Child Welfare Court Performance Measures Dashboard: courts.in.gov/cip/welfare

About the data

The Indiana Office of Judicial Administration collects court performance measures on all qualifying child welfare Children in Need of Services (CHINS) and Termination of Parental Rights (TPR) cases. Every court with CHINS and TPR jurisdiction in the state is required to report these measures on a quarterly basis. The Indiana Court Improvement Program is available to provide technical assistance and support for courts as they review the data and implement plans to address any areas of concern.

The court measures were selected based upon guidance from the Federal Court Improvement Program and is a tool to help determine the effectiveness of Indiana's child welfare system. The information in the dashboard is a reflection of the data submitted by local trial courts and measures the median number of days CHINS and TPR cases reach a variety of benchmarks.

The dashboard includes data for the federal fiscal year (October 1 through September 30) up to the most current quarter with a filter to choose the specific timeframe located in the upper left-hand corner marked "Select a Year". The narrative at the bottom provides details on what quarters are included for the current fiscal year.

The data only includes cases that closed (the CHINS wardship was terminated) during the fiscal year and is a look-back of activity that occurred throughout the duration of the case, which could be up to a five (5) year time frame.

The data is presented in three tabs located at the top of the page: Child Welfare Performance Measures, Permanency and County Snapshot.

Child Welfare Performance Measures Tab

The Child Welfare Performance Measures tab displays seven key measures of timeliness with time to permanency provided separately for outcome types across the top.

• To view data for a specific county, Department of Child Services region, or judicial district, use the drop-down menus at the top of the dashboard.
• The data is filtered by year selected at the top left of the dashboard.

Permanency Tab

The Permanency tab displays a map of all counties on the left-hand side, a bar chart of permanency type on the right-hand side and an historical view of data over time along the bottom of the dashboard.

• To view data for a specific county and year, use the drop-down menus at the center of the dashboard.
• You may also click on any county on the state map to view the data for the selected county. If you are using a desktop, you may hold the Ctrl button and click on multiple counties to view all of the selected counties' information at once. Click on a county a second time to return to full-state view.
• You may click on a permanency type on the right-hand side of the dashboard to filter results to just that permanency type.
• There is also a print button at the top right of the dashboard which allows you to print the pages.
• The bottom graph can be drilled down to quarter or month by clicking the + at the bottom left of "FY 2018". To revert back, select the - symbol to the left of "FY 2018".

County Snapshot Tab

The county snapshot tab displays bar graphs of the performance measures in a historical view (five-year comparison) over time by selected county and contains a line for the state median time for comparison. Time to Adoption contains an additional line showing the national standard.

• To view data for a specific county, use the drop-down menus at the top left of the dashboard.

Definitions

Adjudication, Time to

Median number of days between the beginning of the child's court case and the hearing in which the court determines the child to be a child in need of services.

Adoption

The child was legally adopted.

Another planned permanent living arrangement

The child is 16 or older and placed in a supervised independent living arrangement or foster care.

Disposition Hearing, Time to

Median number of days between the beginning of the child's court case and the hearing in which the court determines which services the family should complete.

First Permanency Hearing, Time to

Median number of days between the beginning of the child's court case and the first federally required court hearing evaluating the child's permanency plan.

Guardianship

A legal guardianship was established over the child by a court. The legal guardian is responsible for the care, custody, control and decision making concerning the child.

Other

Cases that close for other reasons (e.g., "aging out," case transfer, death of the child, runaway, emancipation, or other such reasons unrelated to the child's permanency).

Permanency, Time to

Median number of days between the beginning of the child's court case and the closure date of that case.

Permanency type

The child's long-term living situation at the time of case closure.

Relative placement

The child is placed with an adult sibling, a grandparent, an aunt, an uncle, a custodial parent of a sibling of a child, or another relative who acts as the child's permanent custodian.

Reunification

The child returned to the custodial care of the child's parents, guardian, or custodian, or was placed with the child's noncustodial parent.

Termination of Parental Rights Petition, Time to

Median time between the beginning of the child's court case and the filing of a petition to terminate the parental rights of the child's parents.

Termination of Parental Rights, Time to

Median time between the beginning of the child's court case and the trial court issuing an order terminating the parental rights of the child's parents.