This ACIN is issued to provide counties with information and resources about family finding and engagement activities to help identify, locate and engage appropriate relatives for foster care placements. Funding has been made available to reimburse counties for this work. [Download]
Counties were instructed in ACL 11-36 to use the TEMP 2254 and TEMP 2253 forms to inform teen parents of the new program requirements and to schedule an orientation appointment. This letter clarifies that copies of these forms also must be sent to the head of the AU of which the teen parent is a member, if the teen parent is not the head of the AU. The TEMP 2254 must be sent to the head of the AU before July 1, 2011. The TEMP 2253 must be sent to the head of the AU when the form is sent to the teen parent, prior to the teen parent’s orientation date. [Download]
Poor Mr. Lightbourne! Less than one month after being named new the Director, BOOM, he is hit by a court order. (OK, so the case was filed long before.) This ACL announces the new foster family rates. When will they start? Good question. The Court ordered that the new rates be paid with the “next round of checks.” Plaintiffs argue this is 4/8/11, and CDSS argues 5/31/11. Stay tuned! [Download]
This ACIN announces that the last peer review summary has been concluded, all summaries are posted on line, and the suspension of the program until June 2014, due to budget limitations. The fact that the acronym for the County Peer Reviews is CPR is noted, although the jury is out on whether that is sad or funny. [Download]
Although this ACIN is about a form (SOC 158A) it has information critical to ensuring continuity of Foster Care when children move between dependency and delinquency. The SOC 158A has a section to enter “Removed from Home Date,” “Petition Date, Detention Order Date, and Disposition Order Date.” When a child transitions from dependency status to delinquency status, the Child Welfare Services/Case Management System (CWS/CMS) will not carry over the original removal date information, which makes the placement appear to result from a new removal, potentially affecting federal foster care eligibility. It is imperative that the staff manually adjust the “Removed from Home Date” and associated hearing dates on the form SOC 158A to reflect the original removal information as a dependent in order to identify the continuation of the original out-of-home episode, as well as if the case goes from dependency to delinquency status, and back to dependency. [Download]
More SB 72 budget cuts: this Notice implements the CAPI cuts effective July 1, 2011. The payments will be reduced to the minimum allowable level under federal maintenance of effort requirements. Chart attached. [Download]