Guilford County shares progress on state-imposed child welfare improvement plan

Guilford County’s Department of Social Services says it’s working to implement changes to its handling of child welfare cases as outlined by a state-imposed improvement plan. 

The county was placed under a so-called Corrective Action Plan (CAP) this summer, following a state investigation which found in part that children were being moved around too frequently and social workers had high caseloads. 

In a recently released review of the progress made in the 90 days since the CAP was approved, officials said all county social workers had completed recommended training courses. And that they had established a new protocol designed to limit unplanned moves for foster children. 

The review also said that kinship placements, or placements within an extended family, in the county have nearly tripled from 4% to 11%. Sara DePasquale, with the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, studies the state’s child welfare system. She says statewide, that percentage is much higher.

“It's about 30%, or one in three kids," said DePasquale. "The 4% is super low. So 11%, good improvement, still low.” 

She says the state prioritizes kinship placements for a reason. 

“The idea behind that is there's familiarity for that child with the family," she says. "So let's say they're placed with aunt, they might also still be able to see grandma because grandma regularly visits and children are living with aunt. So there's more stability for that child.” 

In a release, Guilford County said they project partnerships with the state and court system will “help further expand kinship placements over the next 90 days.”