Why do we need CANS? The Legislature passed Senate Bill 125 in May 2015, requiring DFPS to conduct a developmentally appropriate assessment no later than the 45th day after a child enters state care. This evaluation must include screening for trauma and interviews with individuals who know the child's needs. Even before the Legislature passed this legislation, DFPS created a workgroup of internal and external stakeholders to identify the most appropriate, trauma-informed assessment to meet the needs of children in care. After much research and evaluation, the workgroup decided the Child and Adolescent Needs and Strengths Assessment (CANS) developed by the John Praed FoundationExternal Link would best serve our children and families.
What is CANS? CANS is a tool that helps decision-making, drives service planning, facilitates quality improvement, and allows for outcomes monitoring. DFPS will use the CANS to gather information about the strengths and needs of the child to plan for services that will help the child and family reach their goals. The Texas version of CANS was developed for children in DFPS conservatorship. A credentialed, CANS-certified STAR Health clinician will administer the assessment, except for the IV-E waiver children (administered by a caseworker) and some children placed in the 3B foster care redesign catchment area (administered by a CANS-certified provider affiliated with the child placing agency).
When will CANS start? On September 1, 2016, DFPS will begin using the CANS statewide. All youth 3-17 years old who enter DFPS care will be assessed within 30 days of removal to meet our 45-day requirement to complete the Child Service Plan.
Six Key Components of CANS
Items were selected because they are each relevant to service planning. An item exists because it might lead down a unique pathway regarding decision-making.
Each item uses a 4-level rating system. These levels are designed to translate immediately into action levels. Different action levels exist for needs and strengths. For a description of these action levels, please see below.
Rating should describe the youth, not the youth in services. If an intervention is present that is masking a need, but must stay in place, this should be factored into the rating consideration and would result in a rating of an “actionable” need.
Culture and development should be considered prior to establishing the action levels. Cultural sensitivity involves considering whether cultural factors are influencing the expression of needs and strengths. Ratings should be completed considering the youth’s developmental and/or chronological age depending on the item. In other words, delinquency is not relevant for a young child, but would be for an older youth. Alternatively, school achievement should be considered within the framework of expectations based on the youth’s developmental age.
The ratings are generally "agnostic as to etiology." What does that mean? CANS is a descriptive tool. It tells you "what," not "why."
Specific ratings window (e.g. 30 days) can be over-ridden based on action levels. A 30-day window is used for ratings in order to make sure assessments stay “fresh” and relevant to the youth’s present circumstances. However, if there is good reason, the action levels can be used to override the 30-day rating period. During the initial assessment, the rating is based on the presenting needs that can be outside of the 30-day rating period. Additionally, if the presenting problem or the behavior occurred prior to 30 days and is still a focus of treatment, this behavior would be rated outside of the 30-day window.