Overview
This article delineates how an accurate understanding of data can inform churches, communities, and agencies on practical ways to respond to meet requests. This type of reporting allows CarePortal and its users to understand accurate measurements when it comes to understanding the economic impact that the platform allows us all to be a part of.
Intended Audience
CarePortal Staff: Area Directors, Regional Managers & Ambassadors
Agencies, Churches, Implementing Partners, and Area Communities
This Article Covers
- Key Validation Factors
- Financial Value of Key Benefits of CarePortal Partnership
- Request Purpose Statements & Measurements of Economic Value / Outcomes
Key Validation Factors
All data related to requests and when a church meets a need is provided by the agency partners submitting the requests.
An extensive research process was conducted by a nationally recognized child welfare consultant, who shared insights and information from state departments of children and families across the nation.
To ensure that we are not overstating in any way, we chose a conservative approach in our reporting of economic impact. We believe the economic impact is considerably larger than what we report.
Financial Value of Key Benefits of CarePortal Partnership (updated 1/3/23)
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Value of one (1) hour of time saved for workers
The median salary in 2022 for a child welfare worker nationally was $58,233. With 2,080 working hours in a year, caseworkers make a median salary of $28 per hour. (Source: Salary.com)
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Value of one (1) month a child was kept out of foster care
In 2018, the average national cost of keeping a child in foster care for the U.S. government was $34,159, or $2,846 per month. (Source: Child Welfare Financing SFY 2018)
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Value of not changing a placement
Cost to system of changing a placement: “Price (2007) conducted focus groups…and found that each placement change required at least 25 hours of casework time to process the change in placement (e.g., staff meetings, court reports, identifying a placement and placing a child in the new setting, and other paperwork).” Time of 25 hours multiplied by the median hourly salary = $700. (Source: UCDavis)
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Value of volunteer time
The 2024 estimated national value of each volunteer hour is $31.80. For Tier 1 - Physical requests there is an average of 3.20 hours spent by volunteers for each request met. For Tier 2 - Relational requests, case workers report the number of volunteer hours required and verify with the volunteer whenever possible. (Source: Independent Sector, 2024)
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The cost of one (1) week of foster care vs. one (1) week in adoption
According to the National Council for Adoption, a child being moved from foster care to adoption saves an average of $296 per week nationally. (Source: Zill, Nicholas, 2011)
Request Purpose Statements & Measurements of Economic Value / Outcomes
A crib. A mentor. A foster parent. When local churches step up to meet tangible needs of local children and families in crisis, the story is just beginning. Hundreds of opportunities for churches to serve can be placed somewhere on this grid:
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Help Make a Foster Care Placement
Used only when the state or jurisdiction has legal custody of child(ren) and this would be a new placement for the child(ren). In addition to the financial value and relationships that may have developed between the church and the family, helping make this placement may have kept a child closer to home, placed with a family or placed with siblings.
How Economic Impact is Calculated for this Purpose Statement:
Value of items/services + Number of volunteer hours = Economic Impact
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Help Make a Kinship Placement
Used only when the state or jurisdiction has legal custody of child(ren) and this would be a new placement for the child(ren). In addition to the financial value and relationships that may have developed between the church and the family, helping make this placement may have kept a child closer to home, placed with a family or placed with siblings.
How Economic Impact is Calculated for this Purpose Statement:
Value of items/services + Number of volunteer hours = Economic Impact
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Help Make an Adoptive Placement
Used when the assistance provided would help a child who is legally free for adoption be placed in an adoptive home. In some states, counties, and jurisdictions, the cost of foster care payments is the same as adoptive payments. The cost avoidance, then, is from no longer needing case management services rather than from the difference in foster care per diem and adoption subsidy. The key values to these services are a child finding a forever home and having a life without child welfare oversight.
How Economic Impact is Calculated for this Purpose Statement:
Value of items/services + Number of volunteer hours + Cost avoidance* = Economic Impact
*Cost Avoidance = Estimated cost of a week of foster care -- cost of adoptive subsidy, per national average of $296 per child
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Help Preserve a Kinship Placement
Used only when the state or jurisdiction has legal custody of the child(ren) and this would preserve a child(ren)’s current placement in a foster care or kinship home. In addition to the financial value and relationships that may have developed between the church and the family, helping preserve this placement likely avoided the trauma of the child of moving placements, schools and relationships.
How Economic Impact is Calculated for this Purpose Statement:
Value of items/services + Number of volunteer hours + Cost avoidance* = Economic Impact
*Cost Avoidance = Estimated cost of changing a child’s placement, per national average of $700 per child
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Help Preserve a Foster Care Placement
Used only when the state or jurisdiction has legal custody of the child(ren) and this would preserve a child(ren)’s current placement in a foster care or kinship home. In addition to the financial value and relationships that may have developed between the church and the family, helping preserve this placement likely avoided the trauma of the child of moving placements, schools and relationships.
How Economic Impact is Calculated for this Purpose Statement:
Value of items/services + Number of volunteer hours + Cost avoidance* = Economic Impact
*Cost Avoidance = Estimated cost of changing a child’s placement, per national average of $700 per child
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Help Preserve an Adoptive Placement
Used when assistance provided helps prevent disruption of an adoptive placement. Helping prevent an adoptive disruption and a child re-entering foster care would not only avoid costs associated with foster care, but also prevent the trauma of a failed adoption and return to foster care.
How Economic Impact is Calculated for this Purpose Statement:
Value of items/services + Number of volunteer hours + Cost avoidance* = Economic Impact
*Cost Avoidance = According to the National Council for Adoption, a child being moved from foster care to adoption saves an average of $296 per week nationally.
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Help Prevent a Child from Entering Foster Care
A family that comes to the attention of child welfare has a need that may result in the removal of the child(ren) if the need is not met. With survey results of over 1,000 actual requests submitted and met through CarePortal with the purpose of “Help prevent a child(ren) from entering foster care”, over 91% of caseworker agree that meeting the request through CarePortal DID help prevent the child(ren) from entering foster care for their case. Based on this data we use a conservative estimate of one month of foster care cost avoidance in our calculation of economic impact. A long-term study of specific CarePortal cases in which this purpose statement is checked would be a great asset to compute how many children who were provided services in this category stayed out of foster care and for how long.
How Economic Impact is Calculated for this Purpose Statement:
Value of items/services + Number of volunteer hours + Cost avoidance* = Economic Impact
*Cost Avoidance = Estimated cost of a month of foster care, per national average of $2,846 per child
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Help Reunify a Bio Family
Used when assistance provided would help a child(ren) in government custody return home. A long-term study of specific CarePortal cases in which this purpose statement is checked would be a great asset to compute the length of time to reunification for those families helped through CarePortal compared to a control group. One additional week in foster care is a conservative proxy for the additional length of stay of a child(ren) in foster care without services obtained from the church through CarePortal.
How Economic Impact is Calculated for this Purpose Statement:
Value of items/services + Number of volunteer hours + Cost avoidance* = Economic Impact
*Cost Avoidance = Estimated cost of a week of foster care, per national average of $657 per child
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Help Strengthen a Bio Family
A family that comes to the attention of child welfare needs assistance but the child(ren) would not be removed if this need is not met. Requesting agencies may encounter families who are identified as being at high risk of future separation if their current trends continue. The requests entered with this purpose statement seek to address these trends and put the family in a more stable environment with less vulnerability and stress.
How Economic Impact is Calculated for this Purpose Statement:
Value of items/services + Number of volunteer hours = Economic Impact -
Help Support a Youth Aging Out
Used when a youth is aging out of foster care and needs support. National studies have shown the negative outcomes of youth aging out of foster care. A long-term study would be valuable to provide an estimate of value and cost avoidance if services provided prevented substance abuse, incarceration, or homelessness. Such a study could also look at the potential for increasing spiritual and social capital and strengthening communities (see economist James Heckman).
How Economic Impact is Calculated for this Purpose Statement:
Value of items/services + Number of volunteer hours = Economic Impact
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Help Improve a Child's Wellbeing
Used for instances where a child would not be removed if the need their agency worker enters on their behalf does not get met. These requests identify opportunities to provide assistance to children who have high risk factors that, if not addressed, could turn into a higher level of involvement with child welfare agencies.
How Economic Impact is Calculated for this Purpose Statement:
Value of items/services + Number of volunteer hours = Economic Impact -
Help Reintegrate a Survivor of Human Trafficking
Reintegrating a survivor of human trafficking helps reduce future trauma to a survivor. A long-term study would be valuable to provide an estimate of value and cost avoidance if services provided prevented or re-mediated addictions, incarcerations, homelessness, or entrance to the child welfare system. Such a study could also look at the potential for increasing spiritual and social capital and strengthening communities (see economist James Heckman).
How Economic Impact is Calculated for this Purpose Statement:
Value of items/services + Number of volunteer hours = Economic Impact -
Support an Expecting Mom and her Unborn Baby
Used primarily by requesting partners that serve pregnant women, as well as others who have individual cases with expecting moms who are at risk. A long-term study would be valuable to provide an estimate of value and cost avoidance if services provided prevented or re-mediated addictions, incarcerations, homelessness, or entrance to the child welfare system. Such a study could also look at the potential for increasing spiritual and social capital and strengthening communities (see economist James Heckman).
How Economic Impact is Calculated for this Purpose Statement:
Value of items/services + Number of volunteer hours = Economic Impact
Comments
1 comment
I would love to see an updated version of the numbers at the top of this article for the values of workers, children in FC, kinship, etc... if that is available, or somewhere to find those stats. Thank you!
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