California Child and Family Service Review System: Child and Adolescent Needs and Strengths (CANS) assessment.

Existing law requires the department to establish the California Child and Family Service Review System, in order to review all county child welfare systems, including child protective services, foster care, adoption, family preservation, family support, and independent living. Existing law requires the California Health and Human Services Agency to convene a workgroup, as prescribed, to establish a work plan by which child and family service reviews shall be conducted. Existing law requires the workgroup to consider, among other things, measurable outcome indicators, which shall be consistent with specified federal measures and standards. This bill, subject to an appropriation by the Legislature in the annual Budget Act or another statute for these purposes, would require the California Child and Family Service Review System to include data from the Child and Adolescent Needs and Strengths (CANS) assessment tool, and would also authorize it to include other behavioral health data that is readily available to the department and determined by the department to be relevant. The bill would authorize the department to consider feedback from specified stakeholders in determining which additional relevant data to include.