Bernard Houston

The Alabama Child and Family Services Review Program Improvement Plan (PIP) focuses on improving child welfare outcomes related to safety, permanency, and well-being. Key goals include enhancing child safety through improved initial and ongoing assessments, increasing family engagement, achieving timely permanency for children in care, and building the capacity of supervisors to support quality practice. Strategies involve strengthening assessment processes, improving case transfers, enhancing collaboration between DHR and the court system, and implementing targeted recruitment of foster parents. The plan also aims to improve the statewide Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI) system by defining supervisory roles, enhancing stakeholder engagement, and utilizing data-informed decision-making.

The plan focuses on providing independent living services to youth ages 14-21, ensuring they successfully transition into adulthood with appropriate supports. Key objectives include training county social workers and community providers, reducing the number of youth with APPLA as a permanency goal, enhancing youth leadership and access to information, improving educational outcomes through partnerships and specialist support, and enhancing the system to track youth exiting care to meet NYTD requirements. The plan also emphasizes strengthening services to Indian youth and involving youth in program improvement efforts.

The Alabama Department of Human Resources' 2025-2029 Child and Family Services Plan (CFSP) centers on protecting children from abuse and neglect while preserving and strengthening families. The plan emphasizes outcome-based practices, strengths-based approaches, and family-focused interventions. Key areas of focus include improving safety outcomes (reducing maltreatment and ensuring timely investigations), enhancing permanency (achieving stability and timely permanency goals), and promoting well-being (meeting children's educational, physical, and mental health needs). The plan details collaborations with various stakeholders, including courts, tribal organizations, and federal partners, to address systemic factors such as information systems, case review processes, quality assurance, and staff training. Specific goals aim to reduce the recurrence of maltreatment, improve placement stability, increase timely permanency, and enhance services to meet children's and families' needs. The plan also addresses challenges such as substance abuse, mental health issues, and resource limitations in rural areas.

The 2020-2024 Child and Family Services Plan for the Alabama Department of Human Resources focuses on ensuring child safety, achieving permanency for children in out-of-home care, and promoting their well-being. Key priorities include timely investigations of child maltreatment reports, providing services to keep children safely at home, conducting thorough risk and safety assessments, improving permanency planning, and enhancing the well-being of children through various support services. The plan emphasizes collaboration with families, communities, and other agencies to achieve these outcomes. Specific areas of focus include addressing parental substance abuse, improving data collection and analysis, enhancing training for staff, and strengthening partnerships with community providers.

The Alabama Department of Human Resources' 2015-2019 Child and Family Services Plan outlines strategies to protect children from abuse and neglect, preserve families, and ensure children's well-being. Key areas of focus include timely investigations of child maltreatment reports, providing services to keep children safely at home, achieving permanency and stability in children's living situations, preserving family connections, and meeting children's educational, physical, and mental health needs. The plan emphasizes a family-centered, culturally responsive approach, individualized service planning, and community collaboration. Outcomes are measured through various indicators, including timeliness of investigations, stability of foster care placements, permanency goal achievement, sibling placement, and meeting children's needs across various domains. The plan also addresses systemic factors such as the use of a statewide information system (FACTS) for data collection and reporting.