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SUMMARY
The Office of
the Auditor General has completed an evaluation of
the Family Builders Program. This evaluation was
conducted pursuant to the provisions of Laws 2000,
Ch. 23, §2, and provides information regarding the
program’s effectiveness in achieving its goals.
Family
Builders is a family-centered, community-based
program that provides early intervention to families
with potential- and low-risk child abuse or neglect
reports made to Child Protective Services (CPS). The
program’s goal is to enhance parents’ ability to
create safe, stable, and nurturing home environments
that promote the safety of all family members and
healthy child development. CPS refers potential- and
low-risk reports of child abuse and neglect to
community-based Family Builders contractors. These
contractors provide services, such as parenting
skills training, counseling, and utilities
assistance, aimed at reducing the problems
contributing to the potential for abuse or neglect.
Participation in the program is voluntary, and
families typically participate for about 6 months.
The Arizona
Department of Economic Security (Department) is
responsible for administering Family Builders. To do
this, the Department contracts with eight
community-based organizations to provide services to
families in ten Arizona counties. Contractors are
paid a capitated rate for each of the three program
phases completed by a family: referral, assessment,
and service plan.
Family
Builders received 14,249 referrals between August 1,
1999 and April 30, 2001. In 9,586 of these cases,
families completed only the referral phase. In 4,663
cases, families received an assessment. In all but
266 of the assessed cases, families signed a service
plan to receive services.
Services Differ but
Program Outcomes
Comparable to CPS
(See pages 13 through 18)
Although the
services provided to families differ, Family
Builders and CPS had similar outcomes related to
subsequent CPS reports. Family Builders offers more
services to low-risk families than CPS does, yet
evaluators found that the proportion of families
served by Family Builders who received subsequent
CPS reports was comparable to the proportion of
families investigated by CPS who received subsequent
reports. Evaluators also analyzed the number of CPS
reports per 10,000 persons for areas served by
Family Builders and areas served only by CPS and
found them to be similar.
Despite these
similar outcomes, positive differences exist among
program participants. Families who completed the
program had fewer subsequent CPS reports than
families who did not complete the program. Further,
families receiving program services experienced a
slight reduction in their risk for child abuse and
neglect, as measured by the caseworker-completed
Family Risk Scale.
Department Has Made
Limited Progress in
Monitoring and Oversight
(See pages 19 through 24)
Although the
Department has taken steps to address monitoring and
oversight problems identified in the Auditor
General’s March 2000 evaluation (see Report No.
00-4), its progress has been limited. The Department
still needs to improve its cost data for it to make
statements about the type and cost of services
delivered and ensure that capitation rates are
appropriate. In a random sample of 100 cases,
evaluators found many problems, such as missing and
miscategorized costs. Although the Department has
recently revised its cost category definitions,
which had been a primary cause of problems, the
database still contains data entered according to
old definitions. The Department also still needs to
improve other program data, such as demographic and
risk assessment information, and to eliminate
problems including missing and duplicative records.
Although the Department has taken some steps to
address the Family Builders database flaws and other
factors contributing to the persistence of data
problems, additional effort is needed. Specifically,
the Department should develop a data quality
assurance plan and conduct a system-wide review of
the Family Builders database to eliminate current
problems. It should also monitor contractor’s use of
the recently modified cost categories and program
definitions, create a database users’ manual, and
provide regular training. Finally, the Department
should assign the technical resources required to
effectively address current problems and maintain
the data collection system.
Statutory Evaluation
Components
(See pages 25 through 35)
As required by Laws 2000, Ch. 23, §2, the Office of
the Auditor General has included in this report
information on the number of referrals to the
program, the number of families served,
participants’ demographic characteristics, the
services delivered, client satisfaction, the cost of
services, the contractors who provided services,
recommended improvements in program administration,
the extent to which program goals and objectives are
being met, and the outcomes for families served by
the program, including its impact on reducing the
risk of child maltreatment.
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