Children & Family Services Training Center

ND Quality Assurance

The goal of the child welfare system is to support and protect children, step in when a child is abused or neglected, and work with families to make sure every child has a safe, permanent, and loving place to grow. North Dakota Children and Family Services (CFS) uses the Quality Assurance (QA) Unit to complete case reviews as one way to check whether child welfare services are meeting these goals and to help the state keep improving.

While these reviews do provide information about individual cases, the main purpose is to look at results from many reviews to understand how the whole child welfare system is working. This helps guide ongoing quality improvement across the state.

This page provides information for agencies taking part in a QA Case Review, so they know how to prepare and what to expect when a case is reviewed.

A Home for Every Child Federal Pilot

In December 2025, the Children’s Bureau released new guidance in Technical Bulletin 14, often referred to as A Home for Every Child pilot, which offered states a different option with modified requirements for the state Program Improvement Plan. North Dakota has chosen to participate in this pilot. This pilot focuses on helping states increase the number of available homes for children in foster care – both licensed and unlicensed – while also reducing the total number of children in care.

It’s important to know that QA Case Reviews will not be required under a TB 14 PIP. Still, North Dakota will continue ongoing case reviews as part of our commitment to continuous quality improvement.

If you or your staff have questions, please contact:

Any of the QA Leads: Amy Bakken – ambakken@nd.gov; Nicole Bonderud – nlbonderud@nd.gov; Dawn Lockrem – dalockrem@nd.gov
Or Bobbi Jo Unterseher, Continuous Quality Improvement Administrator – biunterseher@nd.gov

26C QA Case Review Highlights

The QA Unit will begin a new set of case reviews starting on October 1st, 2026. This review event will look a bit different than previous rounds. Instead of using a six-month measurement period, we will be conducting reviews using a single-quarter measurement period focused specifically on children who have been in foster care for an extended period (often referred to as “long stayers”). Additionally, this event will not include all applicable items within the onsite review instrument (OSRI). Instead, we will review Permanency Outcome 1 which includes:

Item 4: Placement Stability
Item 5: Timeliness and Appropriateness of Permanency Goals
Item 6: Efforts to Achieve Permanency

We will also review Item 18, which is assessing and addressing the mental/behavioral health needs of children. In limited situations, additional items may be reviewed if pertinent to the case circumstances and had a direct impact on achieving permanency.

We appreciate everyone’s patience, collaboration, and continued hard work as our unit pilots a different revision to our case review process. As we begin this next review event, please review the updated QA Case Review information below.

Case Sampling and Outreach

A statewide sample will be utilized. However, we will not divide the sample by CQI Cross Zonal Team proportions, nor will we ensure a minimum/maximum number of Metro area cases, as done previously. Each QA Reviewer will continue to be assigned to specific agencies to work within their own list throughout the review event.
The case list consists of 61 FRAME cases involving 90 children. We will aim to complete as many case reviews as possible by the end of December 2026, with the option to extend the review period if additional time is needed.
Only foster care cases will be reviewed this quarter since the focus is on children in foster care for an extended period of time. No in-home cases will be reviewed.
The period under review (PUR) is 10/1/25 to the date the case is reviewed or closed (whichever happens first). However, the majority of the items will be rated based on the life of the case to better understand factors impacting permanency delays.

Case Files

Access to case file documents will continue to be needed early in the process. QA will utilize any case files located in a Zone’s SharePoint Child Welfare Files library.
Agencies not utilizing SharePoint will be given five (5) business days to gather and submit case file documentation. This can be done by uploading the case files to the assigned TEAMS channel or emailing the files to the QA Reviewer.
If files are not submitted within five business days, reviews will proceed using the information available at the time.

Case Related Interviews

QA Reviewers will contact agencies as cases appear in the sample to begin the outreach process.
The QA Reviewers will also contact relevant key case participants to determine interest and availability for interviews. We may seek the assistance of the agency to reach a case participant. Unlike previous events, Reviewers will continue with the case review even if non-agency participants decline or cannot be reached. Case eliminations will be rare and very unlikely.
Interviews with agency workers must be held within seven (7) business days during the week the case is being reviewed. Reviewers will remain flexible with their scheduling but may proceed without agency interviews to avoid delays.

Case Review Findings

Once a case is reviewed and finalized, agency personnel will receive a copy of the final report.
Agencies may contact the QA Lead who issued the report, if they have questions about the case review results.