Accomplishments
Alternative Response (AR)
Alternative Response is a more engaging approach to working with families than a traditional investigation. While available in most of Texas, CPI continued to expand Alternative Response by added it in Region 8 (San Antonio area) and Region 6B (South East Texas) in FY 2018.
Alternative Response managers from across the state attended a conference in October 2017. The conference, The Power of You – Inspiring Change through Leadership focused on their continued work towards making organizational change within the agency and increased their knowledge and ability on working child abuse and neglect cases using AR engagement processes. CPI plans to continue to expand AR in FY 2019. Learn more about AR in the Services section of this report.
Timely Contact with Families
When Child Protective Investigations became its own program on September 1, 2017, one of the priorities was to improve face-to-face contacts in child abuse and neglect investigations and to locate children and families who were hard to find or trying to avoid CPI caseworkers. While compliance with face-to-face contact timeframes varied somewhat through the year, it remained near historically high levels at approximately 90 percent. Making contact is the first major step in an investigation and timeliness increases the safety of children.
Workforce Development
Investigations staff took Forensic Assessment Center Network (FACN) training in FY 2018. This training was a review of the purpose of the FACN and how CPI staff can use the FACN effectively as they make case decisions. Using resources, such as the FACN, strengthens investigations and helps caseworkers do a better job of protecting children from abuse or neglect.
CPI and CPS leaders also held a joint leadership conference in July 2018. The conference, “Your Leadership, Your Legacy,” focused on providing leaders of the two sister programs additional skills to enhance their leadership ability.
Child Care Investigations Transition
On September 1, 2017, the regulatory functions of the Child Care Licensing program transferred from DFPS to the Texas Health and Human Services Commission. The responsibility to investigate allegations of abuse and neglect in child care settings remained at DFPS and became a part of Child Protective Investigations. CCI staff were active in workgroups during FY 2018 to make recommendations for policy and TAC rules to clarify definitions of abuse, neglect, and exploitation. These efforts support CCI’s work to make findings that help ensure the safety of children and youth. They were also necessary to separates CCI procedures and rules from CCL’s procedures and rules. Based on the work in FY 2018, Child Care Investigations will publish a new Child Care Investigations Policy and Procedure Handbook, and DFPS will publish new Texas Administrative Code (TAC) rules in FY 2019.