that receive the required visitation by licensing agency representatives pursuant to section 8-516.

19. The number of children placed in the care, custody and control of the department at the end of the reporting period and the number of these children who receive the required visitation by case managers pursuant to section 8-516.

20. The number and percentage of children who are in the care, custody and control of the department at the end of the reporting period and who are in out-of-home placement and as categorized by:

(a) Age.

(b) Ethnicity.

(d) (e) Type of out-of-home placement, categorized by age and ethnicity.

(e) (f) Length of time in out-of-home placement of less than thirty days, thirty-one days to twelve consecutive months, twelve to twenty-four consecutive months and more than twenty-four consecutive months, including the median, average and range of the number of out-of-home placements.

(f) (g) Primary legal status including voluntary placement for a child under eighteen years of age, temporary custody, adjudicated dependent, free for adoption, voluntary placement for a child over eighteen years of age, dually adjudicated or any other legal status.

21. The number and percentage of children who are under twelve years of age, who are in the care, custody and control of the department at the end of the reporting period and who are in a congregate care placement and as categorized by:

(a) Age.

(b) Ethnicity.

(d) Type of congregate care placement.

(e) Reason for congregate care placement.

(f) Length of time in congregate care placement of less than thirty days, thirty-one days to twelve consecutive months, twelve to twenty-four consecutive months and more than twenty-four consecutive months, including the median, average and range of the number of congregate care placements.

(g) whether the child has a family recruitment plan pursuant to section 8-530.06.

22. The number of requests for director approval for the placement of children who are under twelve years of age and who are in a congregate care setting and the number of requests approved.

21. 23. If the case plan is to return the child to the parent, the percentage of parents who receive the required contact by case managers.

22. 24. The number and percentage of children who left the custody of the department during the reporting period by reason for leaving care and as categorized by:

(a) Age.

(b) Ethnicity.

(d) Average length of time in care.

23. 25. The number of children with a petition for termination of parental rights granted and not granted during the reporting period by county and statewide.

24. 26. The number and percentage of children with a case plan goal of adoption and who are not placed in an adoptive home at the end of the reporting period and as categorized by:

(a) Age.

(b) Ethnicity.

(d) Legal status.

25. 27. The number and percentage of children with a case plan goal of adoption and who are placed in an adoptive home at the end of the reporting period and as categorized by:

(a) Age.

(b) Ethnicity.

(d) Length of time from change of case plan goal to adoptive placement.

(e) Legal status.

(f) Marital status and relationship of the adoptive parent or parents to the child.

26. 28. The number of children whose adoptive placement was disrupted during the reporting period and as categorized by:

(a) Age.

(b) Ethnicity.

(d) Marital status and relationship of the adoptive parent or parents to the child.

27. 29. The number of children whose adoptions were finalized during the reporting period and as categorized by:

(a) Average length of time in out-of-home placement before adoptive placement.

(b) Average length of time in adoptive placement before the final order of adoption.

28. 30. The number of children who died while in the custody of the department by the county where the death occurred and as categorized by:

(a) The cause of death.

(b) The type of out-of-home placement at the time of death.

29. 31. The number of children with an open or active child safety services case who died due to abuse, categorized by the person or persons who had care or custody of the child at the time of the child's death as follows:

(a) Biological parent or parents.

(b) Other family member.

(d) Foster care parent or parents.

(e) Other out-of-home care provider.

30. 32. The number of children with an open or active child safety services case who died due to abuse allegedly caused by an adult household member who is not listed pursuant to paragraph 29 31 of this subsection.

31. 33. The ratio of supervisors to specialists by region.

32. 34. The source and use of federal monies in the department.

33. 35. The source and use of state monies in the department.

34. 36. Information regarding the educational placement of foster children pursuant to section 8-530.04, including:

(a) The number of best interest educational placement determinations conducted.

(b) The number of children who entered foster care and who did not receive a best interest educational placement determination.

C. Based on the data presented in each reporting period, the department, in as brief a format as possible, shall describe three to five major challenges the department faces in achieving the goal of safe, permanent homes for abused and neglected children.

D. Within three months after the end of each reporting period the department shall submit a written report in as brief a format as possible to the governor, the president of the senate, the speaker of the house of representatives, the chairperson of the house human services committee, the chairperson of the senate family services committee, or their successor committees, and the cochairpersons of the joint legislative committee on children and family services.� The department shall submit a copy of the report to the secretary of state.

E. The department shall make available the following information on an annual basis:

1. The percentage of substantiations upheld by the office of administrative hearings.

2. The demographics and number of children placed with relative caregivers.

3. The demographics of kinship foster caregivers.

4. The number of relative children per kinship foster care family.

5. The department's success at maintaining kinship foster care placements.

6. The type and cost of services provided to kinship foster care families by licensed and unlicensed caregivers.

7. The cost of services provided to kinship foster caregivers compared to the cost of out-of-home placements.

8. The number of children and families, by district, receiving services through the housing assistance program during the previous fiscal year.

9. The total amount of money spent on the housing assistance program by region.

10. A programmatic and fiscal evaluation of the effectiveness of the housing assistance program that includes the amount of foster care expenditures avoided.

11. The number of children in the independent living program by age, county and education status.

12. Beginning with the 2022 data period, the statewide number of children in substantiated reports for investigation that are received in the twelve months before the current annual reporting period and that allege neglect as defined in section 8-201, paragraph 25, subdivision (c) and the number of children in these reports who were:

(a) Removed within thirty days after the date the report is received.

(b) Removed within six months after the date the report is received.

F. The department shall make available the following information on a monthly basis:

1. Operations and workforce data measures that include:

(a) Staff vacancy levels by position category and turnover.

(b) New hires, separations, turnover and voluntary attrition delineated by field position, safety specialists, hotline staff, caseworkers in training, program, program supervisors, case aides, office of child welfare investigations staff and administrative staff.

(d) Reports received by maltreatment type, priority and response time.

(e) Inactive cases by disposition.

(f) Open reports.

(g) Entries and exits from the foster care population by exit type.

(h) Support service provision.

(i) Demographics, placement types and case plan goals of the foster care population.

(j) The number and type of licensed foster homes that leave the foster care system and the reason for the exit.

2. Financial data that compares total expenditures each month and year-to-date as compared to prior year totals, appropriation totals and projected expenditure totals, delineated by appropriation and appropriated fund source.

G. The department shall make the information required pursuant to subsection F of this section available within sixty days after the end of the applicable reporting period.

H. The department shall notify the president of the senate, the speaker of the house of representatives, the director of the joint legislative budget committee and the director of the governor's office of strategic planning and budgeting when an update is made on information that must be made available pursuant to subsection B or F of this section. END_STATUTE

Sec. 2. Title 8, chapter 4, article 4, Arizona Revised Statutes, is amended by adding section 8-530.06, to read:

START_STATUTE8-530.06. Dependent children under twelve years of age congregate care placement; family-like setting; assessment; definitions

A. Except for placements in a shelter care facility lasting less than seventy-two hours, excluding saturdays, sundays and holidays, a child may be placed in a congregate care setting only with the prior written approval of the director or, if the director is absent, a designee who reports to the director and who does not have AUTHORITY over the PLACEMENT of children in congregate care settings. The written approval of the director shall document that the placement is required for any of the following reasons:

1. To place the child with the child's siblings.

2. To place the child with a parent who is in the care, custody and control of the department.

3. To address the child's documented exceptional needs, which can be met only by a specifically identified congregate care provider.

4. To complete an evaluation of the child's placement needs.

B. Within seventy-two hours of placing a child in a congregate care setting, excluding saturdays, sundays and holidays, and whenever possible before seeking director approval of the placement pursuant to subsection a of this section, the department shall do all of the following:

1. Assemble a family and service team for the child consisting of the following:

(a) The child, if developmentally appropriate.

(b) The child's attorney, if one has been appointed.

(d) Appropriate professionals, including medical or mental health providers, teachers or clergy.

2. Initiate efforts to identify adult relatives or persons with a significant relationship with the child as provided in section 8-514.07 for possible placement.

3. Engage the child, if developmentally appropriate, the child's attorney, if one has been appointed, and members of the child's family and service team in making a recommendation for the child's placement in the least restrictive and most appropriate setting consistent with the best interests and special needs of the child. In making the recommendation, the child's family and service team shall:

(a) ACKNOWLEDGE THE REQUIREMENT TO MAKE REASONABLE EFFORTS TO PLACE SIBLINGS IN THE SAME PLACEMENT, UNLESS JOINT PLACEMENT WOULD BE CONTRARY TO THE SAFETY OR WELL-BEING OF ANY OF THE SIBLINGS.

(b) Acknowledge that a child of a minor parent who is also in the care, custody and control of the department should be placed with the child's parent, unless placement of the child with the child's parent is contrary to the safety or well-being of either the child or the parent.

(c) CONSIDER WHETHER THE NEEDS OF THE CHILD CAN BE MET THROUGH PLACEMENT IN A FAMILY-LIKE SETTING. If the child's FAMILY AND service TEAM RECOMMENDS THAT the CHILD'S NEEDS CAN BE MET THROUGH A FAMILY-LIKE SETTING, BUT AN APPROPRIATE FAMILY-LIKE SETTING IS NOT CURRENTLY IDENTIFIED OR AVAILABLE, THE DEPARTMENT SHALL DOCUMENT IN THE CHILD'S CASE PLAN THAT THE CHILD'S NEEDS COULD BE MET IN A FAMILY-LIKE SETTING IF ONE WERE IDENTIFIED OR AVAILABLE. IF THE child's FAMILY AND service TEAM RECOMMENDS THAT THE CHILD'S NEEDS CANNOT BE MET THROUGH PLACEMENT IN A FAMILY-LIKE SETTING, THE DEPARTMENT SHALL DOCUMENT IN THE CHILD'S CASE PLAN THAT THE CHILD'S NEEDS CANNOT CURRENTLY BE MET THROUGH PLACEMENT IN A FAMILY-LIKE SETTING.

(d) RECOMMEND A CONGREGATE CARE SETTING FOR THE CHILD THAT IS THE LEAST RESTRICTIVE AND MOST APPROPRIATE SETTING AVAILABLe, IN CLOSE PROXIMITY TO THE PARENTS' HOME and CONSISTENT WITH THE BEST INTERESTS AND SPECIAL NEEDS OF THE CHILD. IN MAKING THIS RECOMMENDATION, the child's family and service team shall consider ALL OF THE FACTORS LISTED IN SUBDIVISION (f) of this paragraph.

(e) Schedule A MEETING OF THE CHILD'S FAMILY AND service TEAM to take place within thirty days TO MEET THE REQUIREMENTS OF SUBSECTION D OF THIS SECTION.

(f) WHEN RECOMMENDING THE PLACEMENT OF A CHILD IN A CONGREGATE CARE SETTING, CONSIDER AND DOCUMENT IN THE CASE PLAN HOW THE PLACEMENT SETTING IS ABLE TO:

(i) MEET THE DEVELOPMENTAL NEEDS OF THE CHILD.

(ii) MEET THE EDUCATIONAL NEEDS OF THE CHILD, INCLUDING MAINTAINING THE CHILD IN THE child's SCHOOL OF ORIGIN.

(iii) MEET ANY BEHAVIORAL HEALTH NEEDS OF THE CHILD.

(iv) SUPPORT DAILY, MEANINGFUL CONTACT BETWEEN THE CHILD AND THE child's SIBLINGS.

(v) SUPPORT THE CHILD'S CONNECTIONS WITH THE child's COMMUNITY OF ORIGIN.

4. WHENEVER POSSIBLE AND DEVELOPMENTALLY APPROPRIATE FOR THE CHILD, CONDUCT A PREPLACEMENT VISIT TO THE CONGREGATE CARE SETTING WITH THE CHILD AND A MEMBER OF THE CHILD'S FAMILY AND service TEAM WHO IS A PERSON KNOWN TO AND TRUSTED BY THE CHILD.

5. DOCUMENT ALL OF THE FOLLOWING:

(a) THE PARTICIPANTS IN AND THE DATE, TIME AND LOCATION OF THE CHILD'S FAMILY AND service TEAM MEETING.

(b) THE DETERMINATIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS MADE BY THE CHILD'S FAMILY AND service TEAM, THE REASONS SUPPORTING EACH DETERMINATION AND RECOMMENDATION AND WHETHER ANY MEMBER OF THE CHILD'S FAMILY AND service TEAM WAS NOT IN AGREEMENT WITH A DETERMINATION OR RECOMMENDATION MADE BY THE TEAM.

C. Notwithstanding subsection B, paragraph 1 of this section, the department may use teams that were previously established to support the child and the child's FAMILY as the child's family and service team.

d. Within thirty days after placing a child in a congregate care setting, The department shall work with the child, the child's attorney, and the child's family and service team to do all of the following:

1. Assess the child's strengths and needs using an age-appropriate assessment tool. The person conducting the assessment shall be trained in the use of the assessment tool and shall sign the COMPLETED assessment with the person's name and title.

2. IF THE CHILD'S FAMILY AND service TEAM recommends that THE CHILD BE PLACED IN A CONGREGATE CARE SETTING DUE TO A LACK OF AVAILABILITY OF AN APPROPRIATE FAMILY-LIKE SETTING, DEVELOP A family recruitment PLAN that is SPECIFIC TO THE CHILD AND, IF APPLICABLE, THE CHILD'S SIBLINGS and the child's minor parent or parents TO IDENTIFY And RECRUIT AN APPROPRIATE FAMILY-LIKE SETTING FOR THE CHILD.

3. DEVELOP A CHILD-specific congregate care implementation PLAN TO ENSURE THAT THE CHILD'S NEEDS ARE APPROPRIATELY MET WHILE THE CHILD IS PLACED IN A CONGREGATE CARE SETTING. IN DEVELOPING THE child-specific congregate care implementation PLAN, THE CHILD'S FAMILY AND service TEAM SHALL CONSIDER THE FACTORS LISTED IN SUBSECTION B of this section.

4. DOCUMENT the following IN THE CHILD'S CASE PLAN:

(a) THE PARTICIPANTS IN AND THE DATE, TIME AND LOCATION OF THE CHILD'S FAMILY AND service TEAM MEETING.

(b) THE ASSESSMENT REQUIRED PURSUANT to paragraph 1 of this subsection.

(d) THE CHILD-SPECIFIC CONGREGATE CARE IMPLEMENTATION PLAN PURSUANT TO paragraph 3 of this subsection.

e. For the purposes of this section:

1. "Child" means a child who is under twelve years of age and who is in the care, custody and control of the department.

2. "Congregate care":

(a) Means any facility that is operated by a child welfare agency that is licensed by the department to provide twenty-four hour group care to unrelated children, including shelter care facilities that are intended to provide short-term care for a group of children and residential group care facilities that are intended to provide care for a group of children for longer periods of time.

(b) Does not include a qualified residential treatment program.

3. "Family-like setting" means a foster home or placement with an adult relative or person with a significant relationship with the child.

4. "Qualified residential treatment program" means a qualified residential treatment program as defined in 42 United States Code section 672(k)(4) that serves children with specific treatment needs who need short-term out-of-home placement and that qualifies for funding under the family first prevention services act (P.L. 115-123).

5. "Shelter care facility" means a child welfare agency that is licensed to receive children for temporary out-of-home twenty-four hour social, emotional or educational supervised care and maintenance at the request of a child, child placement agency, law ENFORCEMENT agency, parent, guardian or court.END_STATUTE