Phase I Archives

Census Phase I: State approved and state run (DCBS) foster and pre-adoptive homes.

Cabinet Secretary Dr. Viola Miller initiated the Kentucky Foster Care Census in July 2002 to proactively respond to a need to verify child safety and placement and to collect data for program improvement on child well-being and foster parent needs. The Census will have 4 phases: Phase I; Phase II: Children in Kentucky's Private Child Care system; Phase III: Children committed to Kentucky and placed with relatives (Kinship care), and Phase IV: Children committed to Kentucky's care and placed out-of-state.

The purpose of the census is three-fold:

1. To verify the placement and safety of each child in Kentucky's care.
2. To gather data on the essentials of child well-being identified in the Federal Child and Family Service review and the literature.
3. To conduct a needs assessment interview with foster and pre-adoptive parents about child well-being and the relationships between foster parents and the Cabinet for Families and Children.

A statewide research/training consortium was developed to implement the census with project coordination shared between EKU and the CFC. Coordinators from the University Training Consortium (UTC) and from the Public Child Welfare Certification Program (PCWCP) partnered to offer courses at Kentucky's 8 public universities. Census takers were recruited from the PCWCP, social work, and other human service professions and enrolled in specialized undergraduate or graduate courses.

Between September 9, 2002 and December 18, 2002,

• 131 census takers visited all 1338 DCBS Resource Homes;
• 2993 children committed to Kentucky's care were seen during the visits;
• 100% of the children in DCBS homes on 8/25/02 and still committed to the State at the time of the census visit were seen and met in their resource home;
• Standard data on child well-being indicators were collected from the foster parents for every child;
• 83% of all foster and pre-adoptive parents completed a comprehensive interview on child well-being and their needs as foster parents;

Results: Sample results are included here.

• The average number of children placed in each home varied for each region from about 2 children to 3.17 children with more children in homes in rural regions.
• Nearly 40% of school aged children in the Census were placed in special education.
• 33% of children were reported to have a developmental disability.
• 79% were part of a sibling group and 53% with siblings were placed with all siblings.
• Foster parents rate the importance of visits to biological parents as high, but their comfort with such visits as low.
• Foster parents were highly satisfied with the training they received

The following Adobe Acrobat documents will open in a new browser window:

Making Sense of the Census

Problem List

CFC Regional Contacts

Census Implementation

About the Census

Applied Needs Assessment Draft Syllabus

Roles and Responsibilities

Status of Safety and Well-Being of Kentucky's Children

Number of Census Takers Needed

Key Dates

Executive Summary

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