H. B. 4575
(By Delegates Douglas, Collins, Tucker, Prunty, Claypole,
Stalnaker and Capito)
(Originating in the Committee on Government Organization)
[February 25, 1998]
A BILL to amend article six-d, chapter forty-nine of the code of
West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as
amended, by adding thereto a new section, designated section
four, requiring the department of health and human resources
to obtain and compile management information and to conduct
detailed performance audits.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That article six-d, chapter forty-nine of the code of West
Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, be
amended by adding thereto a new section, designated section four,
to read as follows:
§49-6D-4. Management information; informal review of case files;
performance audits.
(a) Not later than the first day of July, one thousand nine
hundred ninety-nine, the secretary of the department of health and
human resources shall implement processes designed to collect and
compile information necessary to measure the department's performance in managing reports of abuse and neglect and in
managing cases of children in the custody of the department. The
secretary shall develop management information in order to permit
the department to monitor effectiveness, efficiency and compliance
with statutory timelines; to track time in the system for children
in the custody of the department; and to identify those children
for whom permanency plans should be scrutinized, reevaluated or
concluded. Notwithstanding the provisions of this section, the
following specific data requirements are guidelines to be
considered by the secretary in developing management information,
and the secretary may vary procedures, format or specific data
fields in order to meet management goals:
(1) Reports of abuse and neglect-- Information shall be
collected and compiled on a periodic basis for internal use.
Information collected and compiled shall include the numbers of
reports by county or to each local office, the numbers of reports
determined to constitute a report of abuse or neglect, the numbers
of cases closed following initial investigation, and the numbers
of cases that remain open for further action following
investigation. For each report determined to constitute a report
of abuse or neglect, the information shall show each case within
a county or local area, the date of the report, the date of the
first face-to-face contact with the alleged victim for any report,
and the date determination is made to close the case or to retain
the case for further action. For any case reported during the
period for which a determination of closure or retention is not made during the period, the case shall remain on the next period's
report. Information compiled for the summary report provided for
in section (e) of this section shall show for each local office or
county and for the state as a whole the average and the median
time period between the report and the first face-to-face contact;
the average and the median time period between the report and the
determination of closure or retention for further action or
services; and the percentage of cases for which statutory
requirements of timeliness were met.
(2) Children in the custody of the department-- Information
shall be collected and compiled on a periodic basis for internal
use. Each child in the custody of the department shall be shown
on each report. For each child currently in the custody of the
department, information shall include the date of birth of the
child; the first date the child was ever in the custody (which
may include emergency custody) of the department; the last date
the child was in the care, custody or control of a parent,
excluding supervised visitation; the type of current custody; the
last date a worker had any face-to-face contact with the child;
the last date of any court hearing; a code identifying the current
case plan or permanency plan for the child; and the date of any
termination or voluntary relinquishment of parental rights. For
any child for whom the permanency plan was achieved or concluded,
information shall include the type of disposition, the date of any
adoptive or permanent foster care placement, or the date the child
was reunified with his or her family. For children other than those in emergency custody, information compiled for the summary
report required by subsection (e) of this section shall be sorted
according to permanency plan and shall show the total numbers of
children in each permanency plan in each county or local office
area and statewide; the numbers of children in each permanency
plan by age of the children; and the average and median time
elapsed for children in each age bracket, in each permanency plan,
in each county or local area and statewide, since the time each
child first entered the custody of the department.
(b) Social worker information--For each child protective
services worker or social worker having direct responsibilities
related to abused or neglected children or children in the custody
of the department, the secretary shall collect and compile on a
periodic basis, for internal use, information from each local area
office for each social worker including but not limited to (1)
numbers of face-to-face contacts with children; (2) numbers of
face-to-face interviews or meetings with persons outside the
department that do not include contact with the child; (3) numbers
of court petitions filed; (4) numbers of case plans completed; (5)
total hours in court or waiting in court; (6) numbers of home
studies completed; and (7) numbers of new or changed custodial
placements, identified by type. Information compiled for the
summary report provided for in section (e) of this section shall
show the total activity in each local area office and total
activity statewide for the period, and monthly per-worker averages
for each local area office. In the report, individual workers may not be identified by name.
(c) Quality review-- In addition to review of case files on
a local supervisory level, the secretary of health and human
resources and the commissioner of the bureau of children and
families may confer in person on a monthly basis, for the purpose
of reviewing on an informal basis not fewer than twelve active
case files selected on a random basis from local area offices, of
abused or neglected children or children in the custody of the
department. The secretary or commissioner may review or delegate
review of additional case files selected on other than a random
basis. The secretary may confer in person or by telephone with
local office workers or supervisors, court personnel or other
appropriate persons for the purpose of requesting additional
information related to the cases. The secretary or commissioner
may, when appropriate, furnish written comments or suggestions to
be placed in the case record to a local area office or take other
appropriate action, but no documentation or report of the review
is required, other than a record of the date and time of the
conference provided for in this subsection, and the number of case
files, identified by county of origin, that are reviewed.
(d) On a regular and periodic basis not less often than
semiannually the department shall conduct a performance audit
designed to evaluate the effectiveness and efficiency of services
to children in at least one county or local office. The county or
local area office selected for the audit required in this
subsection may be selected on a random basis, or selected based on identified problems, at the time of each audit. The secretary may
restrict the scope of the audit to specific problem areas or
specific functions. If audit methodology includes any statistical
sampling, the sample shall include a sufficient number of
observations to assure at least a ninety percent level of
significance and sample observations shall be selected at random.
The scope of the audit may include activities within the thirty
months preceding the date the audit is initiated.
(e) The secretary of health and human resources shall submit
at least annually copies of reports required in this section in
statistically tabulated summary form that may not include
identifying case information. The reports may outline action
plans necessary to reconcile any problems identified. One copy
shall be provided to the governor, thirty copies shall be provided
to the joint committee on government operations, one copy shall be
provided to the state library commission, one copy to all public
libraries of the state, one copy to the supreme court
administrator's office and to each circuit judge and county
prosecutor, and one copy to each child protective service worker
or social worker having responsibilities with respect to children.
The report shall be submitted to the governor and the joint
committee on government operations not later than the first day of
May of each year, with the first report due in the year two
thousand. The reports are public information, and must be
provided in hard copy or electronic form to any member of the
public in accordance with chapter twenty-nine-b of this code.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to require the department
of health and human resources to collect and compile management
information and to conduct detailed performance audits of its
child protective services program for county or local area
offices.