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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2015 Sep 23.
Published in final edited form as: Child Youth Serv Rev. 2013 Oct 10;39:169–176. doi: 10.1016/j.childyouth.2013.10.003

Table 1.

Description of the eight child welfare processes for children placed in out of home care in England and California.

Process Description Comparison between England and California
Process 1: decide child needs to be placed Includes all the activities directly related to placing a child in out of home care and finding the initial placement. Although the type of assessments and some of the activities carried out differ between England and California, this process is comparable.
Process 2: care/case planning Includes all the activities associated with the completion of the Care Plan (England) or Case Plan (California). Although the Care/Case plans are comparable, in California the activities would usually be carried out within the first 30 days of being placed. In England the Care Plan will be updated at key intervals during the time the child is placed in care and therefore this process is repeated. Any on-going Case Planning activity in California has been included in Process 3. In England this process also includes the activity for a statutory annual health assessment and education plan.
Process 3: maintaining the placement Includes all the on-going activity to support the child in their placement. This process includes visits to the child and family and indirect case work, such as recording and liaising with other agencies. Directly comparable.
Process 4: child ceased to be in care This process begins with the decision for the child to transition from being in care. This may be as a result of a return home, adoption, transition to adulthood or the case being closed. Directly comparable.
Process 5: find subsequent placement This process is concerned with placement change and includes all the activity to find any subsequent placement that may be required. This process does not include the activity to find a first placement following the initial decision to place a child (covered in Process One). Directly comparable.
Process 6: review In England this process includes all the activities associated with statutory reviews required for all children in care. Comparable reviews are not carried out in California. Reviews of cases are typically carried out as part of the legal process and as such have been classified as ‘Legal Reviews’ and therefore included in Process 7.
Process 7: legal This process captures activity related to court involvement, including preparation of court reports and attending hearings. Although the legal orders and involvement of the courts differs between England and California, this process encompasses comparable activities.
Process 8: transition to leaving care/ addition of independent living services This process begins when a young person reaches the age when he/she becomes eligible for leaving care (England)/independent living (California) services. It excludes activity when a child returns home (covered in Process 4). This process is largely comparable in that it includes all the activities carried out to support a young person as they leave care and make the transition into independent living.