Give families a dedicated licensor

About this recommendation

Each part of the licensing process is often managed by different case workers. This has several negative effects, such as lengthening the process, increasing the likelihood of errors, and leaving each case worker with different pieces of information.

By dedicating a single case worker to the entire licensing process, you can increase high-touch engagement. The case worker will be able to get a more holistic and nuanced view of the family. It also increases family satisfaction, as they don’t get confused by multiple case workers.

How to do this

• Dedicating a single case worker to licensing will only add value if there are no more than 2-3 families per case worker. Look across your existing team and identify opportunities to expand the scope of some or all workers’ roles in exchange for smaller case loads.
• Consider restructuring teams that have highly-specialized roles within the licensing process to more generalized roles. This requires careful planning and cross-training.
• Pilot this effort with one or two workers who are interested in being dedicated licensors. Survey families they work with and families other team members work with to evaluate whether there is a meaningful difference in satisfaction, withdrawal rates, or licensing completion times.
• Providing adequate clerical support is still valuable in a team with dedicated licensors.

Anticipated costs and benefits

Outcome data

A dedicated licensor increases foster family satisfaction and may increase retention rates.

Who's doing this

1 of 54 states and territories have implemented this recommendation.

Frederick County, MD