October 7, 2014

Incredible Outcomes…

September 30th ended the most recent contract year for our Foster Care Program.  Among other things, that means we know about year-end outcomes.  Our state-defined contractual goal is that 31% of our youth will achieve permanency during the year.  That’s not 31% of the 105 youth who start the year with us; that’s 31% of all youth assigned to our care during the year, even if they’re assigned to us on the last day of the contract year.  It’s a tricky number, because every permanency we achieve results in a “replacement case” being assigned to our program, which essentially makes it harder to reach our goal.

This year, 186 youth were assigned to Good Shepherd for foster care case management.  Of that number, a whopping 77 achieved permanency for an incredible 41.4% rate!  That’s an incredible achievement.  Of the 105 youth that started the contract year in our care, 62 are now in permanent homes (60.7%).  If we analyze the 77 permanencies we achieved over the course of the year, we also see that we beat two out of three federally recommended timelines and missed the third by only a whisker.  No one is doing that.  Indeed, many see the fed’s guidelines as currently unachievable…(but not for us this year).

I am incredibly proud of the work of our Foster Care team—from leadership on down.  Seventy-seven children are now in permanent homes!  That’s an amazing and immeasurable return on investment.

Yours in Christ,

Michael