This effectively lowers an agency's payment rate. Added to this is the fact that we use annual performance levels to make contracting decisions for subsequent years. Successful agencies continue to receive referrals, maintaining their contracted caseloads. Applying this concept to kinship care in Cook County has produced results that exceeded our expectations. Still the quality of the care is as important as the quantity of outcomes.
Agencies have to meet all contractual obligations with respect to service standards.
Their practices must withstand the scrutiny of agency performance monitors and juvenile court oversight. The application of performance contracting in Illinois re-energized the child welfare system by emphasizing the importance of results rather than activities. By mandating uniform results, we were able to shift resources and attention from maintaining children in care to finding them permanent homes. The investments in capacity-building and the realignment of incentives have begun to pay off. In FY1998, the substitute care caseload in Illinois fell for the first time in over two decades.