March 30, 2000

SPECIAL NOTE: Copyright 2000. The Monday Report is produced each week as a benefit to the agencies that are members of the Child Care Association. Please protect this membership benefit - DO NOT copy and distribute this report to agencies/staff that are not members of CCA. Thank you for your cooperation.

As you know, the Association's Training Conference and Annual Meeting will be held this Thursday and Friday at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Springfield. If you have not registered and would like to do so, please fax your registration form to: 217-528-6498. If you need a registration form, please call 217-528-4409 and we will fax one to you.

Case rates in both HMR and TFC will be recalculated. Agencies were reminded that additional positions (permanency worker, recruitment worker, educational liaison) were funded by team and not by child. This amount will only change with the additional of the COLA. Reunification funding will stay the same with the addition of the COLA. Emergency placement component and counseling rates were added by child, so agencies will see a decline in the total contract amount available for these components, because of the lower number of children served. An agency that has earned its way to the highest ratio payment of l5:l could still see a decrease in payment once the reduction of counseling/emergency is adjusted by the child count.

All agencies will be offered the opportunity to provide post-permanency support services to clients previously served in the agency. The extent of the contract will depend on size of caseload and location. Agencies with smaller caseloads in sites may need to partner with other agencies in order to provide the service. There will be a need for individual referral to community services as well as potential support groups. This service will not impact or interfere with the adoption preservation services in place for some families. DCFS staff identified the need for clarity of responsibility with DCFS workers who are obligated to provide such services to subsidized guardianship cases transferred back to them upon closure by the private agency. Excess revenue will be recovered by contract and there will be increased scrutiny of caseworker staffing patterns.

The specialized programs will receive a 6-month contract. The infrastructure group continues to work on recommendations for standardized program plans and rates. This will include a standardization of the LOC process and form. Agencies are able to obtain specialized contracts for children in traditional or relative care if they are able to stabilize the child in the same home but the child needs specialized services.

The department has advanced the goal that all cases will have a one worker per family assignment. There was considerable discussion about how practical this will be, especially when some children in a case are in specialized care or when cases are split across agencies. There is an issue of resource protection when other agencies or DCFS staff work in an agency's developed foster home resource. DCFS staff stated that Cook RA's are concerned about the number of private agency-held cases placed in DCFS homes.

The group reviewed the list of state and federal outcomes that will be added to the program plan. The issue will be how to benchmark the range of compliance with outcomes before sanctions occur. The group questioned whether a process standard in and of itself achieves an outcome. For example, does a quarterly visit to a school by the caseworker really achieve the educational outcome? Additionally, there is still concern about the accuracy of DCFS data for agencies. The data must be correct before it is used to judge agency performance.

There was considerable discussion about expectations of increased outcomes towards stability. With the expectation of one worker/family and the removal of non-permanency allowable discharges an agency could take the approach that they will take an intake "hit" on a case that needs to be moved if they're going to take some type of "hit" every time the child moves internally. Why take it 3 or 4 times on troubled cases if the effect can be lessened by discharging the child? Unless this pattern is watched and attention to systemic factors is made, this could be an unintended consequence of the other goals. The accumulated impact of a number of sanctions or threats across the program plan could become a concern.

Revised protocol for rotating intake and case assignment was reviewed. Due to requirements of the Aristotle Consent Decree there must be increased focus on placement of siblings in the same home. Beginning July 1, agencies will receive referrals on sib groups of 2 or 3 from DCFS. The agency will have one hour to determine if they can place the sibs in the same home. If the agency is not able to place the children together, the referral will go to 2 other agencies who will be asked the same question. If, after 3 attempts, there is no home found for the children together, the referral goes back to the initial agency for placement in separate homes. The agency will need to diligently pursue placement of the children together and will have 30 days to document all attempts to pursue this goal. This will include pursuit of any relatives and posting on the secondary match system. If an agency does not provide such documentation, the contract will receive intake reduction.

For sib groups of 4 or more, the referral will first go the Neighbor-to-Neighbor. If there is no available resource, the case will go the next agency on the referral rotation for placement wherever there are available slots. The agency will need to diligently pursue placement of the children together and will have 30 days to document all attempts to pursue this goal. This will include pursuit of any relatives and posting on the secondary match system. If an agency does not provide such documentation, the contract will receive intake reduction. Both protocols will continue to be reviewed with the intake workers group.

Cases under the Burgos consent decree will be referred to the Latino Consortium. For cases with short temporary custody time frames (child returned in less than 30 days) and in which there are no children remaining in care, the case will be returned for referral to an intact program.

The necessary changes to the program plan and rate will be made to the contract. DCFS will use an estimated contract amount based on the totals of 3 quarters' worth of reconciliation and the projections made in the recent data collection for a 3 month BAT or BARC. Once the final reconciliations are completed, the adjustments will be made. Since intake cases will only replace permanencies, quarterly adjustments to the reimbursement will need to be made. The department hopes to get all contracts out to agencies by the first week of June. The next meeting of the Cook Performance Based Work Group is scheduled for Friday, June 16, 2000. (MB)

RATES FOR PERFORMANCE CONTRACTS
We have received many questions about the rate adjustment calculations on the new performance contracts and how these are figured. DCFS finance staff are still in the process of working out these rates. Once these are available for publication, we will share this with our members, along with the necessary explanations. We expect this within the next week. (MB)

WEB LINKS TO NEWS IN ILLINOIS
Looking for news and editorial pertinent to children's issues in Illinois or nationally? Get a listing of online news services and links by visiting www.emedia1.mediainfo/com. You'll be able to access newspapers, in Illinois or nationally, community by community. That day's news is free, and articles are sometimes archived for seven days, often available at no charge to the visitor. This is a great way to check your local paper for news you can use. (LLL)

JUNE 21 QUALITY SERVICES INITIATIVE (QSI) MEETING HOSTED BY CHILDSERV
CCA members in the Chicago area are cordially invited to the upcoming QSI meeting, which will be hosted by ChildServ. The committee's objective is to provide opportunities for Chicago-area agencies to gather and share information and resources regarding quality improvement. Members include Quality Assurance or Quality Improvement specialists, coordinators, or directors for their agencies, and most work specifically in the area of child welfare.

The group meets monthly, usually on the second Tuesday of the month. The Wednesday, June 21 meeting will convene at 2PM at ChildServ, 8765 W. Higgins Rd., Suite 450, and Chicago, Illinois. Please contact Joanna Sullivan at (773) 693-0300 for more information or directions. (LLL)

SOCIAL SERVICES BLOCK GRANT CUT BY SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE
In This Week in Washington action was reported on the federal budget by both the Senate Appropriations Committee and the House Appropriations Committee. On Thursday, May 11, 2000, the Senate Appropriations Committee approved the fiscal year (FY) 2001 appropriation for the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education. As part of this budget, it reduced funding for the Social Services Block Grant (SSBG) by $1.1 billion � the largest cut in the program's 44 year history. The Senate bill proposes to fund SSBG at $600 million, compared with the current FY 2000 funding level of $1.77 billion. During the committee action, Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) defended the cuts, saying that states could make up for the lost funds by using tobacco settlement money. Next year's budget also reduces the amount states can transfer from TANF to SSBG to no more than 4.25%; the current transfer limit is 10%. The House Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education proposed to fund SSBG at the authorized level of $1.7 Billion. The Senate also included measures to rescind nearly $2 billion of the State Children's Health Insurance Program and to restore funding in FY2003. The House did not include such a provision in its version of the bill. In addition, the Senate and House included a freeze on the funding level of the TANF supplemental grants to states. Other reductions by the Senate Appropriations Committee included the welfare block grant money by $240 million and welfare to work funding by $50 million. Although aid to child care, Head Start and after school programs increased, altogether about $4.3 billion in funding for programs that assist low-income children and families have been shifted to other areas. (JMS)

LEGISLATIVE ALERT ON SOCIAL SERVICES BLOCK GRANT
Based on the drastic cuts announced by the Senate Appropriations Committee to the Title XX Social Services Block Grant in the previous article, we urge agencies to contact your U.S. Representative and Senators. Tell them to fund the Social Services Block Grant at $2.38 billion in the FY2001 Labor, Health and Human Services and Education appropriations bill. The $600 million funding level would represent a program cut of 66%. In FY1998, SSBG funds were used to help 11 million vulnerable people, including six million children. If you need any additional information, please contact Jan Schoening. (JMS)

MEDICAID AND WELFARE REFORM
The Department of Health and Human Services released information that show many states are not using the funds set aside by the federal government to help provide health insurance to poor people leaving welfare. Of the $500 million set aside as part of the 1996 Welfare Reform Act, $383 million remains unspent. The department feared that many people were pushed off welfare � but are still eligible for comprehensive health benefits under Medicaid � are not getting coverage. The National Governors' Association responded by saying the federal government made it difficult for states to spend the money because of very narrow acceptable uses. (JMS)

ASSOCIATION AND CHILD AND FAMILY RESEARCH CENTER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS TO CO-HOST COMMUNITY FORUMS ON THE STATUS OF CHILD WELFARE SERVICES
We have recently agreed to work with the Child and Family Research Center of the University of Illinois to co-host a series of community forums on the future of children in the Illinois child welfare system. To say the least, many changes have occurred in the child welfare system over the last several years--changes that have impacted not only how we provide services but also the outcomes that have resulted from them. We need to begin to discuss not only how these changes have affected our children, but also how these changes will impact their future, and what we can do to facilitate the creation of policies and services which will create the best possible outcomes for them. Recognizing that children grow and prosper in families and communities we are sponsoring these forums and will be inviting involved individuals to participate in these discussions of critical issues. We will be selecting dates and locations over the course of the next several weeks and hope to be able to begin these forums sometime in mid-summer. This is an exciting and interesting development and we are very much looking forward to working with the University of Illinois on this effort. (RHM)

For further information on any of the above, contact the staff member noted in parentheses at the end of the text:

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