The Child and Family Services Improvement Act has new federal requirements for monthly visits. (The Act noted that “there was a strong correlation between frequent caseworker visits with foster children and positive outcomes.” California received almost $5 million between 2006 and 2008 to carry out the Act, which must be spent by September 30, 2009. By FFY 2011, at least 90 percent of children in foster care under the jurisdiction of the court must be visited each month the child is in foster care and a majority of those visits must occur in the child’s home. Cases involving children in Foster Family Agency (FFA) certified foster homes who are visited by a FFA social worker are exempt.

The letter describes the process to develop and content of a data baseline to determine compliance. “Due to state fiscal constraints and limited federal funds provided, CDSS will first focus on improving current data collection methods of children already seen monthly by caseworkers.”

One problem area is that state regulations provide exceptions from monthly visits for children in long term foster care, placed with relatives, guardians, or non-related extended family members, but federal law does not provide for this exception. CDSS therefore is developing regulatory changes to eliminate many of these exceptions. The Governor’s proposed budget includes funds to cover the increased costs associated with increased visit requirements. [Download]