Child and Family and Services Review (CFSR)

The Children’s Bureau oversees the Child and Family Services Review (CFSR), which is a periodic review of state child welfare systems, to achieve three goals:

Ensure substantial conformity with title IV-B and IV-E child welfare requirements using a framework focused on assessing seven safety, permanency, and well-being outcomes and seven systematic factors;
Determine what is happening to children and families as they are engaged in child welfare services; and
Assist states in helping children and families achieve positive outcomes.

The Department has completed two rounds of CFSR to date. Our third round will be federally-led and is scheduled to be completed in 2018. After the CFSR is completed, states develop a Program Improvement Plan (PIP) to address areas in their child welfare services that need improvement.

Prior to the on-site portion of the CFSR, and before the final PIP, a statewide assessment (SA) is done. The SA is a data profile that allows each state to compare certain safety and permanency data indicators with national standards determined by the Children’s Bureau. States evaluate their performance on the outcomes and systemic factors in the statewide assessment. After the statewide assessment, a joint federal-state team conducts an onsite review of the child welfare program.

DCYF’s most current SA is available for review

RI CFSR Program Improvement Plan (PIP)

The Department of Children, Youth and Families’ Child and Family Service Review (CFSR) Performance Improvement Plan (PIP) has been approved by the Administration for Children & Families (ACF). The PIP’s start date is May 1, 2019. The Department will work to meet the benchmark’s set in this plan over the next two years.

RI CFSR Program Improvement Plan (PIP)