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Cook County Public Guardian, Patrick Murphy, recently sent out a letter to all the agencies in the Cook area about a program his office as organized to provide arts training for children ages 13-18 served by his office who are interested in dance, theater and/or visual arts. They first did this last fall and the program was a great success. They are sponsoring a new session which began last Tuesday on February 13 and will continue on Tuesday and Thursday between 3:45-5:45 at the Cultural Center and at Gallery 37 Center for Arts. They will accept students at any point during the program, so if you missed this the first time around, I would urge you to get your interested youngsters involved. They want to use the arts as a tool to help develop students� powers of self expression and untapped creative potential, instill discipline and a sense of self-worth, enhance abilities to establish relationships and create a sense of community. Sounds like a great program! For more details please call Adrienne Giorgolo who is coordinating the program for the Guardian. She can be reached at: 312-603-0844. (RHM)

DCFS Licensing Administration staff have confirmed the following details pertaining to delays in obtaining background checks and case assignments:

Staff who have accurately completed all of the licensure application materials, had fingerprints taken, and taken the licensure class and passed the exam will be allowed to have case assignments until the Background Check is complete. If the check indicates that there is no applicable crime or CA/N then a license will be issued. If there is a problem then a denial letter will be issued. There will probably be a delay between the completion of the requirements and the actual issuance of the license. (MB)

DCFS staff report that draft permanency results were mailed to Cook agencies on 1-12. All responses are due to the Department by Friday, March 2nd. No faxed responses will be accepted. (MB)

The next Downstate Performance Based Work Group meeting is scheduled for this week: Wednesday, February 21, 2001, 1:00 p.m.-3:30 p.m. The location has changed to the DCFS main office at 406 E. Monroe, Springfield.

Quarterly statistical reports on a number of performance indicators and contract variables will finally be forwarded to private agencies from the DCFS Operations Analysis unit in the near future. CCAI has been working to obtain release of this material for all agencies for some time. DCFS has been collecting this information and distributing within the department for more than 2 years. A group of CCAI members met in a focus group on February 13 in Chicago, to review the statistical report, participate in the DCFS presentation/training on the material and to provide recommendations on the rollout of the material.

The report provides a beginning platform for monitoring agency performance. Various foster care contracts specify more than one hundred measurable expectations intended to create a framework of quality and accountability that supports the emergence of more effective foster care practices. The POS Agency Statistical Summary presents statistics related to many of the measures organized into broad areas that are generally reflective of the areas outlined in the contract program plan. The report provides individual agency performance statistics in such areas as placement moves, staffing changes, court performance and permanency work, as well as the agency�s ranking in relation to other agencies on 22 critical variables. The compilation of the critical variables yields an agency total ranking for the period being measured.

The focus group recommended the following to DCFS: 1) Send the draft material out in advance to agencies in order for them to review the descriptions of data collected as well as the system analysis; 2) Conduct 2 levels of training sessions: a) an overview administrative session for managers/executives/QA supervisors followed by b) a more in-depth technical workshop for QA staff or program managers on the formulas used and data collection methods. 3) Once the agencies have a chance to review the data, attend the training and review questions, provide additional workshop opportunities for any agency staff to address questions and concerns.

DCFS staff will develop a schedule of training rollout sessions in the near future. Watch the Monday Report for further information, and watch for the training announcements. (MB)

CCAI, in conjunction with Judge Bishop, Presiding Judge at the Juvenile Court, and DCFS will begin a new opportunity for recognition of casework staff who perform an outstanding job during court processes. The criteria on which the award will be based is in development. At this point, it appears that the process will begin with collection of the "Positive" Court Reports completed by judges/hearing officers for private agency and DCFS workers.

More than 90 CCAI members attended the second Residential Summit held at the Lodge in Oak Brook on February 15, 2001. Ron Moorman provided a summary of current provider issues and perspectives: 1) we must address the challenge of changing populations of children in the residential system, 2) agencies must obtain a clear idea of what the parameters in residential care from DCFS will be, 3) the increasing numbers of adolescents in the system call for a reasonable strategy of exploring permanency options and preparing them for adulthood, 4) questions relating to step down processes must be resolved, 5) there must be further examination and discussion on the adequacy of residential rates given the changing nature of the children in care, 6) DCFS must take further responsibility for tracking and reporting on the outcomes for children moved out of the residential care as well as those prevented from entering residential care by the PRT process and 7) DCFS must assist in identifying service gaps for adolescents entering juvenile justice systems from DCFS care.

DCFS Director Jess McDonald provided comments relating to the current and future status of residential care from a state perspective: 1) DCFS is a purchaser of residential services and will be setting future expectations that providers accept the children referred and do not return them to DCFS before their treatment is completed, 2) DCFS expects to see no more than 23000 children in care as of year-end and expects the DCFS population to plateau at 17000 so this will have implications for the amount of services purchased, 3) DCFS intends to proceed with enforcing new expectations on the system that a child has no more than one placement move within a 12 month period, 4) DCFS intends to proceed with behavioral assessments of every child in the system, 5) residential providers should explore the development of a PPO type model so that DCFS as purchaser can be assured that providers accept children quickly, initiate a course of treatment which the child will compete and will participate in timely discharge planning. This will include clear, improved outcomes.

The sub-groups that have been working on various recommendations and projects since the first summit in l999 provided reports. A copy of the executive summary of the sub-groups is available upon request at the CCAI Springfield office. Following several question and answer periods, participants met with the sub-group leaders to provide suggestions on the next steps. A complete summary of the proceedings and recommendations will be mailed to all CCAI agencies within the next few weeks. (MB)

DCFS informed the CWAC Finance and Administration Committee that it intends to increase the amount of penalty attached to caseworker vacancies. DCFS feels the amount of the current penalty is insufficient and that Department calculations indicate a differential of +/- $600,000 per quarter in unearned revenue that would be recaptured under the new calculation method. DCFS intends to impose this new penalty amount as of January 1, 2001. Committee members reviewed the formula and advised that is fair in calculation. Concerns were raised about the change in the amount mid-year as well as the imposition of the new amounts as of January when agencies would not be notified of the amount until mid-February. However, it appears at that time that DCFS is determined to pursue imposing the new and increased amounts as of January 1. The calculation table submitted by DCFS is as follows:

There are two types of calculations that are used to total the full time equivalent staff caseload:

Staffing penalties are determined for agencies that fall under 80% staffing ratio in any performance contract the agency holds as determined by the process above.

The penalty amount in the graph below is applied to every staff position required under the 80% level. For example, if an agency is being paid for 3.02 BATS or staff, they would be required to have total contracted FTE�s of 3.02 x 80% = 2.41 FTE/staff ratio. Actual FTE�s equal 62.14% or 1.88 staff, then the penalty listed below would be applied to the difference between contracted 2.41 FTE/staff ratio and actual 1.88 FTE/staff ratio. DCFS calculates the agency�s actual FTE/staff ratio based upon self-reporting documentation. The final penalty calculation would be .53 x $4,373.62 x 3 = $6,954.06.

The DHS ICG Advisory Committee to the Mental Health Division met on Friday, Feb. 16. This committee is composed of consumers, representatives from community mental health agencies and residential centers. There are a number of CCA member agencies on the committee and Ron Moorman, CCA CEO, serves as well. The group reviewed a proposed Residential Services survey that has been developed by a sub-committee and made some suggested changes both as to content and format. The purpose of the survey is to help to determine how well the current residential process works for parents looking for placements for their children. It covers overall satisfaction with agency process from intake through discharge. The committee wants to use information gleaned from this survey to improve overall services to parents and children. It was suggested that the survey be tested with a small group of parents in order to work out any problems and to identify any missing needed data. The survey should also prove helpful to individual agencies as they assess their programs and look to make needed changes. The group also received for review a proposed Family Satisfaction Survey for Intensive Community Based Services. The intent of the survey is the same as for residential services--how well are these services being provided, what needs to change, what needs to be added, etc.

A list of suggested questions that parents might want to ask Residential Facilities prior to placement of their children was distributed. It is a very comprehensive list of questions covering all aspects of placement with advice to parents about what they should ask before a first visit, what they should ask during the initial visit and what they should ask following that first visit. It is a frank but very good list of questions that any facility should encourage parents to ask before placing their child in the agency�s care. If any agency would like to get a copy of these questions, they can certainly do so by calling the CCA Springfield office and asking for them. (RHM)

Governor Ryan will be presenting his FY 2002 Budget on Wednesday, February 21, at 12:00 noon. As has been the custom for a number of years, the State Departments will follow his presentation with detailed presentations on their individual budgets.

The Dept. of Human Services will present their budget briefing immediately following the Governor�s Budget address. The briefing will be held at:

Secretary of State Auditorium

Michael J. Howlett Building

Second and Edwards Streets

Springfield

DCFS will do its presentation immediately following the DHS briefing--approximately 2:30 PM.

These briefings are open to everyone--so if you�re interested, come on down to Springfield. Association staff will be at both of these briefings and we will be sending out details on the briefing just as soon as we can.

While we are not expecting much good news from this budget, we will cross our fingers and wait and see. Depending on what we find out from the address and the briefings, we will be planning our strategy and next steps. Stay tuned! (RHM)

On January 26, 2001 CCA sponsored a Focus Group Meeting to solicit input from the private agencies for implementation of SACWIS (Statewide Automated Child Welfare System). Participation at the meeting was extremely successful with over 150 people in attendance even on a very snowy day. Suggestions have been made to schedule additional sessions. This represented for many participants their first major exposure to SACWIS. Although SACWIS has been under discussion and included in the CCA weekly reports for several years, this was the first time that many of the managers, supervisors and direct service staff had extensive contact with what the system could represent. The morning session provided a brief history of SACWIS and the involvement of the CWAC SACWIS Advisory Committee and the role of the private agencies on that committee. It was emphasized that as the focus group sessions were conducted people need to raise their concerns, issues and questions about what this means for their agency and the private agencies to become a part of such a statewide-automated system. What are the needs from the private agencies perspective in the development of SACWIS? Are they currently being addressed with the user requirements and use case material that has been developed? The majority of the morning involved the presentation of the screens that are being developed as part of the prototype for Phase I of the system which includes intake and investigation. Mike McKindles with American Management Systems served as the key presenter and did a brief review of the screens in addition to responding to questions from the audience.

The afternoon sessions provided the focus group process for the various areas of design and input from people knowledgeable in those areas from the private agencies. Facilitators from private agencies served as the coordinator for the focus group process. The breakout sessions included: Case Management, Case Assignment, Eligibility, Resource/Licensing, Financial, Technical, Reporting, Interfaces, Archiving, Staff Maintenance, Health Tracking, ACR and Court Processing. Participants were provided copies of use case materials that have been developed by American Management Systems based on prior meetings. Each focus group was asked to look at the system and material from the perspective of the advantages of such a system and the concerns or issues of this type of system. The material developed from these sessions will be used as the basis for the design process that is scheduled for June 2001. As a follow-up to this meeting a meeting of the Facilitators is being scheduled for March 21^st to review the issues from the meeting and develop the next steps in the process. (JMS)

The CWAC SACWIS Advisory Committee meeting held its regularly monthly meeting on Feb. 13^th at LCFS in River Forest, Illinois. Two major issues on the agenda for the meeting were the status of the funding for the purchase of POS equipment and what were the results of the meeting with the federal representatives on the use of Federal Financial Participation dollars to reimburse funds made available to purchase POS SACWIS equipment. At this point the representatives from the federal level continued to hold to their position that in order for the state to receive reimbursement for these funds, the equipment must be purchased and owned by the state. Also that there would need to be standards for the purchase of all equipment that the minimum guidelines originally agreed to by the work group would not be sufficient to meet the feds needs. Any equipment purchased and used by the private agencies would be need to be cost allocated including the use of the equipment until the time SACWIS is implemented. The feds also recommended that any equipment should only be purchased and installed 6 months in advance of the system going on line. At this point the state would appear to determine that further pursuit of FFP for POS equipment is not feasible. The committee is now awaiting a decision from Director McDonald if DCFS will pursue reimbursement under Title IV-E Administrative funding for this equipment or it would be strictly a state expenditure of funds. The committee was advised a decision would be made within ten days. No contracts or grant agreements will be implemented until this decision is made. Further discussion on this issue resulted in a review of language changes for the grant agreement that would be used. This document had already been previously reviewed and approved. Now with the delay on the funding issue the time period for the grant has been extended until FY 2004. In order to receive reimbursement for equipment purchases, additional compliance language has also been added to the grant agreement. The compliance language relates to the quarterly staffing reports required to be submitted to the department and if an agency�s staff does not meet the requirements of CERAP certification or worker licensure. Objections were noted to new language by the private agency representatives on the committee and questions were raised how this related to the purpose of the funding under this agreement. Concerns were noted by DCFS representatives. (JMS)

Following the regularly scheduled SACWIS Advisory Committee meeting, the work group that had been developed to work on the interface of the POS systems with SACWIS met. Initial discussions at the meeting in a review of the minutes from the meeting held on Jan. 25^th, attempted to clarify that the POS interface solution would allow access to 100% of an agencies� data that is in the SACWIS system. One of the main items for this agenda was to discuss those data items that would be critical for agencies and would need to be downloaded daily and which items are not as critical might only need access once a week. The reason for the discussion was based on the amount of information that could be accessed. One of the recommendations from the meeting was rather than American Management Systems developing a mechanism to just dump all data from an agency that a query should be part of the solution so that agencies could ask for the specific information that they need. Several people noted that these types of queries already exist and could be incorporated as part of the solution for the private agency interface. Since this solution involved additional funding, this recommendation would be noted and submitted to the DCFS SACWIS project manager for consideration. The next meeting for the group was set for March 6, 2001 following the regularly scheduled Advisory Committee meeting in Springfield. (JMS)

The Public Policy Committee of the Mid-West Region of the Child Welfare League of America has been involved in an ongoing project to monitor the impact of welfare reform on the child welfare system and its clients. CWLA has developed a survey that they would like member agencies to complete who have staffs that work directly with biological, foster care, or kinship care families. If you did not receive a copy of this survey and would like to complete a copy, please contact Sara Mooren at 312-424-6844. They would like the survey completed and returned by Feb. 23, 2001. As the time limits begin to affect TANF clients, it is important that we start to gather information on the impact of this program on the child welfare system. (JMS)

Governor George Ryan has declared April 18^th, 2001 Child Welfare Day in Illinois. Be a part of the celebration by participating in Child Welfare Day at the Capitol. The deadline for exhibiting at the State Capitol is quickly approaching. For a registration form, contact Linda Lenzini at the Child Care Association via e-mail at [email protected], or by calling 217-528-4409. The form can also be downloaded from the Child Care Association�s website at http://www.cca-il.org

A listing of bills being monitored by CCA, along with the address of the Illinois legislative website that can be accessed for more information, is now available on the home page of the CCA website. The listing, plus the legislative site address, will enable visitors to read synopses or full text of bills being monitored, contact bill sponsors, and read about the current status of bills, including upcoming hearings. For more information or assistance accessing the Watchlist and accompanying legislative website, contact Linda Lenzini at the Child Care Association by email at [email protected] (LLL)

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. Please be prepared to identify the specific counties for which you need contacts. Or .if you have a media contact that you would like added to CCA�s media list, send it to [email protected].

(LLL)

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].

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)

Visit the home page of the CCA Website at http://www.cca-il.org for a new feature,

" Success Stories". These features, submitted by members or penned by CCA staff, share the successes that members have realized with innovative programs, new initiative, and hard work. If your agency has an innovative program or recent success story that you�d like to share, contact Linda Lenzini at CCA with the details.

The Association�s Spring Membership Meeting will be held at the Hyatt Regency Woodfield in Schaumburg. The first day, MARCH 22, will include a workshop on FOUNDATION FUNDING�NEW INITIATIVES AND DIRECTIONS with presenters from both local and national foundations. The afternoon session will focus on the NEW CASEWORKER/SUPERVISOR TRAINING REQUIREMENTS that will be going into effect very shortly. It is critical that all agencies know what this entails and how it will affect their agency. We will also be providing an update on DCFS PERFORMANCE BASED CONTRACTING FOR FY 2001-02�the directions that program may be taking. On the second day, MARCH 23, we are going to spend the day discussing LEGISLATIVE ADVOCACY. Tom Nolan, the Association�s legislative liaison, will present the key principles of legislative work. We will also hear from agencies that have sponsored successful legislative initiatives over the past several years as to what worked best for them. Also invited are representatives from the Governor�s office to join us to get their perspective on the fiscal situation and to discuss with them our issues and concerns. (RHM)

ROOMS AT THE HYATT: If you are planning to attend and need a room reservation you need to call the Hyatt Regency Woodfield at 800.233.1234 or 847.605.1234. The Hyatt is holding rooms for CCA guests on March 21 and 22. The rate is $109.00 single or double. Please remember to say you are attending the Child Care Association meeting in order to get the $109.00 room rate. March 1 is the deadline for reservations. The Hyatt�s address is 1800 East Golf Road, Schaumburg, IL. (SKA)

Feb. 19-20 � CWAC Retreat, Chicago

Feb. 21 � Governor Ryan�s FY 2002 Budget Presentation, Springfield

Feb. 21 � Downstate Performance Based Work-Group Meeting, DCFS, Springfield 1:00-3:30 p.m.

Feb. 25-28 � 14^th 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.

Feb. 28 � Healthy Families Illinois Workgroup, Chicago

March 1 - RESEARCH WITH CHILDREN IN STATE CUSTODY: ETHICAL ISSUES AND INFORMED CONSENT, Jane Addams College of Social Work, 1:30 - 5:00 P.M., Student Services Building, University of Illinois at Chicago, 1200 West Harrison Street, Conference Rooms B and C

March 2-3 � Spring DCFS/IFPA Foster Parent Conference�For more information call 800.637.1396

March 21 � CCA Board of Directors Meeting, Hyatt Regency Woodfield, Schaumburg

MARCH 22-23 � CCA�S SPRING MEMBERSHIP MEETING, Hyatt Regency Woodfield, Schaumburg

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