SPECIAL NOTE: Copyright 2000. The Monday Report is produced each week as a benefit to the member agencies 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.
==============================================================================
=============================================================================
Staff
who are not licensed as of January 1, 2000 cannot be assigned as worker on a
case. This includes current staff who are already assigned cases. If those staff
have not passed the licensing exam and submitted a completed application packet,
your agency will need to reassign their cases to someone who is licensed. We
submit a list of the following key questions that agencies will need to be
asking over the next 3 weeks to prepare for this deadline: Has your agency
identified all staff in positions that require licensure?
Have all these current staff taken and passed the licensure test?
Have all filled out applications? Has your agency's H/R or Executive
Director completed and signed the necessary employment credential verification?
Are you submitting them to DCFS as they are completed so DCFS can perform
the necessary data entry on time? Do you have a contingency plan in place to
determine how cases will be re-assigned as of January 1 from any staff who is
not licensed at that time? The deadline is approaching!!! We urge all executive
directors to look into licensure progress personally, to assure your agency is
in full compliance with the new regulations. (MB)
POST-PERMANENCY
FUNDS DEADLINE APPROACHES
As
part of the foster care contracts, your agency was offered the opportunity to
obtain additional funds in order to provide post-permanency support services for
clients once served in your agency who had achieved permanency. Full details of
this offer were sent to you in a letter from DCFS in early November. The
deadline date for submission of your agency's plan (necessary in order to obtain
the funding) was Friday, December
1.
We
learned from DCFS that as of November 29, 2000 thirty-six CCAI member agencies
had not submitted the required plan. Without a plan that is approved by DCFS,
agencies would not be eligible to provide the services or receive the additional
post-permanency funds.
We
sent faxes last Thursday to all CCAI agencies appearing on the list as "No
Plans Received." We only sent
the fax to agencies on the list-so if your agency received such a fax it was
because your agency appeared on the list. We did not send out a
"general" fax to all members. If you received such a fax, we urge you
to immediately review this situation and determine if: 1) You are listed in
error and need to contact DCFS to assure they have your plan, or 2) you have not
yet finished your plan and need to request a brief extension from DCFS, or 3)
you intend not to submit a plan. We know some agencies have concerns about
providing the requested services, and we respect your agency's need to operate
from your mission and philosophical base. We know that with the minimal funds
allotted, this program component will not perform miracles.
However, this program supplement does offer many of our agencies an
opportunity to begin to demonstrate future need for enhanced services for our
families who have adopted or taken guardianship of challenging children. We also
cannot predict how the state may view an agency that chooses not to respond to
the state's expressed need for this program. Your agency will need to assess the
implications of choosing not to provide the program supplement.
Although
the official deadline has passed, DCFS agreed to offer a brief extension to
agencies that are in the process of completing their plans. If you are working
on your plan and need to request a brief extension, contact Mike Shaver of DCFS
at 312-814-1711 or Melissa Ludington of DCFS at 312-814-6819.
A
small group of ILO program representatives met with DCFS on November 30 to
discuss current referral and intake backlogs.
DCFS staff again stressed to providers that delays in processing of ILA
cases appear due to a number of reasons throughout the system-and are not only
focused in a certain division. There
are few cases in the "pending" status in the Education and Training
Division. Providers reported on a number of reasons that cases are not moving
smoothly to provider agencies. This includes the dynamic in some regions of DCFS
staff not even wanting to pursue ILA program placement because of the cumbersome
referral processes and numerous delays. DCFS stressed that it is essential that
a complete plan for the child's program and stay in ILA as well as all
supporting documents, be detailed to complete the necessary approvals.
DCFS stressed that they are not attempting to close any programs by lack
of referrals, although there will be fewer slots overall in the future because
of the declining size of the overall state caseload. Agencies that have lists of
cases pending for long times are encouraged to send a list detailing case name,
i.d. dates of various procedures/channels and current status of the case to Mary
Sue Morsch, (fax: 312-814-3255.)
The
new Approval Procedures for ILO and TLP services are ready for distribution and
will be effective as of December 15. DCFS is sponsoring 2 training sessions on
the new procedure. We encourage all CCAI agencies with ILO or TLP programs to
send a representative to the session for their area. Notices for the downstate
meeting have already gone out. Notices for the Cook meeting should be out this
week. The Downstate Providers meeting is scheduled for December 7, Crowne Plaza
Hotel, Springfield, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. The Cook Providers meeting is
scheduled for December 19, 160 N. LaSalle, Room 500-C, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.
If you have not received a copy of the meeting notice, or the new policy,
contact the CCA office in Springfield.
Regions
will be given more responsibility in the future to gain an understanding of the
population in the region that needs ILO/TLP services, as well as being familiar
with the profiles of the providers in the area. Following the training meeting
and implementation of the new policy, regions and sub-regions will be expected
to convene planning and information meetings with providers.
With
the new policy, decisions to deny ILO/TLP can be appealed by providers via
a letter to Mary Sue Morsch. Additionally, DCFS urged all agencies to
review and re-review the profiles they submitted. Some of them do not appear to
give a good overview of what the agency is actually providing. Use of the
profiles will be an essential part of the regional decision-making in the
future, so an inaccurate or vague profile could potentially limit consideration
of your agency's programs for future referrals.
There
are still more than 300 children identified by DCFS as needing ILO or TLP
referrals in the next few months. These are primarily adolescents currently
placed in residential programs. Regions will be expected to quickly identify
these young people and will be working on actively convening staffings and
preparing plans along with providers in their area.
It
will be essential for providers to keep us apprised of how the new policy is
working. The larger ILA work group
is due to re-convene in January to assess how it is working and to provide
feedback to DCFS. (MB)
The
Cook Performance Based Contracting
Work Group met in Chicago on November 29. DCP staff reported increases in the
number of younger males at the shelter, primarily coming from POS agencies. Once
again, agencies were reminded that they must be actively working on finding new
placements for children who are in the shelter.
Agencies
reported continuing problems with DCP providing vouchers and medical cards at
case handoff. DCP expects that DCP supervisors are monitoring these
responsibilities of DCP staff. Agencies
should be reporting problems to these supervisors. DCP administrators agreed to
again send a memo to all supervisors on this topic.
Agencies
also expressed concerns about the difficulty in obtaining DCP materials-both
current and past reports for files. This will impact the outcome of the upcoming
federal audit. DCP agreed that there should be a process identified soon to try
to resolve this issue. A group of representatives will meet with Renard Jackson
to identify solutions for this problem in the near future.
Contract
adjustments were mailed out to agencies within the last two weeks. Questions on
the adjustments should be directed to Mike Shaver of DCFS at 312-814-1711.
Agencies with HMR programs in which permanency rates for FY'00 fell under
33% are on hold for new intake. Decisions are pending from the DCFS Director as
to the status of any program under the 24% mark. In Traditional, any agency with
permanency rates under 20% is on intake hold.
Case
consolidations between DCFS and POS programs were completed during November.
Agencies are being notified about which cases are counted as intake towards this
year. There are a few cases that
were transferred that involved DCFS foster parents receiving a much higher
specialized care rate than the receiving agency could afford to pay. These
problems should be immediately directed to CAU staff so a resolution or quick
reassignment of the case can be done. The
Sibling Assignment protocol has been widely distributed (We reported on this in
previous Monday Reports) and is in
use. There are still a number of
barriers in obtaining the goal of One Worker/One Family. DCFS staff intends to
take this issue back to the Foster Care Infrastructure Committee for further
review.
CCSN
staff reported that there will no longer be a paper intake reconciliation
process. Once a case is assigned to an agency, the intake worker must enter
information on the data system. This should be done as the cases come in. Since
there is no paper process, an agency that fell behind in data entry would have
no opportunity to correct errors and would be spending most of June catching up
on data before final contract reconciliations. The group identified that letters
on this topic need to go out to Executive Directors and Finance Managers of
agencies in order to assure agencies are aware of the procedural changes.
DCFS
obtained feedback on whether they can move this year to twice per year
permanency reconciliations. The group agreed that 2 official reconciliations a
year should be sufficient if DCFS provides a quarterly count of unreconciled
numbers in order to review trends.
POS
members expressed concern to DCFS on their current data counts of CERAP
certified staff. There is still much incorrect data on the system that results
in DCFS reporting up to 30% staff that are non-CERAP certified.
Agencies should review their current CERAP certified staff and maintain
an accurate list and count for use in comparison with DCFS lists. Secondly,
agencies should refresh their knowledge of the CERAP procedures that do not
necessarily require a staff to be CERAP-certified to be assigned a case, but
require that the agency provide another staff for CERAP-related duties until
that staff is certified.
The
group briefly discussed DCFS' plans for next year's performance contracts. DCFS
staff will be meeting early next year internally to assess the current status
and prepare ideas for next year. DCFS is concerned with the low rate of
reunification in the private sector, so they can predict this will be an item
for discussion. DCFS feels it has
provided financial resources via the reunification program element of the
contracts yet the agencies are not able to deliver. The court and HELP units report that the quality of
reunification plans is poor.
The
group agreed to spend time next meeting identifying future issues for the
performance contracts in Cook. Additionally, the group will review the status of
the LOC training related to specialized contracts and begin to identify
operations issues of reviews of the specialized cases on the new LOC, so these
can be taken to the Foster Care Infrastructure Committee. The next meeting is
scheduled for January 24, 2001. (MB)
=============================================================================MENTAL
HEALTH AND DEVELOPMENTAL DISABILITIES
=============================================================================
In
a very disappointing development, the General Assembly in the closing days of
its fall veto session failed to enact HB 4577, the bill that would have added $1
an hour to the wages of direct care developmental disability workers.
This was a bill that was supported by many organizations, including the
Child Care Association of Illinois, and had, it appeared, strong legislative
support. The bill successfully
passed the House but did not get out of the Rules Committee in the Senate.
As we indicated in our memo of last week urging agencies to write their
legislators urging their support for this bill, this category of workers is
experiencing a serious wage deficit and is great need of relief. We had hoped that this bill would provide that relief.
With its defeat in the veto session, we are going to have to look to get
this addressed in the spring session of the General Assembly.
Unfortunately, it is beginning to look like we are going to have a very
difficult spring session in light of the rapidly deteriorating financial
condition of the state. We will be
sending out a request in the next week or so for agencies to contact their
legislators while they are in their home offices over the next several months to
visit with them and to educate them on the critical need for enhanced funding
for the not-for-profit agencies which provide the bulk of the human services in
Illinois. (RHM)
The
DHS ICG Advisory Committee met last Friday to continue its deliberations about
ways by which families utilizing the ICG funding stream
to obtain services for their mentally ill children would be able to do
that within the State of Illinois whenever possible and also to receive those
services as close to home as possible by utilizing home-based/community based
resources when that is in the best interest of the child needing service. There
are currently a number of children placed out of state who it would appear could
have been served in state if the services had been available or if parents had
been made aware of existing in-state services. The committee is in the process
of developing a survey of information to be used in developing a resource
directory to be used by SASS agencies and parents who are looking for an
appropriate resource for their child. The survey will be distributed to the 63
current families who are using home-based/community based resources and will be
looking to determine both what types of services are available as well as
services/resources that are needed to help stabilize children in the community
but are currently unavailable. The
survey will also be sent to all SASS agencies around the state.
In a related but separate effort, a group has been formed to look at
existing residential resources in-state to determine what appropriate
residential resources currently exist in-state to serve these severely disturbed
children as well as what resources need to be developed in order for these
children to be served in the State of Illinois. There are currently about 100
ICG placements in out-of-state facilities. This committee will be meeting over
the next month with the intent of bringing a report back to the full committee
in late January. The committee will also be reviewing and revising a set of
questions that has been drafted for use by parents who are visiting and
reviewing possible residential placements for their mentally ill child.
These questions are designed to assist parents in asking the right
questions as they consider a residential placement for their child.
The
Association will be looking at the possibility of developing a workshop to be
presented in late winter on the nature, format, and opportunities of these ICG
placements both residential and home-based/community-based. One essential different dynamic between these placements and
many other current placements is the critical role that parental involvement
plays in these cases. It is a very
different dynamic and needs careful consideration.
(RHM)
=============================================================================
=============================================================================
A
QUICK UPDATE FROM THE SEARCH COMMITTEE:
The
board met with our search firm to develop and refine a position description for
the new CEO. The description
captures critical issues and challenges for the Association as viewed by the
board and member interviews. This
information will be sent to the members along with a request for suggestions for
candidates.
Our
(aggressive ) timeline includes these key dates:
�
Review initial list of candidates with Search firm
and prioritize
�
Interview first group of candidates on Jan. l6
�
Report progress to board l/l7
�
Feb. second interviews and reference checking
�
March board meeting, board interviews top two
candidates and makes decision
�
March negotiation with candidate complete
�
June/July start with transition time scheduled
Well,
these are the best laid plans. Our
commitment is to secure outstanding leadership for the Association, so we will
make sure the schedule is one that allows for that outcome.
Appreciate
your ideas and suggestions as we go through the process.
Thanks again for all you do for children!
Nancy Ronquillo
OUTCOME
MEASURES 2000 SURVEY DUE BACK JANUARY 3, 2001
All
CCA member agencies have now received their Outcome Measures 2000 Survey, which
is due back by January 3. If your agency needs another copy of this survey, the
forms are available in the CCA website library. Visit the library and click on
Outcome Measures Survey to download the various documents in MSWord of plan text
files. For more information, contact DD Fischer at 217-656-3000 or by e-mail at [email protected].
(DDF)
DIRECT
MAIL ALERT
Change
in paper requirements for post care mailing in effect January 1.
Just
a reminder that 7pt. paper will be required for post card mailings effective
January 1, 2001. For exact specifications, contact your local postmaster.
(LLL)
=============================================================================
=============================================================================
Websites
We Like
will be a regular feature in the Monday Report. If you have a website you are
using for policy research, media information, or other purposes, please send it
on to CCA so that we can share it with other members in the Monday Report and
consider it for addition to the CCA Link Library on-line. Send submissions via
e-mail to: [email protected].
Tell
us what you think of the WEBSITES WE LIKE.
Were they helpful? Were they easy to find? E-mail Linda Lenzini at [email protected]
with comments, suggestions, and questions.
Link
to the CCA Website
If your agency has a website,
you can be linked to the CCA website. This will enable visitors to the CCA
website to simply click on your agency�s name and access your website. Send
requests for linkage via e-mail to Linda Lenzini at CCA, e-mail address [email protected].
E-Mail
Advisories for Communications/Public Relations Personnel
If your agency would like to
receive media updates and advisories, template and CCA news releases, and other
items of interest, please send name, agency name, title, and e-mail address to [email protected].
(LLL)
=============================================================================
=============================================================================
Congratulations to Lifelink,
Inc. on its successful 2nd
Annual Holiday Gala December 1. A
sellout crowd and hosting by ABC-7�s Alan Krasheshky raised proceeds which
will benefit Lifelink�s international and special needs adoption programs.
Lifelink also reports media success in showcasing families for national
adoption month and media interest in its speaker�s bureau topic,
�Children�s Grief and Loss�. Several publications have picked up the
article written by Lifelink and done pursuant interviews on the topic. For a
copy of the article, features in Lifelink�s quarterly Focus magazine, contact Christina Maggio, director of public
relations at Lifelink, at 630-521-8046, or by e-mail at [email protected].
SHOWCASE
YOUR SUCCESS STORY ON THE CCA WEBSITE
Does your agency have an
innovative program or recent success story that you�d like to share? CCA is
interested in sharing your recent success story or innovative program with the
rest of the membership. If you would like to be featured on the CCA website with
your success story, contact Linda Lenzini at CCA with the details. (LLL)
=============================================================================MEDIA
WATCH
=============================================================================
ABC
PROGRAMMING AVAILABLE ONLINE
�Family
on the Brink�, a compelling ABC News Prime Time program that aired Thursday,
November 30, takes a look at a women who says she lived in fear at the hands of
her incorrigible teenage boys. However, a different story unfolds on tape, and
raises issues about permanency, early intervention and other related subjects,
Although this program aired last Thursday night, the ABCNews.com website
contains transcripts of the show, a discussion with Patrick Tolan, CEO of the
National Research Center on Juvenile Violence, and comments of others who
watched and reacted to the program. To read about the program, visit http://www.abcnews.com.
On the left-hand side of the site you�ll see ABC Television. By clicking on
that, you�ll find the article, transcript, discussion, and comments. (Note:
This will only remain on the site for a week from programming, so visit soon.)
KNOW
YOUR MEDIA CONTACTS
For publication names,
addresses, phone numbers and editorial names for publications in your locale,
contact CCA at [email protected],
or call Linda Lenzini at 217-528-4409. Or..if you have a media contact that you
would like added to CCA�s media list, send it to [email protected].
THE
TOP TEN BUZZWORDS THAT SHOULD NEVER APPEAR IN A NEWS RELEASE
This according to e-newsrelease.com:
I.
Leading
II.
Collaborative Partnership, Collaborative Alliance
III.
Leveraging our assets
IV.
Robust
V.
Scalable
VI.
Strategic
alliances
VII.
Space
VIII.Seamless, seamlessly
IX.
Win/win
(LLL)
==============================================================================
==============================================================================
POS
SACWIS (STATEWIDE AUTOMATED CHILD WELFARE SYSTEM) FOCUS GROUP MEETING - JANUARY
26, 2001
It
was reported in previous Monday Reports that CCA was in the process of
scheduling a focus group meeting for SACWIS in order to obtain additional input
from member agencies. A date has been finalized for the meeting of January 26,
2001 from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. at the Hyatt Lisle in Lisle, Illinois.
Registration at will be at 9:30 a.m. and registration forms have been mailed to
all agencies. We will be asking for a small fee of $20 to cover the cost of
lunch and breaks. A small block of rooms is being held for the Child Care
Association meeting at $85 per night. Participants needing overnight
accommodations should contact the hotel directly. The focus group sessions will
be organized around the following areas: Case management, case assignment,
eligibility, ACR, court processing, financial, interfaces, reporting, resource
and licensing, archive, technical, staff maintenance, and health tracking.
In addition to a discussion of issues related to these components, there
will be a presentation of a prototype for a client information system to which
participants can respond. We strongly recommend that agencies send
representatives to participate in these sessions that are knowledgeable how
these processes work in their agency and would be using such a system. In
addition to members of the SACWIS Advisory Committee we want to get as broad an
input as possible to insure that the POS issues are included in the design and
development of this statewide client information system. If you have any
questions regarding this meeting, please contact Jan Schoening or Rommel
Sangalang at the CCA office. (JMS)
Plan
now to be a part of this exciting event at the Illinois State Capitol. The day
will provide an opportunity to create visibility for your agency�s services
and to speak with legislators from your district. Watch for the details in your
mailbox soon. Exhibit space for the event is limited, so if you would like to
reserve exhibit space for your agency, please send the name of your agency and
the contact person for the event to CCA by e-mailing to [email protected]
or calling the Child Care Association at 217-528-4409. You may also fax
information to 217-528-6498, att�n: Linda Lenzini.
Mark
your calendars for January 30 and 31, 2001 for two of the best days of
Quality Improvement Training featuring Dr. Fotena Zirps.
The QI training will be held at the Hilton in Lisle/Naperville IL.
You will recall that Dr. Zirps, one of the most widely respected experts
in the field of quality improvement, was featured at the CCA Membership meeting
in October. This training will
build on the Quality and Credibility foundation set in October.
The two days will be designed for QI staff and managers who lead a QI
effort, and cover both the basics of QI for the beginner, and those wishing a
refresher, as well as, advanced training on day two with a focus on problem
solving which will be more interactive.
Registration
materials will be mailed to you this week.
Calendar:
Dec. 5 �
SACWIS Advisory Committee, River Forest
Dec. 11 � CCA Public Policy Committee Meeting, 10:00
a.m., Chicago
Jan. 17 � CCA Board of Directors Meeting, Chicago
suburbs
Jan. 26 � POS SACWIS Focus Group Meeting, Hyatt Lisle,
Lisle, IL
Jan. 30-31 � Quality Improvement Training, Hilton
Lisle/Naperville
Feb. 25-28 � 14th Annual Conference, A
System of Care for Children�s Mental Health: Expanding the
Research Base, Tampa Hyatt Regency, Tampa, Fl.
Call Lyn Bryan at 813/974-4649 for information.
March 22-23 � CCA�s Spring Membership Meeting, Hyatt
Regency Woodfield, Schaumburg, IL
April 18 � Child Welfare Day at the State Capitol,
Springfield. For more information
contact Linda Lenzini , CCA, at [email protected]
or by phone at 217/528-4409.
|
For
further information on any of the above, contact the staff member noted in
parentheses at the end of the text: RHM
= Ron Moorman
217/528-4409 ([email protected]) MB
= Marge Berglind 312/819-1950 ([email protected]) JMS
= Jan Schoening 217/528-4409
([email protected]) BRH=
Bridget Helmholz 217/528-4409 |
RS=Rommel
J.Sangalang 217/528-4409 SKA
= Sandy Armstrong 217/528-4409 LLL
= Linda Lenzini 217/528-4409
([email protected]) Nancy
Ronquillo � 309/827-0374 ([email protected])
|
[Home] [Gen. Info] [Membership] [Members Only] [Library]
[Training] [Jobs] [Links] [Search] [Members Search]
Copyright � 1997-2000 Child Care Association of Illinois. All rights reserved.