Category: Charts & Graphs
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The Florida foster care stats you’ve been waiting for: 24,152 kids in out-of-home care & which CBC is the biggest?
It’s been awhile since I posted a pile of graphs, so here we go. Out-of-home care numbers are still rising. That’s probably not a good thing. All is not equal in the types of placements. Relatives are still shouldering most of the burden for foster care. Finally, which CBC is really the biggest?…
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Florida DCF contracts are worth billions – where does the money go?
I was wondering who holds the largest DCF contracts in Florida. The answer was right on the Florida Department of Financial Services website (thank you, Mr. Atwater), which lists public contracts with an ending date of February 29, 2012 or later. I created a tableau where you can explore the DCF vendors by name, and see…
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Florida foster care numbers in historical context
I’ve added a new tab to the Child Welfare System Dashboard that shows the out-of-home care population annotated with historical events: governors’ tenures, legislative history, and Florida Supreme Court opinions. Each picture tells a different part of the story about what drives child welfare policy and the rise and fall of the OOHC population. Leadership…
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Florida DCF numbers for Nov: up 5.2% over last year, racial disparity dropping, Suncoast and NW still on fire
The DCF trend report numbers are out, and the expansion is continuing statewide. You can see in the chart below that, due to its size, the Suncoast Region continues to be the largest driver of the statewide expansion, but the Northwest Region continues to show the largest individual growth. The two Southeast Region contracted again…
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Does Florida have enough foster homes? (It’s at 2/3 capacity.)
I have read a lot in the news lately about the foster care crisis. By many accounts, the growth in out-of-home care (OOHC) has been driven in part by a growing epidemic of drug cases. In previous posts, I’ve shown that the data does not exactly bear that out and the growth is more likely…
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October DCF numbers: 5% rise continues, non-licensed placements growing
Florida’s statewide out-of-home care population rose 232 children in October, maintaining a consistent 5% growth over October of last year. In-home-care numbers decreased by 29 children and are expected to remain flat. Growth was largest in the Northwest and Suncoast regions, while the Southeast and Southern regions experienced contractions. Only the Southeast region is projected…
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September monthly update: OOHC up 5% over 2015, IHC even, expansion continues
Florida’s statewide out-of-home care population rose 309 to 23,538 in September, up 5.3% from the same time last year. IHC has remained stable for the past 12 months. Our model has now seen a long enough period of OOHC growth that it can begin separating out seasonal variations, like summer slumps and adoption months, from actual…
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Where the therapeutic foster care placements are
I received a question the other day about the availability of therapeutic placements around the state. My gut answer at the time was that there is wide variation based on geography and CBC. Through a public records request I had done a few months ago, I was able to put together maps showing the disparity. It’s…
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Florida Child Welfare Stats for August 2016: the expansion continues
The August numbers are out and it appears the Carroll expansion is slowing down, but continuing. OOHC numbers were slightly higher than projected this month, which may be due to lower discharges during the summer holidays. Though the line is flattening, removals are expected to continue to outpace discharges for the foreseeable future and only two…
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What’s causing the Manatee County foster care crisis? By the numbers.
Manatee County is holding a town hall on 8/30 to discuss the drastic expansion of its out-of-home care population. According to news reports, the expansion has been driven largely by an ongoing heroin epidemic. I thought it would be useful to share what the Dashboard says about the situation. The spike may have more to…