As a result of the Adoption and Safe Families Act of 1977, a new category of permanency is available for children in West Virginia. This new category is Subsidized Legal Guardianship. Please refer to Policy and Procedures for eligibility criteria and specifics regarding this permanency option. Listed below are the steps to create a new subsidized legal guardianship episode in FACTS.
Workload - Show - Placement - Select Client - Show - Perm Plan
Update the permanency plan for the child placed with or to be placed with a subsidized legal guardian. Currently, the appropriate choices are Guardianship or Relative Placement (if appropriate). The picklist choice, Legal Guardianship, is not available in FACTS as it is no longer an accepted selection for ASFA. For specifics on completing or changing the permanency plan, please refer to the >Permanency and Placement Plans= desk guide.
Placement - Select Client - Show - Legal Guard - New
When you click on the Legal Guardian button, the Legal Guardianship Subsidy Episode response window will appear. This is an inset grid and will display a history of any subsidy episodes for the child. If this is the first subsidized legal guardian episode, click New.
The Legal Guardianship General Information and Subsidy screen has two tabs: General Information and Legal Guardianship Subsidy:
The General Information tab records basic information about the child=s eligibility and the child=s special needs. The Child is Eligible for Legal Guardianship check box is populated when at least one of the values in the Legal Guardianship Eligibility Reasons Select box is selected. The Child=s Special Needs Select box is a mandatory field and refers to any special needs of the child. If Other is selected form either of the Select boxes, the Specify text field becomes mandatory.
The second tab, Legal Guardianship Subsidy, records provider information along with the subsidy type and the amount of the subsidy. Click on the Find button which will bring up the Find Provider response window. The Provider Type select box on this window defaults to Legal Guardian (Relative) and Legal Guardian (Non-relative). The County select box defaults to the county of the user. If the legal guardian does not reside in that county, you should remove the county from the select box. Type in the last name of the legal guardian, if known. Then click on Search. Locate the provider with whom the child is to be placed in the Search Results inset grid by highlighting the provider and click on OK. The selected provider=s information is brought onto the Legal Guardianship Subsidy tab and displayed in the provider area of the screen. Enter the type of subsidy. If the Subsidized Legal Guardian belongs to Regions I, II, or III, the subsidy amount is the maximum monthly temporary foster care amount. (Note: in order for the provider to be in the provider directory, the home study process will have to have been completed by the regional home finding staff and a provider record established.)
Once the type and amount of subsidy are entered, Add the screen. Then, go to Reports and generate the Subsidized Guardianship Agreement. An electronic copy of this agreement should be Saved to FACTS. (See >Printing and Saving DDE Reports to FACTS= desk guide for instructions.) The agreement then needs to be printed and the provider=s signature obtained. Forward the agreement to the Regional Director for approval and enter the Date Provider Signed Agreement on the Legal Guardianship Subsidy tab, clicking on Change to save the information. After the agreement is signed, enter Regional Director Or Designee Sign Date on the Legal Guardianship Subsidy tab and click on Change. Worker now needs to proceed with the court process. Also, be sure to update the necessary information in the Document Tracking area located under the Other icon for the Subsidized Guardianship Agreement.
After obtaining the court order sanctioning the Legal Guardianship placement, enter the Court Order Sanction Date on the Legal Guardianship Subsidy tab, click on Change and then request approval by clicking the Approval command button. When the Office of Social Services or designee approves the request, the court order date is automatically populated as the start date of the subsidy. The client=s 18th birthday is populated as the end date of the subsidy. However, the worker can have the client=s 21st birthday populated as the end date by clicking on Subsidy Needs to be Extended Beyond Child=s 18th Birthday check box before requesting approval from the Regional Director or designee. Depending on the picklist value selected, a medical card and/or monthly payment amount will be generated from the start date of the subsidy.
Once the Legal Guardianship Subsidy request is approved, the foster care placement will automatically be end dated by the system. The foster care/boarding care payment for the partial month will be paid to the provider. If the Legal Guardianship placement is disrupted for any reason, enter the Disruption Date on the Legal Guardianship Subsidy tab. Entering this date will result in stopping the generation of medical cards and/or monthly payments.
If there is a change in the Legal Guardianship agreement, you will need to create a new Subsidized Legal Guardianship record by entering all the appropriate data, create a new Subsidized Guardianship Agreement, and request the Regional Director=s or designee=s approval of this new agreement. When the Regional Director or designee approves the request, the approval date will be populated as the start date of the new subsidy agreement. Also, the approval date will populate the Change Request Approval Date on the Legal Guardianship Subsidy tab on the previous record. Once a Change Request Approval Date has been populated, the system will no longer generate a month payment and/or medical card beyond this date.
The Copy functionality also exist on this screen to assist workers in creating a new Subsidized Legal Guardianship record. Clicking on the Copy button will create a new record will all the relevant information copied from the previous record to the current record with the date of creation populated with the system date.
Client - Select Client - Show - Status - Custody Status
In most cases, DHHR will have both legal and physical custody of the child. Once the court has sanctioned the Legal Guardianship placement, the custody status of the child needs to be changed from DHHR to the Legal Guardian. End date DHHR=s legal and physical custody on the Custody Status screen. Once the dates are entered, click on Change and then click on Clear. From the Legal Custody Information picklist, select Permanent Guardian. Select the Other radio button. A drop down list will appear allowing you to select the current provider (the Legal Guardian) with whom the child is placed. Enter the start date as the date of the court order sanctioning the Legal Guardianship. Repeat this process for Physical Custody Information and Add the screen.