Placement of Children

In order to complete a placement of a child in FACTS the worker must have completed:

 

Client/Status/Custody

Placement/Removal

and if custody is temporary and removal Court Ordered

Court/Petition

Court/Hearing-Summary, Court Order, Attorney Info

 

Refer to Foster Care Policy for instructions on specific placement requirements.

 

For the child to be IV-E eligible, DHHR has to have physical and legal custody. In order to complete the Removal screen, DHHR has to have active legal custody. On the Placement Clients response window, if NO is indicated in the DHHR Custody column, the system will allow you to go to the Removal screen, but information cannot be entered. Prior to termination of parental rights, worker should ensure that all placement information is accurate and current.

A history of placement information will be available in the stateward record if it has been entered prior to the creation in the Family record.

 

Removal Screen

This screen is tabbed and documents the type of removal of the child from the caretaker's home and information regarding reasonable efforts. There are three types of removal and each type is documented differently. The removal type WILL NOT change during this removal episode. See Removal Process Desk Guide and IV-E /Court Desk Guide.

 

Unmet Screen- this screen is used to document Unmet placement needs for children. The Adoption Safe Families Act (ASFA) requires documentation of Unmet Needs for placement of children. From the recommendation screen workers should first search the child=s home county with child=s service needs and characteristics entered. If the Unmet needs screen appears, enter comments in the text field and select OK. This will add the Unmet need to the Unmet placement needs screen. If worker contacts a provider regarding placement and are declined or provider cannot meet the needs, from the Recommendation screen worker uses Find button to find provider that was contacted. When results appear worker highlights provider and clicks on UnMet needs button, then complete information on screen and click OK. You can then search for the placement you plan to place your child in. Workers should be documenting all Contacts made regarding possible placements for children, and why provider declined placement.

 

Shelter Placements

 

Placement/Shelter-New

To place in a shelter DHHR must have physical and legal custody documented on the Client/Status/Custody screen and the Placement/Removal Screen must be completed. If the child is placed in Emergency Shelter Care, you connect the child with a provider by clicking on the Shelter toolbar button on the Placement toolbar. Use the Find command button to search for the most appropriate shelter placement. Document any unmet needs. When the shelter is found select OK and this will link the child to the selected shelter placement. This placement does not need to be authorized by the Supervisor. Just remember to return to this screen when the child leaves the emergency shelter and enter the exit date, and type of exit. Follow the remaining instructions if child=s removal from the Emergency Shelter was Temporary and you are placing the child in regular foster care.

 

Permanency/Placement Plan

By law, any child in the Department=s custody must have a Permanency Plan and a Placement Plan. Refer to Foster Care Policy for the required time frames on creation of this plan. On this screen the worker defines what the permanent plans for the child will be, develops a concurrent plan for the child and documents the reasoning behind the goal of the plan, and completes a Placement Plan for the child. See Permanency and Placement Plans Desk Guide.

 

Placement/Pre-Place - used to document trial home visits, and trial placements with other providers without exiting current placement episode. This screen will NOT pay the provider for trial visit. If provider requires payment current placement will have to be exited and a new placement episode with new provider entered.

 

Placement History - used to document history of placements that are not captured in the Place area. Must have court and removal information entered to show placement history. Provider must also have been opened in FACTS.

 

Legal Guardianship Screen- is completed when a provider, relative or other person choose to obtain Legal Guardianship, some are subsidized by DHHR some are not, of a child. See Subsidized Legal Guardianship Desk Guide.

 

PLACE SCREENS

 

Workload/Placement/Place-New

 

1.  From your workload screen choose the intake or case from which you wish to place a child.

 

2.  From the main Case toolbar click on the Placement toolbar button. A select Child response window will appear for you to select which child you are wanting to enter placement information on. Choose your child and click on the Show command button. If you have not completed the Removal screen on the selected child you will receive a dialogue box informing you that the child has not been removed and you will need to complete that screen. If all the children do not appear on the select child response window you will need to check the client screens to make sure the Participating as Child check box has been selected.

3.  If the child is being placed in a Foster Care home or facility, from the Placement toolbar click on the Place toolbar button. The Select Placement Episode response window will appear. If it is a new placement select the New command button.

 

Recommend Screen

 

1.  The system will take you to the Recommend screen on the Place toolbar. You must complete the recommend screen before any of the other Place screens will unlock. Find the provider the child has been or is to be placed with by clicking on the Find command button. Worker MUST document Unmet placement needs at this point. Search first the child=s home county, and specific needs and characteristics. When Unmet needs screen appears enter comments about search and select OK. This will add information to the Unmet needs screen. You can them search for the provider that has been selected. You can search with the Provider FACTS ID number, name, county or Provider Type. Choose the provider and click OK. The provider information will populate the Provider section and you must complete the anticipated placement date and why placement with this provider is appropriate. Information that is given to the provider on the day of placement is to be documented.

 

2.  Complete all the fields on the screen that pertain to the child you are placing. Add the information to the data base and click on the Supervisor command button to send the request for the placement approval to the Supervisor. If the placement is to an out of state provider, the approval request will go to the state office. Otherwise the request goes to your supervisor.

 

Enter-Exit Screen

 

1.  After the placement request has been approved, click on the Enter/Exit toolbar button. Complete the Enter/Exit screen with the date the child entered placement with the provider. If the Enter/Exit screen is not completed the provider will not be paid. When the child exits the placement be sure and return to this screen and enter the exit date and type, or the provider will continue to receive payment even tho the child is no longer living with the provider.

2.  Complete all the fields on this screen that pertain to the child you are placing. Date and Time MUST be entered accurately, to avoid overlapping placement episodes. Be careful of the check boxes in the upper right hand corner of this screen. If in doubt, do not check it. Especially the Medicaid Paid Placement check box. If this is checked, FACTS will not generate a payment to the provider.

 

Therapeutic/Specialized Placements

Workload-Placement-Place-Caretaker

 

1.  If the placement is with a Specialized or Therapeutic Foster Care Agency, the Caretaker Screen MUST be completed. Click on the Caretaker toolbar button and click on the Find command button to find the Agency=s provider the child is living with. When you do the search, you will need to click on the unavailable radio button in order to find the particular caretaker associated with the Specialized or Therapeutic Foster Care Agency. Even though the caretakers are not to be made available, it is good practice to search for the caretaker as available if you were unable to find the caretaker as unavailable. If you know the name of the caretaker, enter the last name in the name field for your search. If you do not know the name of the caretaker, enter the provider=s name in the Agency field. If you need to enter the caretaker into FACTS refer to the Opening Specialized Foster Care Providers desk guide. Completing the Caretaker screen prompts the system to send the medical card to the provider where the child lives and not to the Specialized Foster Care Agency.

 

Safety Eval Screen

 

ASFA requires the completion of a Provider Safety Evaluation on the placement provider to reduce risk of maltreatment to the child while in placement. You will complete the safety evaluation on each provider the child is placed with. If the Provider Type is Specialized or Therapeutic Foster Care, you will build the inset grid on the screen by completing safety evaluations on each of the Provider=s caretaker the child is placed with. This is a tabbed screen so complete all the tabs before adding the screen.

 

Safety Eval/General Information tab

 

1.  The County of Service field is automatically populated by the system. The Evaluation Date field defaults to the date you are entering the information into the system and will allow you to backdate up to 21 years.

2.  In the Placement Proximity section, check on the check boxes to reflect placement is within 50 miles radius of the Child=s home community or if the child is maintained in the same school. Use the picklist to show the Placement Proximity and explain in the text box. Using the picklist show how the current placement is least restrictive.

 

 Safety Eval/Services tab

 

Using Select boxes, document the services being provided to the child and the provider during the placement.

 

Safety Eval/Safety tab

 

Record in the text boxes the unique qualification of the current placement that meets the child=s special needs, how the placement protects from the maltreating parent(s) or how the placement assures the child=s, youth=s and or community=s safety if the case is for Youth Services.

 

Notification Screen

 

WV Code and DHHR policy require notification if a change in placement occurs, you must notify the child=s attorney and the child=s parents with in 48 hours. You document this notification on this screen. You choose the parents and the attorney from picklists and enter the date each was notified in date fields. You indicate by clicking on check boxes whether the child=s phone number/location was given to the child=s attorney or if a grievance notice was signed.

 

Level Screen

 

If you have a child placed with a provider in Region IV, payment is determined differently from the other regions. You will need to complete the Level screen in order to generate a correct payment to the provider. The Level screen will only unlock if all the Region IV payment criteria is met.

 

1.  The Staff Information section is populated by the system by who is logged onto the system.

2.  In the Level section, choose the appropriate level from the picklist and enter the score in the Total score field.

3.  In the Assessment section enter the Assessment date and the Effective Begin Date. You would wait to complete the Effective End Month when the placement ends.

4.  After all information has been entered on the screen, click on the Add command button.

 

 

Placement Automatic Payments

 

The beginning of every month workers are to Verify automatic payments that are generated for children that are in placement and are assigned to the worker. These verifications are done by going to FinAdmin/Payment Approval/ Monthly. All cases with active placements assigned to the worker will show on this screen. Complete the following steps:

1. Highlight each provider from the top inset grid the children you have placed with that provider will appear on the lower inset grid.

2. You select each child, double check the dates and payment amount and check the Verified box, then CHANGE.

You have the first three days of the month to make any necessary placement changes to ensure proper payment to providers and to verify Monthly Approvals.

 

Opening Specialized Foster Homes

Permanency and Placement Plans

Removal Process

Court & Custody Process

IV-E Desk Guide

Legal Guardianship