The cost of out-of-home placements vary greatly, depending upon length, type of placement and level of care required.  Type of placement was a significant factor in cost variation; group home placements, at approximately four times the cost of kinship care, were the most expensive.  Cost increased with the child’s age at entry, although this may be attributed, in part, to the fact that older children were more likely to be placed in more expensive placement types. Placement in more expensive group settings may also be the reason why subsequent home removals were more costly than initial placements.

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Analysis and content: Kyle Jennison and Sarah Thurston

The Parents Raising Safe Kids curriculum was developed by the American Psychological Association and implemented nationally in an effort to teach positive parenting skills to parents and caregivers. Offered locally at 17 program sites throughout the County, the curriculum was found to improve parenting skills; media literacy; knowledge of child development; and parental attitude and behavior toward children.

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Prepared by: Farhod Yuldashev, Brian Bell and Evelyn Whitehill

Unwieldy case backlogs and delays inspired a number of changes in how the Allegheny County Criminal Court processes cases.  By expediting plea offers, completing discovery and providing evidence at formal arraignments, and prioritizing clearing of old cases, the Court has realized a significant decrease in the number of active criminal cases. Other benefits of these changes include better adjudication of more serious cases, improved engagement by defense counsel and prosecutors, greater focus on problem-solving courts, and better management of jail overcrowding resulting from defendants awaiting trial for extended periods of time.

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Schools districts and human service systems define homelessness differently (as mandated by their respective regulatory and funding entities), resulting in many youth who are known to only one system. While being homeless is a disruptive experience that often hurts educational achievement, homeless youth are afforded additional supports to counteract these impacts. This report examines the misalignment in the two homeless populations, examining the underlying reasons as well as the potential solutions that would allow both schools and the human services agency to support the larger homeless population.

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Writer: Jeffery Fraser
Research and content: Sanjeev Baidyaroy, Emily Kulick and Erin Dalton

DHS conducted a review of Allegheny County’s services for homeless individuals and families, as part of a strategic plan to improve the quality, accessibility and comprehensiveness of the system; this report focuses on the client perspective of the system and includes a description of current system change activities as well as recommendations for further action.

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Prepared by: Abigail Horn, Evelyn Whitehill and Michael Yonas, DrPH

Prepared by: Urban Institute

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Intensive supervision programs like school-based probation are increasingly viewed as a way to generate savings to society, by preventing or reducing the likelihood of crime, as well as to improve outcomes for the juvenile offenders through an emphasis on education and employment opportunities. Allegheny County examined a number of outcomes for Pittsburgh Public School students under school-based probation before, during and after supervision, including participation in social services, educational outcomes, and future involvement in the juvenile and criminal justice systems. Of the students in school-based probation, more than 70 percent improved attendance during supervision and over 40 percent improved their Grade Point Average (GPA).  Interestingly, for students charged with misdemeanors, those who recidivate have more than double the absence rate during supervision than those who do not re-offend.

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Prepared by: Kathryn Collins, Ph.D., Erin Dalton and Emily Kulick

Linking provider payments to performance measures is gaining popularity as a way to improve outcomes, efficiency and innovations.  Three performance-based contracting models have been implemented in Allegheny County, targeting: 1) the Senior Center network; 2) child welfare providers; and 3) DHS-funded providers of the Allegheny County Jail Collaborative.  Each focuses on service-related outcomes and offers fiscal incentives for improvement.

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The Allegheny County Department of Human Services (DHS) worked with Adult Probation to conduct a cost–benefit analysis of Day Reporting Centers (DRC) for offenders who have re-entered the community. The analysis examined three groups of offenders (low-risk, medium-risk and high-risk) participating in employment search and community services at the DRCs from March 2011 through January 2013 and compared them to matched control groups of offenders supervised through a traditional field office.  When examining re-offending, medium-to-high-risk participants in the DRC had much lower rates of re-booking and convicted violations than the control groups, while low-risk offenders had relatively similar rates to the control group. This result supports the research literature that states that more intense supervision of low-risk offenders does not yield positive benefits.

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An increased focus on school attendance has led to the implementation of a number of strategies designed to reduce absenteeism and its related impact on academic outcomes. The implications of chronic absenteeism are particularly relevant for students involved in human services, who account for a disproportionate number of chronically absent students.
This brief addresses the impact of absenteeism on students and describes the various local efforts to improve school attendance.

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From 2000 to 2012, Allegheny County Jail bookings decreased by approximately one-third. Arrests are the principal contributor to the number of bookings over time, but the number of arrests that result in a booking decreased over time due to changes in judicial procedure regarding arrests for Driving under the Influence (DUI) and use of a validated risk-assessment instrument to facilitate pre-trial release decisions.

The decrease in bookings was accompanied by an increase in jail-bed days used. Categorizing bookings into Length-of-Stay groups revealed that reductions in bookings from 2000 to 2011 were specific to stays of two days or less. The increase in jail-bed days used was impacted most significantly by an increased number of bookings for stays of one month or greater.  The report also examines inmates’ human service involvement and residence prior to booking.

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Permanency Roundtables are an important component of Allegheny County’s strategy to improve permanency outcomes for children in child welfare out-of-home placements. Roundtables engage practitioners, caseworkers, providers and permanency experts in an intense two-hour brainstorming session in which barriers to permanency are identified along with strategies to address those barriers. The creativity of the collaborative process – in which no blame is assigned and no idea is off the table – can be particularly effective for children and families with complex issues that interfere with permanency goals.

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Inua Ubuntu, designed to provide culturally-based intervention with a goal of reducing the rate of out-of-home placement for African American males, was implemented by the Allegheny County Department of Human Services in 2010.  The program is based on an African-centric concept of family and community, and is driven by the theory that services are most effective when delivered by those who understand – and are a part of – the family’s culture and community.

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An initial assessment is often a client’s first service experience, and, as such, it plays a major role in the perception, comfort and outcomes of the service. Simultaneously, the assessment can set the tone for the eventual outcomes of the  This report describes the process of adapting and/or developing common assessments for use in Allegheny County, the implementation process, and the impact on consumer engagement and service delivery.

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When its largest provider of Home -Delivered Meals (HDM) suddenly decided to discontinue its service, the Area Agency on Aging (AAA) had just weeks to ensure that 800 frail and disabled adults would continue to get the meals they depended upon. Partnering with six providers, AAA seized the opportunity to reshape the HDM program. By dividing the county into four geographic regions, increasing efficiencies with equipment and staffing, utilizing technology to improve routes and enabling drivers to send alerts should they observe a change in a consumer’s health or well-being, a better and more prevention-focused program resulted.

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