What is an out-of-home placement? 

The Allegheny County Department of Human Services (DHS) is mandated by law to protect children under the age of 18 from abuse and neglect. When a child welfare investigation finds that a child is at risk of abuse or neglect, a case is opened, and DHS works with the family to identify natural supports and other supportive services that will help the child remain safely in the home.

If DHS finds that the child cannot continue to reside safely in the home, the case is brought before a judge, who may determine that a temporary home, called an out-of-home placement, is necessary. Whenever possible, out-of-home placements are in homes of relatives or friends of the family (known as kinship care) or in foster homes. Less often, children are placed in congregate care in either a group home or a residential treatment facility. At the end of an out-of-home placement, DHS aims to reunite children with their families whenever possible. If a child cannot return home, DHS works to identify other permanent options such as adoption or permanent legal custodianship.

What data is tracked?

This report and related dashboard provide an overview of child welfare placement dynamics during the decade 2008-2017. Data describe characteristics of children in placement, what types of placements were used, how long children stayed there, where they went after their placement ended (also known as exits) and how many returned to the child welfare system after returning home (also known as re-entries).

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Related materials

• Report: 2000-2009 data

The Allegheny Family Screening Tool (AFST) is a predictive risk model designed to improve decision-making in Allegheny County’s child welfare system. The tool utilizes hundreds of data elements to predict the likelihood that a child referred for abuse or neglect will later experience a foster care placement. The AFST provides additional information – in conjunction with clinical judgement – to assist child welfare workers making a call screening decision.

After a multi-year process that included rigorous research, community feedback, and independent ethical review, Version 1 of the AFST started being used by call screeners in August 2016. Findings from an independent impact evaluation and a commitment to continuous improvement of the tool led to a rollout of Version 2 in December 2018 that updated the algorithm, data sources, and associated policies.

View a comprehensive packet on the AFST that provides all of the County’s published research and partner evaluations to date or select from the following documents:

• Methodology of the AFST
  • • • Version 2 (April 2019)
      • Version 1 (April 2017)
• Evaluations of the AFST, Version 1
  • • • Impact Evaluation Summary and Full Impact Evaluation (April 2019)
      • Process Evaluation (January 2018)
      • Ethical Analysis and Response to Ethical Analysis (April 2017)
• Frequently-Asked Questions

Click here to access recent press coverage of the AFST.

In July 2013, the Center for the Study of Social Policy (CSSP) and the Allegheny County Department of Human Services (DHS) launched a partnership to better support child welfare-involved youth achieve healthy sexual and identity development. This institutional analysis prepared by CSSP used data analysis, case reviews, and interviews to understand current experiences of LGBTQ+ children and families who interact with child welfare as well as cultural and practice changes that have occurred since the initiative began.

Click here to read the report.

The Center for State Child Welfare Data analyzed Allegheny County data to explore whether the presence of a Family Support Center in a neighborhood is associated with lower child welfare maltreatment investigation rates. The analysis found that areas in Allegheny County served by Family Support Centers had fewer maltreatment investigations once the level of social disadvantage and population size were considered.

Click here to view the full report.

DHS’s full evaluation of the Allegheny County Family Support Center network is available here. 

Teens in foster care sometimes face challenges when it comes to getting permission to do things like spending the night at a friend’s house, using the internet, or joining a school sports team. The Allegheny County Department of Human Services (DHS) wanted to find out more about the perspective of teens in foster care, so we asked 300 teens about their ability to participate in a range of school and social activities.

The majority of teens surveyed felt that they could participate in most of the activities we asked about. For example, almost all teens said they could choose their own style of clothing, access information about safe sex, and use the internet. Activities that were found to be the most difficult for teens in foster care included having a job (51% said they were unable) and sleeping over at a friend’s house (41% said they were unable). Teens in family-based settings were generally able to participate in more activities than teens in group care, and for most activities, more boys than girls said they were able to participate.

See the full report for an analysis of all survey results as well as a comparison of responses by teens’ placement type, gender and race.

In an effort to provide affirming services to LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transsexual, queer/questioning) communities involved with Allegheny County’s Department of Human Services (DHS), the first Department-wide LGBTQ work group began in 2009. At that time, sexual orientation and gender identity were not frequently discussed as part of DHS practice. By 2016, DHS had made great strides in affirming LGBTQ communities. Work within DHS and with community partners led to written practice guidance related to gender and sexuality, improved understanding of bias in the workplace, the creation of an LGBTQ advisory council, and improved data collection related to gender and sexuality.

This report shares DHS’s experiences from 2009 through 2016 as it worked to better understand and serve the LGBTQ communities of Allegheny County. We share our strategies, challenges and lessons learned with the hope that others can learn from them.

Click here to read the report. 

In Allegheny County in 2016, 73 children in child welfare out-of-home placements ran away. This represents three percent of all children and nine percent of children ages 12 through 18 who were in placement that year. In this data brief, we analyze the factors that may contribute to runaway episodes in Allegheny County’s child welfare system such as demographics of the children and their placement types prior to running away.

Click here to read the data brief.

Approximately 40 percent of the families headed by single mothers in Allegheny County are living below the poverty line, while only four percent of two-parent families are living in poverty. This data brief takes a closer look at families in the region led by single mothers, describes how they fare in comparison to other types of families, and maps where they live in Pittsburgh and Allegheny County.

Click here to read the data brief.

From 2012 through 2015, 1,255 youth ages 14 through 17 entered into out-of-home placements in Allegheny County. Out-of-home placement settings include foster care, group homes, residential facilities, living with a relative or friend, and supervised independent living. We surveyed 200 of these youth to gain a better understanding of their experiences in the child welfare system. This report includes our key findings and an exploration of respondents’ ideas about how their experiences with the child welfare system could be improved. We will use the results to guide future planning and program development.

Click here to read the report. 

This data brief includes information on involuntary termination of parental rights cases and adoptions handled through CYF. TPR petitions and completed adoption data from 2014-2021 were examined in two separate briefs (linked below).

 

Click here to read the Adoption and Termination of Parental Rights Brief – 2018-2021

Click here to read the Adoptions and Involuntary Termination Brief – 2014-2017.

 

A total of 20,190 children were referred to the child welfare system in Allegheny County due to abuse or neglect in 2015. The data in this brief analyzes the number and rate of children of different races at four critical stages within the child welfare system: referral, investigation, accept for service and home removal. While this analysis does not identify the reason for the disproportionality that exists, it is clear there is unequal representation of black and bi/multiracial children within the child welfare system as compared to the representation of these groups in Allegheny County.

Click here to read the brief.

Eleven Allegheny County foster care provider agencies formed a training cooperative in order to improve the number and quality of training opportunities for foster parents. After increasing the number and variety of trainings, the cooperative requested feedback to inform quality and access improvements.  DHS staff conducted telephone surveys with foster parents and identified a number of recommendations for improvement.  This brief provides an overview of the survey process and findings.

Click to read the data brief

Conferencing and Teaming is the Allegheny County Department of Human Services’ practice model designed to engage child welfare participants, and their natural supports, in a process of family strengthening through client-driven goal setting and achievement.  An analysis of participant experiences with Conferencing and Teaming was conducted in order to assess their satisfaction with the process and ways in which participation might be improved. The analysis was based on telephone surveys with more than 200 participants.  Findings from the analysis and resulting recommendations are described in this brief.

Click here to read the full data brief.

An evaluation of 25 Allegheny County Family Support Centers looked at the operation and impact of individual Centers as well as the network as a whole, in five specific areas: family empowerment; connection to social services, early child development and school readiness; maternal and child health; and child abuse and neglect. This report describes the network, summarizes the network-wide findings, and offers a number of recommendations for strengthening the network and improving its outcomes.

Click here to view the full report.

An analysis of the effect of Family Support Centers on child welfare maltreatment investigations is available here. 

More than 200 families were interviewed about their experience with Conferencing and Teaming meetings.  Although most responded positively to the meeting process, only about two-thirds reported that the meeting resulted in meaningful outcomes for their family. Increasing family involvement in identifying realistic outcomes may improve the experience and relevance of Conferencing and Teaming meetings.

Click here to view the full report.

Click here to view the accompanying infographic. 

Survey design, administration and analysis: Lynn Bottoms, Michael Mitchell, Phyllis Nettles, Katherine Stoehr and Sarah Thurston