Measure Description
San Francisco provides Foster Care services with the goal of providing safe, nurturing homes for children of all ages.
The Foster Care Active Caseload is a measure of the number of children up to 21 years of age with an open case in the foster care system during each month that data is reported. This measure is a workload indicator.
San Francisco's Human Services Agency oversees the Foster Care system and tracks its monthly caseload.
Why this Measure is Important
Reporting on the Foster Care Active Caseload provides the public, elected officials, and City Staff with a current snapshot of the demand for foster care services.
The City program aims to help stabilize home situations and return children to their homes. Most children in foster care are in the process of reunification with their families, which can take a few weeks to many years.
The interactive chart below presents the City’s Foster Care Active Caseload.
The chart’s legend is below:
- Y-axis: Foster Care Active Caseload
- X-axis: Calendar years
Foster Care Active Caseload
How Performance is Measured
The Foster Care Active Caseload is calculated using the following methodology:
Count of the number of children up to 21 years of age with an open case in the foster care system for at least eight days during the month.
A smaller caseload is one indication of the effectiveness of the agency’s intervention strategies intended to stabilize home situations and return children to their homes.
The number displayed on the scorecard page represents a fiscal year average of the values in the chart above.
Data Notes and Sources
Data for this measure are tracked within the Child Welfare Services Case Management System (CWS/CMS) and extracted from the Safe Measures reporting system.
Data lag time: Foster Care Active Caseload data are reported with a two-month lag. For example, May’s data will be available in July.
Visit DataSF to access the scorecard data.
Additional Information
- Learn about UC Berkeley’s California Child Welfare Indicators Project.
- earn more about foster care services and resources on HSA’s website
City Performance Scorecards
This page is part of the City Performance Scorecards.
Return to the Safety Net Services Scorecard.
Return to the City Performance Scorecards Home Page.