Definition: This measure is a percent. The denominator includes all children who were reunified during the same report period 12 months prior to the current report period where the child’s primary worker was an agent of the provider. The numerator is the subset of children in the denominator who had a subsequent removal less than twelve months from the reunification date. If a child has multiple re-entries during any quarter, only the first re-entry will be used for calculating performance on this measure.

Source: Department of Children and Families, Child Welfare Trend Reports

2025 Target: 9%

Below is a comparison of the value for this indicator among seven coastal counties: Charlotte, Sarasota, Collier, Lee, Manatee, Hillsborough, and Pinellas. These counties have been recommended as comparable counties by Sarasota County Government.

Children Who Re-enter Child Welfare System Within 12 Months of Reunification (FY 2015-2016)

In FY 2015-2016, 7.1% of reunified children in the Sarasota County child welfare system, re-entered the system within 12 months of reunification. One of the main goals of the Department of Children and Families is to ensure that children removed from their homes are placed in a permanent home as soon as possible. This is most often achieved through reunification of the child with their family. A certain percentage of children who are reunified with their families end up re-entering out-of-home care within 12 months due to an incident of child maltreatment. This re-entry rate is often used to represent the “health” of the child welfare system. Between 2008 and 2015, the re-entry rate in Sarasota County decreased by 38%. This is mostly likely to the changing economic conditions after the recession. However, the rate has increased slightly since then. In 2016 it was 3.8% lower than the the re-entry rate in the state of Florida (10.8%).

According to subject matter experts, some contributing factors to the re-entry of children into the child welfare system are: a relapse in the parent or guardian’s substance abuse behavior, parents or guardians entering relationships with people that may be abusive to the child, and economic conditions that lead to parents or guardians neglecting or abusing the child.