Child Deprivation Case Data

Cover Letter

RFP for Evaluation of Case Data

Questions & Answers

1. If possible, please provide copies of the: application submitted for the Data Collection and Analysis Grant; latest North Dakota Child and Family Services Review (CSFR); latest Title IV-E review; and, State Juvenile Court Time Standards.

We do not have the official CFSR at this time, the successful vendor will be furnished copy when we receive it; IVE review will be in August, successful vendor will be furnished copy when we receive it; time standards are located in

Policy 409

2. Has North Dakota developed an official Program Improvement Plan based on the most recent CFSR? If so, please provide a copy.

Not totally developed due to no official report from ACF

3. Do the District Courts (in their capacity as Juvenile Courts) have a uniform system of classifying and numbering juvenile cases, including child deprivation cases? If so, please provide details of the system, including all case-type identifiers. Do child deprivation cases have a separate case-type identifier?

Yes we have a uniform system of classifying and numbering. Cases are given a unique number case # and within that case we have an "offense category" and "offense number". ALL juvenile cases will be under the same "category #" but depending on what type of juvenile case it is it will have a different "offense #".

4. Is the number of physical locations where juvenile / child deprivation cases are heard equal to the total number of District Court Chambers? If not, in how many locations are such cases heard? Where are the physical paper files for juvenile cases maintained at the District Court Chamber locations? At the individual counties?

There are 53 counties in North Dakota; cases may be filed in each county. Documents filed in Clerk of Court offices for each county.

5. Please provide a list of all data elements currently captured electronically with respect to juvenile cases of all types in the UCIS and the JCMS. (This may be in the form of a data dictionary if available.)

The only thing we capture in CMS with regards to Deprivation cases is the initial shelter care hearing.

6. Please provide copies of all paper and electronic forms (other than the UCIS and JCMS themselves) utilized by the District Courts in the collection and recording of data in connection with child deprivation cases

There are none.

7. Please provide a list of all data elements currently captured electronically with respect to child deprivation cases in any electronic case management system utilized by the Children and Family Services Department? (This may be in the form of a data dictionary if available.)

8. Does the DHS provide any data electronically to the SCAO? To the District Courts?

No

9. Please provide copies of all paper and electronic forms (other than its electronic case management system itself) utilized by the Children and Family Services Department in the collection and recording of data in connection with child deprivation cases

10. Please explain the relationship, if any, between this project and the case management system replacement project (RFP No. 180-08-01). Is the new CMS intended to replace the current JCMS, as well as the UCIS? How will that project impact this project and vice versa? Is it anticipated that any recommendations for expanded data capture, collection and reporting for child deprivation cases will be incorporated into a new CMS design?

New case management system will replace UCIS only. That project will not impact this project other than identifying data that should be captured in new system.

11. Please name all of the North Dakota government agencies / office that appear and participate in child deprivation cases.

County Social Services, County State Attorneys, State Indigent Defense Services, lay guardian ad litem project office, Juvenile Court offices, and appropriate Native American tribes.

12. How many offices of the Children and Family Services Department of the Department of Human Services (DHS) are there statewide?

8 regional DHS offices; 53 County Social Services offices

13. Do any formal mechanisms (boards, committees, working groups, etc.) exist for inter-agency cooperation in the program areas that will be the subject of this project?

Data Collection and Analysis subcommittee of the Court Improvement Project Committee which is a committee of the Administrative Council.

14. Section 2.03 of the RFP, page 6, refers to Child and Family Services personnel, and other stake holders. Who does the SCAO envision as these other stakeholders? To what extent will the Department of Human Services and specifically the Child and Family Services Department of the DHS be involved in this project? What will be the role, if any, of the Supreme Court's Juvenile Policy Board in this project? What is the status of the Board's initiative to develop rules of procedure for the juvenile court? Who will approve the various project deliverables and reports? - a specific individual? - a committee?

Other stakeholders: State Attorney representative, Defense Attorney representative, lay GAL; DHS capture their own data and is not in the court system, but we do work on child welfare issues collaboratively; no role for Juvenile Policy Board in this project; proposed rules are being drafted presently; rules must be submitted to Joint Procedure Committee for consideration before being submitted to Supreme Court; project deliverables and reports will be submitted to Project Administrator who will share with select CIP subcommittee members and State Court Administrator.

15. For the at least two on-site meetings, can personnel groups be mixed or are separate meetings required? Please provide an estimated number of people for each group

Groups can be mixed

16. Please clarify the task Submit a report on baseline data related to court performance in child welfare cases. Does the SCAO envision that the vendor will actually collect and analyze chile deprivation case data from one or more selected sites? Or, is the vendor expected to provide a report on what data should be collected in order to adequately measure performance?

Baseline: where are we in relation to federal standards; we do want a report on what data should be collected; we want to know where we are and what do we need to fill in the gaps.

17. Please clarify the task Develop a method of trend line analysis for describing case activity refereed to in Section 2.03, Scope of Work, of the RFP, page 6.

Examine past years data and develop a method to track over time in the future.

18. How will the successful vendor be exempted from the various privacy statutes, rules and regulations relating to the privacy of juvenile data?

We do not expect the vendor to get into individual cases however if successful vendor needs to request such information, they may seek a court order to do so.

19. To what extent is the SCAO interested in differential outcomes for children based on ethnicity, income or geographic location?

We are interested in outcomes based on geographic locations by judicial district at this time.

Dates