The Independent Living Work Group met in Chicago on August 8. DCFS staff provided a revision of the Draft Policy Guide for Approval Procedures for ILO and TLP cases, which reflected previous input from the work group. The target date for implementation is September 1. The policy defines ILO (Independent Living) services as those provided by a POS agency under contract with DCFS to a youth for whom DCFS is legally responsible and who is either at least l8 or who is under l8 but has graduated from high school or earned a GED. These services are typically provided for youth who will be living in an apartment and prepare youth for transition to adulthood. No youth who is age l8 or older and within 6 months of graduating from high school or earning the GED are to be referred for ILO. TLP (Transitional Living Program Services) are defined as services to a youth who is at least l6 years of age who has not graduated from high school or obtained a GED. These services typically are provided to a youth who is living in a small (4 or less) group care or apartment setting and typically includes 24-hour staff supervision. The new policy includes the definition of a Safety and Risk Management plan for ILO/TLP cases, which is a special plan required for any youth that has a history of one or more of the following conditions: DD, SACY, mental health problems, history of DOC involvement, history of gang involvement, medical complexity or illness, alcohol or other drug use and history of physical aggression.

The policy outlines the necessary referral steps. The most important change in the referral procedures is the implementation of a required staffing for the case, which will be convened by the regional field services manager or clinical services coordinator. The child, caseworker, supervisor and potential ILO/TLP providers will be invited to the staffing. As a result of the staffing, a clear decision will be made on whether ILO/TLP is a suitable program option for the child. Recommendations for the service provider will also be made. If there is more than one provider present who can meet the required elements of the child's case and the special plan, then the youth and DCFS will ultimately make the decision about the provider. The youth may be invited to visit various ILO programs to aid in the decision-making. Once this step is complete, the local regional clinical manager will review and approve the plan. There will then be a short turnaround time for the final approval to be given by the Deputy Director for Education and Training Services. The case can be denied access to ILO/LP at the staffing level or by the regional clinical manager, but the provider and child will know this much sooner than they have been used to. It is hoped that a good preparation packet for the staffing, and the staffing process itself will result in identifying only those youth who are truly appropriate for ILO/TLP and will result in better matches of youth with appropriate providers. In this way, there ideally should be fewer delays at the "approval" level.

Critical to the success of this model is for DCFS to have access to reliable, comprehensive and current information about specific ILO/TLP programs. DCFS is developing a provider profile for programs, which each ILO/TLP program needs to submit. In the future, these profiles should accompany contracts at the beginning of each fiscal year. This provider profile request should be coming to agencies very shortly. It will be important to be sure ILO agencies fill this out completely and that the information is reflective of the types of youth the agency program is able to serve as well as the services. Once DCFS gets the profiles back, they will distribute regionally, and they will be used as the source for invitations to providers for the staffings.

It is also critical for foster care and residential programs to acquaint casework staff for older youth who are potential ILO cases with the new process. DCFS and some of the ILO providers maintain that part of the difficulty with the current ILO system and the part of the delay in approvals is due to missing required information in the referral packet, lack of ability to contact referring caseworkers or caseworkers' misunderstanding the purpose and scope of ILO/TLP programs. Workers and supervisors in foster care and residential will need to see the new policy and understand their role in the referral and staffing process.

The group also reflected on the future of independent living. DCFS is to review and submit to the group current information on contracted capacity by region. It is clear that with the declining caseload, there will be a decline in the numbers of needed independent living type programs and that there will be increased competition among providers to serve fewer numbers of children. Those providers that are able to gear up services for the current youth in care and the problems/characteristics/strengths they bring to the program, as well as those providers who can clearly market their programs and devote sharp staff to the staffing process, will be in the best position to be competitive and to gain referrals and fill program slots.

There should be movement on the existing cases waiting for approval in the next few weeks. The final policy should be out to agencies by September l, with the first staffings started no later than 9/15. DCFS will hold training meetings on the policy within the next month. However, many regional staff will begin using this process immediately, on the go ahead of the work group, in order to get some of the cases flowing. We ask CCA agencies with such programs to keep us posted on the status of referrals and cases. (MB)

An ad hoc work group met in Joliet on August 10 to review a possible funding mechanism for the projected standardized foster care programs in specialized and treatment care. The Specialized Work Group has recommended required elements for Specialized and Treatment Programs for Behavioral and for Specialized and Treatment Programs for Medically Complex/DD Children. Briefly, these are as follows:

Caseworker Spec/Beh Tx/Beh Spec/MCDD Tx/MCDD

(BSW +2 yr.) 10:1 8:1 10:1 8:1

Supervisor (MSW) 6:1 6:1 6:1 6:1

Therapist 15:1 15:1 36:1 36:1

(LCSW/LCPC)

Case Aide 50:1 40:1 50:1 40:1

Clinical Consult. 1hr.wk/15 1 hr.wk/15

Psychiatrist 1hr.wk/15 1 hr.wk/15

Dev. Specialist 1hr.wk/15 1hr.wk/15

M.D. 1hr.wk/15 1hr.wk/15

Nurse 50:1 40:1

On-Call 24 hr/day 24 hr/day 24 hr/day 24 hr/day

Recruitment 1/team 1/team 1/team 1/team

Permanency 1/team 1/team 1/team 1/team

Education .5/team .5/team .5/team .5/team

FP Training 12 hr/yr 12 hr/yr 12 hr/yr 12 hr/yr

Staff Training 18 hr/yr 18 hr/yr 18 hr/yr 18 hr/yr

Support 37.60/mo 37.60/mo 37.60/mo 37.60/mo

Board 29.68/d 41.32/d 29.68/d 41.32/d

Respite 8hr/mo 16 hr/mo 12 hr/mo 20 hr/mo

The ad hoc group attempted to "cost out:" the required elements to arrive at an overall standardized per diem. The current projections of cost are based on estimated salaries (which need to be reviewed further) and do not yet contain travel costs. However, with projected estimated salaries according to the required staffing in each program, costs reflective of the above requirements, as well as ownership and administration, the current projections break out as follows. We caution all CCAI members that these are work group numbers-in-progress and are subject to changes-up or down-as well as a series of review and approvals before anything is final. However, we felt it important to give all CCA programs a sense of the where the work group feels that standardized rates might fall-to aid in future program and budget planning. Tentative working rates are as follows: Children with Behavior/Mental Health Needs Specialized: $89.17; Children with Behavior/Mental Health Needs Treatment: $111.78; Children with Medically Complex/DD Needs Specialized: $85.94 and Children with Medically Complex/DD Needs Treatment: $109.36.

The specialized work group had previously recommended a series of rates per program that would be paid according to the level of care. In that model, there would be several "buckets' of costs per program type according to scales in the level of care. DCFS staff felt that this was not a workable plan and preferred to look at standardized per diems by program type. Additionally, DCFS is still exploring the future of Medicaid funding for foster care. There may be a limit of Medicaid use in foster care or possible discontinuation of the funding. Private sector reps have suggested that DCFS look at how pieces of the clinical counseling of Medicaid might be used as a supplement to a standard per diem. Finally, any changes in specialized foster care need to be made in the context of cost neutrality-new program changes should not cost more than the current system. DCFS has projected that the number of children in spec care will remain the same this fiscal year, even with the decreasing overall caseload, and will increase by about 900 cases next fiscal year. This is due to residential step-downs and step-ups from traditional and HMR cases. As the group looks at cost neutrality in setting up the new system, DCFS needs to determine if the specific expenditures must be the same in the spec/treatment line, or if there is a "break-even" point that reflects total savings to the system over the life of a case. Finally, concern continues to be expressed about programs with current rates higher than the projected standard rates and programs with additional components beyond the required standard elements. These programs already in place with special enhancements for specialized children risk losing much of their uniqueness as we attempt to standardize. A challenge as the system changes is how to accommodate that type of program loss as we attempt to change the overall system for the better. These concepts are to be discussed in the larger Foster Care Work Group in the next 2 weeks. (MB)

The Best Practices group will begin work in late August on a variety of foster care and adoptions issues: 1) Design a Foster Parent Assessment document that incorporates elements of rule 402; clinical consideration of child well-being issues, OIG's concerns about older caregivers, adoptions issues, pursuit of a universal home study; IEPA/MEPA issues; placement and matching tool and use of PRIDE documents. There will be a series of work group meetings in August, followed by the need for intensive review and input into the document. Executive directors who can offer the time of their experienced and knowledgeable foster care/adoption staff should contact Marge Berglind at 312-819-1950.

The Best Practices group will begin work in late August on a variety of Group Home, Institution and Maternity Home issues. This will include a review of the current rules pertaining to these types of placements and possible revision of the rules. There will be meetings in mid-September to address this project. Executive directors who can offer the time of their experienced and knowledgeable staff in such programs should contact Marge Berglind at 312-819-1950.

The Best Practices group will begin work in late September on a variety of Day Care Home issues. This will include a review of the current proposed rules pertaining to day care homes and possible revision of the rules. Executive directors who can offer the time of their experienced and knowledgeable staff in such programs should contact Marge Berglind at 312-819-1950.

All agencies with performance contracts should be receiving the initial request from DCFS to provide baseline information on staff and staffing ratios in all performance based programs. This request for information follows agreements made in the CWAC Foster Care Infrastructure group to limit DCFS' focus on the entire issue of excess revenue as generated from staff vacancies. The current structure limits focus to the areas of casework coverage. Agencies are required to staff programs at levels that comply with the ratio on their contract. The current system per the work group's agreement limits the "penalty" for vacancies to those programs falling under 80%, so there is a cushion for agencies. As a reminder, agencies which come in under the 80% mark must prepare an action plan that shows how the caseload coverage is being handled and how they intend to correct the vacancy rate. If an agency fails to follow the plan and subsequently encounters more than the allowable vacancy rate, the penalty will apply. It is important for all agencies to submit the required information to DCFS quickly, in order to avoid a "no-report" penalty. Although we understand that many agencies find the need to report this material disturbing, the system that was developed was geared to address the private sectors' concerns about high caseloads, DCFS' concerns about agency diligence in replacing positions and to limit the financial implications for our agencies. Any agency with a performance contract that does not receive the letter by August 15 should contact Resa Early of DCFS at 217-557-8273. Questions for CCA can be directed to Marge Berglind at 312-819-1950. (MB)

The Chances for Children project held its final meeting and made final recommendations on August 10 in Chicago. The Chances project was initiated to address 6 key areas that would pave the way for more effective methods of bringing together children waiting for adoption and adoptive families. Recommendations were made to DCFS regarding recruitment and licensing of adoptive families; training and preparing adoptive families for parenting; identifying and matching available children; determining the model of a good placement; staff development and the Chances event. Suggestions from the project will immediately be forwarded to the Training Committee for inclusion in the developing curriculum and to the Best Practices Committee for inclusion in materials developed. A key recommendation was expansion of the current MAPS pilot project. Director McDonald suggested that one way to get private agencies to more quickly find adoptive homes for children would be to mandate that cases move to a MAPS unit within a certain number of days once a case was legally free and no identified home was found. CCAI suggested there needs to be more discussion and study of how well the current pilot is working and identification of problem areas before proceeding to a full fledged MAPS unit and implementation of contract sanctions. Another recommendation was the implementation of a recruitment consortium across agencies and DCFS. The director suggested agencies should be willing to do this on an ad hoc basis in the spirit of collaboration and not rely solely on the department for funding for such a project. DCFS suggested that the Chances recommendations will be used as DCFS meets its current major challenge of building a system with the leadership capacity at all levels to do quality work. Finally, an Advisory Group on Adoptions will be set up by DCFS. Certain key members of the Chances initiative will be asked to serve on this advisory group. For a full copy of the report and its recommendations, contact The Cradle ( 847-475-5800.) (MB)

Letters have been sent out to the President/CEO or Executive Directors of those agencies that will be impacted by services provided through the Statewide Automated Child Welfare System. Seven sessions have been scheduled throughout the state and will cover the following areas: 1.) How FTE calculations will be made for the purposes of allocating funding for equipment. 2.) The methodology designed jointly by DCFS and Purchase of Service agencies to allocate funds and reimburse agencies for equipment related expenditures. 3.) The requirements of Purchase of Services agencies this year in planning for the purchase of equipment and preparation of your physical site. 4.) What each agency should begin doing now to be fully prepared for SACWIS. Agencies should send staff from finance, administration, program and/or information technology.

Meetings have been scheduled as follows:

August 21 � 11:00 to 2:00 August 22 � 1:00 to 4:00

DCFS Area Office Building Lutheran Social Serv. Of Ill.

2309 West Main 3000 W. Peoria

Marion, IL. West Peoria, IL. 61604

618/993-7000 309/671-0300

August 28 � 10:00 to 1:00 August 28 � 1:00 to 4:00

Catholic Charities of Chicago Catholic Charities of Chicago

721 N. LaSalle 721 N. LaSalle

Chicago, IL Chicago, IL

7000. 312-655-7000

August 29 � 10:00 to 1:00 August 30 � 10:00 to 1:00

CFS Regional Office Building Uhlich Children�s Home

8 East Galena Boulevard, Suite 40 3737 N. Mozart St.

Aurora, IL Chicago, IL

630/801-3400 773/588-0180

Sept. 6 � 10:00 to 1:00

National City Bank � 4^th Floor

1 North Old State Capitol Plaza

Springfield, IL 62701

217/747-7618

Steps that will be reviewed in the planning process include: 1.) Develop a planning document Part 1, which will identify caseworkers and seats for each agency to determine the allocation. This will include regular foster care, relative foster care, independent living, intact family contracts and child protection contracts. 2.) Spectrum Consulting will be available to provide an initial site assessment for an agency�s physical environment. 3.) Agencies will need to complete a three-year plan to identify build out needed and equipment with estimated costs. Spectrum and DCFS will be available to provide technical assistance in the development of the plans. 4.) The plan must be submitted to DCFS for approval by December 31, 2000. 5.) Contract amendments will be issued and payments made to agencies as liabilities occur. 6.) Each site will be certified approximately 6 months prior to scheduled connection with DCFS. 7.) Training will be provided on office automation and the SACWIS application.

$2.5 million is available annually in SFY01, SFY02 and SFY03. The allocation process is based on a cost add-on methodology and NOT a rate increase methodology. The three-year plan is developed with the understanding that caseloads and other factors could change over the three-year period and the number of seats used to calculate the allocation will be adjusted. It is important that agencies send a representative to one or more of these meetings. If you have any questions regarding these meetings, contact Jan Schoening at CCA (217-528-4409) or Steve Bradshaw, Private Agency Liaison with DCFS at 217-747-7604. ALL REGISTRATIONS FOR THE SESSIONS WILL BE HANDLED BY STEVE BRADSHAW (JMS)

It was noted in the Illinois Welfare News that DHS has a program that pays certain work-related expenses for persons with a pending application for Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) which keeps people from getting on the assistance rolls in the first place. This program began in early 1999 with a budget of nearly $1 million to pay for such activities as job search, unpaid community work experience, and job club meetings at the local aid office as well as employment-related expenses. The program�s goal is to help participants become or remain employed and thus avoid going on welfare. DHS contracts with a local social service agency called a community partner to provide funds to clients. Some of the examples of employment related expenses made by community partners are: child care; public transportation costs; automobile repairs; liability insurance; license plate fees, registration, and gas costs and purchase expenses; uniforms and other clothing; tools and medical expenses. The small number of people that have been helped by this program does not lend itself to the claim of having a large impact on reducing the welfare caseload. The department refers only about 150 a month for the front-door money program compared to new approvals for TANF being down by 1300 per month and reinstatements of 6000 per month. (JMS)

A recent article in the Christian Science Monitor provided an update on what was happening with the privatization of child welfare services in Kansas. The effort in Kansas was to provide a lump sum payment for each child and private agencies would determine how the money would be spent for services. The new system has made progress with increased adoptions, and leveled the services available between poorly served rural areas and better served urban areas. With the new system there was no hard data available on what this type of system would cost and so budgets were based on best estimates. As cost information became available additional funding was provided to the service system; however, with the inability to move some hard to adopt children one of the original contractors acquired an increasing debt and was facing bankruptcy. These funding problems have caused the state to move back to the more traditional method of funding of a certain amount of money per month per child. Responses had been that this system created another layer of bureaucracy which delayed payments. Supporters of the new system continued to argue that it takes time to work out the problems and even though the costs initially don�t show a decrease eventually a service model can be created that will be more efficient and provide the services needed for the children and families. (JMS)

CCA SURVEY UPDATES
Many thanks to the numerous member agencies who have already completed and returned the CCA FY2000 Membership Survey. These surveys were mailed to CCA agencies to the attention of the CEO/Executive Director or other designated agency contact last Monday. Members may also download the survey form from the Library on the CCA website.

Full membership participation is critical to the success of this survey, and our goal for response is 100%. For assistance in filling out the survey, please contact Linda Lenzini at CCA.

Does your agency have an innovative program or recent success story that you�d like to share? Contact Linda Lenzini at CCA with the details. (LLL)

The date is set and the location chosen for CCA�s Fall Retreat. The Retreat will be held on October 5-6 at The Lodge, a Hyatt hotel at McDonald�s Office Campus in Oak Brook. For the past 15 or more years the Association has gone to Starved Rock Lodge in Utica, Illinois, and while we had our hopes on going there again this year, Starved Rock could not accommodate us for the dates we scheduled and the Board approved for October. However, we think you will be very pleased with The Lodge. The Lodge has extended to us a sleeping room rate of $115 for a single room, their rack rate is $159. Like Starved Rock, The Lodge has miles of trails, with streams and forests. Also, two natural lakes are on the 88-acre property. Among the amenities are: state of the art health facilities, indoor swimming pool, three whirlpools, steamroom and sauna, paddle boats, five nature trails, and four-mile jogging trail. Although the agenda is in the developing stages, please mark your calendar and plan on joining us for an educational and relaxing two days in October. Additional information on the two-day retreat will be forthcoming in future Monday Reports. (SKA)

Calendar:

Aug. 15 � SACY Training/Advanced: Effective Group Treatment Modalities, Chicago/Lisle

Aug. 15 � SACWIS Design Meeting - Resource Management and Resource Directory � Springfield

Aug. 16 � SACWIS Design Meeting - Resource Management 2 � Springfield

Aug. 16 � SACWIS Design Meeting � Health � Springfield

Aug. 17 � SACWIS Design Meeting - Eligibility � Springfield

Aug. 17 - SACY Training/Advanced: Effective Group Treatment Modalities, Springfield

Aug. 21 � SACWIS Private Agency Regional Meeting - 11 to 2 � Marion

Aug. 22 � SACWIS Private Agency Regional Meeting - 1 to 4 � Peoria

Aug. 22 � SACWIS Design Meeting - Financial � Springfield

Aug. 23 � SACWIS Design Meeting - Interface/Other � Springfield

Aug. 23 � SACWIS Design Meeting - Staff Maintenance � Springfield

Aug. 24 � SACWIS Design Meeting - Reporting/Other - Springfield

Aug. 28 � SACWIS Private Agency Regional Meeting - 10 to 1 and 1 to 4 - Chicago

Aug. 29 � SACWIS Private Agency Regional Meeting � 10 to 1 � Aurora

Aug. 30 � SACWIS Private Agency Regional Meeting � 10 to 1 � Chicago

Aug. 30 � CCA Public Policy Committee, 10-3, The Children�s Foundation, Bloomington

Sept. 6 � SACWIS Private Agency Regional Meeting � 10 to 1 - Springfield

Sept. 19 � CCA Board of Directors Meeting, 10 a.m., Holiday Inn Select, Naperville

Sept. 27-29 - Practical Strategies 2000: Help Along the Way: A Continuum of Support for Youth and Families, Holiday Inn Hotel and Conference Center, Urbana, IL. More information: 217-355-5990.

Oct. 5-6 � CCA�s Fall Retreat, The Lodge, Oak Brook

Oct. 6-7 - The 10^th Annual Retreat for Educators of Students with Behavioral Disorders sponsored by ICCBD, Monticello, IL.

Nov. 1-4 - The International Adolescent Conference, Portland Oregon; Call (651) 484-5510

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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