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This report addresses two areas
within the Arizona Department of Economic Security: kinship foster care and
kinship care pilot program. Kinship foster care involves the parenting of a
child by a relative when the court determines that a child should be separated
from his or her parents due to abuse or neglect, and placed in the custody and
control of the State’s child welfare agency. Within the Department, the
Division of Children, Youth, and Families oversees kinship foster care and
offers financial benefits and nonfinancial services, such as foster care
maintenance payments to licensed relative caregivers, case management
services, and childcare. Kinship care involves the parenting of a child by a
relative when the relative takes on the responsibility without court or child
welfare agency involvement. The Department’s Division of Benefits and Medical
Eligibility administers the kinship care pilot program, and offers financial
benefits to relative caregivers in the form of a Temporary Assistance for
Needy Families child-only grant.
This report found that the
Department needs to improve its compliance with legislative requirements for
kinship foster care by focusing additional efforts in three areas. First, it
needs to provide additional staff training on the intent and specific policy
requirements of kinship foster care. Second, the Department should monitor
staff compliance with program requirements such as informing caregivers about
financial benefits and other services. Finally, the Department should use,
where appropriate, its current goals, objectives, and performance measures to
assess the outcomes of kinship foster care placements.
The report also found that the
Department should take steps to ensure the legislative requirements and intent
are met for the kinship care pilot program. Specifically, the Department
should develop a formal outreach plan to facilitate community awareness of the
pilot program. In addition, the Department should improve its mechanism for
helping relative caregivers identify and locate other needed services. The
Department should also revise its cash assistance application instructions and
provide additional training to pilot office staff to ensure the program’s
streamlined processes are implemented appropriately. Finally, the Department
should gather outcome information to monitor its progress in achieving the
program’s legislative intent.
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