Report 2015-115 Recommendation 15 Responses

Report 2015-115: Dually Involved Youth: The State Cannot Determine the Effectiveness of Efforts to Serve Youth Who Are Involved in Both the Child Welfare and Juvenile Justice Systems (Release Date: February 2016)

Recommendation #15 To: Sacramento County

To identify their population of dually involved youth, Sacramento County's CWS and probation agencies should designate the data system they will use for tracking the dates and results of joint assessment hearings.

1-Year Agency Response

CPS has developed a process to record dates of joint assessment meetings in the Court Notebook of CWS/CMS, but CWS/CMS does not have the capacity to record the results of the meetings. Probation has developed an Excel spreadsheet that tracks both dates and results of the joint assessment meetings. Given the development of an Excel spreadsheet, Sacramento is no longer considering a shared software solution, as previously reported in prior responses. It is hoped that the new statewide Child Welfare Digital Services, which will replace CWS/CMS, would have more structured capability to document and track crossover youth.

California State Auditor's Assessment of 1-Year Status: Fully Implemented

Sacramento County provided a copy of the Excel spreadsheet that it has designated as the system in which it will track joint assessment hearing dates and results.

6-Month Agency Response

Sacramento County concurs with the Auditor's report (pages 38-39) that the CDSS needs to implement a function within the CWS/CMS that will enable county CWS and probation agencies to identify dually involved youth. Currently, Sacramento County Probation and Child Welfare have not designated a single data system for tracking the dates and results of joint assessment hearings. Child Welfare is looking at internal business processes to determine how best to record 241.1 hearings in CWS/CMS but continues to document 241.1 information in court reports. Probation continues to use JPIP as their primary data system. Probation also records dates and results of joint assessments in notes. A data system change is required to have a single designated tracking system.

California State Auditor's Assessment of 6-Month Status: Pending

Per Sacramento's response, it will not fully implement this recommendation until June 30, 2018.

60-Day Agency Response

Crossover Youth Practice Model (CYPM) Data Committee is evaluating the viability of expanding the use of CWS/CMS for recording services as well as defining requirements for the development of a shared software solution to securely input and share data.

While we plan to complete our plan within a few months, securing funding for a data solution is yet to be secured.

California State Auditor's Assessment of 60-Day Status: Pending

All Recommendations in 2015-115

Agency responses received are posted verbatim.