Child and Family Team (CFT) Surveys

About the Program

Category: Children and Youth (Best in Category)

Year: 2022

Effective January 1, 2017, county child welfare and probation departments became required to convene Child and Family Teams (CFTs) as part of the case planning process for children, youth and non-minor dependents entering foster care. CFT Meetings (CFTMs) proactively engage families to identify case plan goals and needed services. San Bernardino County Children and Family Services (CFS) took an expansive approach early requiring CFTMs for all children in foster care prior to it being mandated with the passing of Assembly Bill (AB) 403 - the Continuum of Care Reform (CCR). Social workers (SWs) and supervisors completed CFTM facilitation training in June 2015. In order to further augment implementation of CFTs, the San Bernardino County System Improvement Plan (SIP) for 2018-23 included a strategy to increase the number of CFTs and increase early engagement using CFTs. Part of the strategy to improve CFTs included employing regular participant surveys to ascertain program strengths and improve provision of teaming efforts. Every action is taken while keeping the long-term objective at the forefront, which is to improve timely reunification efforts.