NCJ Number
167151
Journal
Advocate Volume: 7 Issue: 2 Dated: (June 1997) Pages: 1-10
Date Published
1997
Length
10 pages
Annotation
In its third year (1996) of evaluating children's services in Tennessee, the Children's Program Outcome Review Team (C- PORT), under the direction of the Tennessee Commission on Children and Youth, continued to collect and analyze data to improve implementation of service delivery to children and families involved in State custody; this report documents the status of children and the performance of the service delivery system as it continues to evolve in Tennessee.
Abstract
The C-PORT evaluation collected and organized essential information about the population of children served, needs of the children and families, and the system's ability to perform functions to meet the needs of the children and families it serves. Pertinent information was collected with a special instrument called a protocol. The protocol contained a series of in-depth structured interviews, and each interview contained a set of questions about the status of the child and family, the functions of the service delivery system, demographics, and TennCare implementations. Interviews were conducted with the child, parents, Assessment and Care Coordination Team workers, custodial department workers, caregivers, foster parents or direct care staff in a group facility, court representatives, teachers, and other relevant service providers. The case records were reviewed, and Plans of Care, social histories, psychological evaluations, and court orders were copied and reviewed. In addition to compiling individual case data, reviewers identified service system strengths, noteworthy accomplishments, and emerging system performance issues observed in the cases reviewed in each region. As a supplement to C-PORT, reviewers completed a Child and Adolescent Functional Assessment Scale (CAFAS) for 502 children, which is a subset of children in State custody reflective of the entire sample. This report presents data on the status of the child/family, the characteristics of children in custody, the adequacy of service system functions, strengths and weaknesses statewide, and a summary of CAFAS findings. Recommendations are offered for a family-focused approach, prevention/early intervention, advocacy, assessment, service implementation/coordination, training, and evaluation.