CWAC met in Chicago on May 11, 2001. Director McDonald discussed the challenging budget for DCFS and the possible decreases mandated from the legislature. House staff had suggested a $61 million cut from the budget presented by DCFS, with more than half being cut from Adoptions. CWAC Co-chair, Tom Vanden Berk discussed the challenges agencies face without a cost of doing business adjustment. This is coming at a time of greater accountability and increased costs. There needs to be a strategy for convincing the legislature of the necessity of properly funding agencies. The group discussed how to present the gains Illinois has made in child welfare and the need to continue further progress with legislators. There should be discussions on the costs associated with permanency and achieving better outcomes for kids.

Director McDonald also announced that DCFS withdrew its Emergency Rule on Rule 337, which addressed changes in the appeal process when children are moved. DCFS will be working to develop processes that continue the clinical staffing requirement before children are moved and continue the option of the foster parent appeal. DCFS is also working with consultants from Texas and experts in Illinois to develop a proposed screening system for behavioral health. This would create a good screening within the first 30 days of placement and would identify the services necessary. This would hopefully secure better services, and eliminate other behavioral screens and review processes such as prt.

The Director asked that specialized contract agencies note the seriousness of conducting the LOC reviews. It is his impression that some agencies are not proceeding with the reviews on schedule. He will implement the financial sanctions. He will also use this information as he makes contract decisions for next year.

Finally, he announced that Carolyn Cochran Kopel will be leaving DCFS on June l to take a position as Associate Secretary for DHS over Early Intervention and Community Programming.

The Family Preservation Committee outlined its tasks as 1) What are expected forms or levels of service and treatment for intact families in the DCFS system, 2) Identifying the necessary front end services and 3) identifying the circumstances for opening and closing cases. Questions were raised on where concerns about the current Cook Intact contracts should occur. DCFS felt that the concerns were being addressed in individual discussions being held with the agencies. It was determined that DCFS staff will work with CCA to convene a meeting of agencies to identify the current concerns about these contracts and DCFS� plans for them for next fiscal year.

The Finance and Administration Committee (see complete report from April 2 Monday Report) will continue to work with DCFS on decisions about using the Rate Methodology for next year, responses to the Auditor General�s recommendations for further scrutiny of agencies, bedhold procedures and crafting of excess revenue procedures.

Homemaker service rates were addressed. Most agencies that provide this service are facing deficits due to the costs exceeding the level of reimbursement. Current economic forces had exacerbated the funding problems: limited supply of workers, wage competition at the entry level, limited labor supply, and rising fixed costs including gasoline as well as heating and health care. As other contracts have decreased, agencies have fewer options of spreading administrative expenses or using private funds to offset the costs. DCFS did agree to hold a discussion with the private sector on the use of the homemaker services, utilization levels and future need, although staff did not promise a resolution of the issues. Nancy Ronquillo of the Children�s Foundation will lead the private sector discussion and work with Mary Sue Morsch of DCFS on the issue.

Best Practices staff reported current developments in bringing SACWIS development in the DCP Investigations arena to near conclusion. In the Permanency arena, staff is revising the Best Practices guidelines in response to Expert Panel input and themes that emerged from Focus Groups conducted with private agencies by Mary Debose. The next step will be development of SACWIS design on the permanency issues.

Training staff presented information on the Foundation Training (See complete report elsewhere in this Monday Report.) Diane Yost, Visiting Program Director, Title IV-E Training Waiver/Education Partnership presented an overview of the IV-E waiver, which DCFS anticipates getting in the near future. The goal is to partner with private child welfare agencies to extend its performance based system beyond permanencies to a more comprehensive improvement of quality in foster care and well being through enhanced training. DCFS� commitment to an expanded set of results-oriented policies, programs and performance goals will serve to assure safety, reduce number of placement changes and restriction, address health and education status, promote timely safe reunification and promote timely adoption and guardianship. The waiver process will identify 80-160 new private agency hires from Cook and Aurora sub-region who will receive enhanced training beyond the 20 day Foundation training. The content and extent of the enhancement will be determined through discussions between DCFS and a private sector advisory committee. There will be a control group that receives only the foundation training. The hypotheses suggest that the enhanced group will score higher on standardized tests of competence (professional performance and case outcomes), and that children in foster and kinship care will score better in following federal outcome areas.

The SED Committee reported on its progress (see complete report elsewhere in this Monday Report.) CWAC members suggested that as part of the residential training plan, the group conduct a survey of what agencies are currently providing in the way of training for residential staff. The next CWAC meeting will occur in August. (MB)

The Foundation Training Committee met in Chicago on May 7. New projected rollout dates for the 20-day foundation training were shared by DCFS. The pilots should start on May 21. To date, only 6 private agencies have agreed to send staff to the pilot. The regular training cycle will then begin July 16. This will allow time between the pilots and start up of the regular training to revise any curriculum or delivery area. During the pilot, DCFS training staff will conduct focus groups with selected participants and trainers to gather evaluative information on both content and delivery. Until the main rollout period and until the complete training cycle is published and disseminated, DCFS will continue to provide the 5 day preparation training currently in place. Notice of the training calendar should go out to agencies the week of May 21. Designated training sites will be Elgin for the Northern Region (which can serve as a Cook overflow when space permits) and Mt. Vernon for the Southern Region. If after the first 6 months there is an assessed need to change locations for these 2 regions, the committee can look at more centralized or accessible locations. In Central Region, the location will be Bloomington. The 35^th Street training center location or various Chicago area hotels will be used for the 3 Cook regions.

The foundation format is laid out with l6 classroom days and 4 days meant for fieldwork at the agency. There will be some training cycles that include holiday periods. Therefore, the 4 field days may not occur at the end of each week. Agencies may be expected to cover these field assignments before the trainee is in training or after they have completed the classroom sessions. If every cycle included all 4 field days, some of the cycles would actually extend for 5 to 6 weeks due to holidays. By being flexible on the use of the field days, this tightens the schedule somewhat.

The "rules of the road" or participation/attendance/behavior requirements for all those attending the training will be condensed into a one page, foldout brochure format and sent to all trainees upon confirmation.

Although the committee had previously recommended to DCFS that trainees not bring applications and accompanying documents to the first day of training, there is still some thinking from DCFS that they may need to implement this procedure in order to control the tracking of trainees. This will be further discussed over the next month.

The Supervisory information sessions were held in April. A total of 262 supervisors, mostly from private agencies attended the orientations. The committee identified a need to conduct these orientations periodically to assure new supervisors receive the benefit of the overview.

An informational video is in production and will soon be distributed to agencies. The video provides a general overview of the purpose of the training, intended impacts and general information for trainees. It can be used by agencies with new hires before they are sent to training.

There are also a number of issues still to be resolved as the training rolls out: how to coordinate training with the field and make curriculum available to agencies; what other participants (BSW/MSW interns, "possible" future staff) can attend training, how to evaluate the training content as well as the trainers, and process for possible revision of the curriculum. The training committee will meet one more time to solidify the calendar and resolve as many issues as possible. In the summer, DCFS hopes to have confirmed news from DHHS on the IV-E waiver to permit additional training of private agency staff. There will be 2 advisory committees associated with the waiver training: an executive level group to look at finance, impacts on trainees and agencies and systemic changes, and a second group to work on training content, delivery and selection of trainees. Diane Yost will coordinate both groups for the waiver. The final meeting of the Foundation Training Committee is July 17. (MB)

The CWAC SED Committee met in Chicago on May 10, 2001. Carmen Alvarez, DCFS Coordinator for the Burgos Consent decree (773-866-5579) provided information on the need for bi-lingual services for children and families while children are in residential care. This includes assuring the child�s understanding of Spanish is protected so he can continue communication with parents, that service plans and other required documents are translated into Spanish and that casework and counseling for parents is provided in the parent�s language. She urged agencies to develop creative ways to approach the need for bi-lingual services. This could include having a bi-lingual staff person on-call to provide advice for parents when children are on home passes, and hiring of local Spanish teachers as part time staff.

Committee reports were provided from the I/GH symposium work groups. The standards and outcomes work group is recommending development of outcomes in 5 domains: 1) Life-skills as evidenced by scores on Ansell-Casey and VABS; 2) Academics as evidenced by school attendance, and standardized school achievement test scores; 3) Vocational as evidenced by work attendance for adolescents 14 years of age and older; 4) Mental Health as evidenced by scores on CFAR and CAFUS and on specialized SACY tools; and 5) Case Management as evidenced by admission patterns (are admissions congruent with the population specified in the program plan), length of stay (should be shorter if admission standards are tighter) and discharge planning practices (e.g. is a discharge to in-patient hospitalization part of a formulated plan �or-are agencies using police intervention or detention when the child exhibits behavior for which he was originally referred for treatment?) The pilot consisting of application of standardized tests in 7 agencies is now entering phase 2 in which the tests will again be administered for comparison with initial scores. So far, it appears that the longer the period of time between testing, the better the scores. More data and analysis is needed from the pilot. There should then be some discussion of how to build capacity within agencies in order to administer the required tests, designing a time frame for administration, comparing Illinois data against other states and developing some self-assessment for agencies. DCFS administration will first have to commit to this process before a roll out schedule is completed.

The Residential Training committee will reconstitute into 2 work groups: a curriculum review, planning and content or technical work group and a negotiating work group that will look at the requirements of IV-E, arrangements among agencies, etc. The negotiating committee already met with UIC psychiatry, which has agreed to work on the training and to be the state university connection necessary for IV-E claiming. The committee is holding to the topics originally outlined in the first phase of the symposium work groups as well as to the principles of regionally based training, and training at regular intervals to allow for as much participation as possible and to address the needs which emerge due to turnover. Restraint training will be incorporated, probably using an approved model that addresses "to the floor" issues. The group is also clear that this should be a hand on, practical training as well as topically based, with a lot of participation and consultation from existing child care practitioners.

The Care Management committee has developed Draft #5 of Policy Guide for Admission To and Discharge From Residential Treatment Services. Many agencies have already reviewed this draft and provided comments. We encourage member agencies to give the draft a final review and submit comments to committee chair, Jimmie Smith of Central Baptist, fax: 847- 356-2436. (Copy of the document can be obtained by calling CCA Springfield office.) Questions were also raised about the Joint Planning committee. DCFS is reluctant to engage in a full l8 month planning process on residential use but is committed to discussing and analyzing usage trends and data they collect to aid agencies in understanding future needs.

Rule 384 comment period is over. DCFS is considering a slight change when the final rule is published that would permit existing positive peer culture programs to use peer restraint for a time limited "sunset" period. This provision must still be approved by the department�s law guardian. Agencies stated that a major issue of the Behavior Management Plan is still finding access to legal consultation without the attorney actually being on the agency�s board. DCFS and CCA will look at ways to determine what resources may be available for this through legal associations. DCFS staff need to work internally to develop a process for licensing review of behavior management plans.

The Independent Living providers meetings resumed in April. These will continue on a regular basis as the primary forum for addressing problems in ILO programs. A small work group will work with DCFS staff on identification of systemic issues. Initial implementation of the new policy shows a need for continued improvement in clarification of the roles of the clinical staffing participants and better communication with the teams and the DETS staff. Agencies should continue to track the process and time frames for ILO referral processes since this is still an area of confusion with DETS.

Members raised issues of how DCFS determined to submit legislation raising the age at which independence can be chosen as the goal to l6. This poses some challenges for providers. The intent of the legislation or the policy issue DCFS is trying to address was not discussed with the SED group for assessment of impact. There needs to be more attention in future agendas on these policy impact issues.

Tom Finnegan discussed recent audits of Medicaid programs and problems that ensue in comprehensive rate programs. Some of the reviewed files did not show any evidence of services being provided during Home Pass periods, yet the agencies billed for the day of care. Agencies must provide some type of service for each day they bill for a child on the comprehensive rate and must document this in the file. A policy on this is being drafted and will come to SED members for review and comment.

Responsibility within DCFS for Medicaid will transfer from Tom Finnegan to Roy Miller, although Mr. Finnegan will still be involved from the programmatic angle. Stephanie Hanks will head up the Medicaid efforts under Mr. Miller�s division. The next meeting of the SED committee is scheduled for August 9. (MB)

DCFS staff have asked us to share information on some common problems they observe cropping up with POS agencies submitting their CFS 418 forms to the DCFS Central Payment Unit.

Listed below are the common problems that the DCFS Central Client Payment Unit are seeing with the LOC reviews that are being submitted by the private agencies. The correct process that private agencies should follow is listed next to the problem:

1) POS agencies are sending more information than they need to the DCFS Central Payment Unit. They should only send the CFS 418 form (Level of Care Assessment Form) to the Payment Unit. The rest of the LOC documents and forms should be kept in the child's file.

2) Essential information on pages 5 and 6 of the CFS 418 form are often not completed. The following sections on page 5 and 6 of the CFS 418 form MUST be completed:

* Total score on the LOC

* LOC effective date (date the review was completed)

* Licensure status of the child's current placement

* child's name- on top of page 5 and 6

* child's ID-on top of page 5 and 6

* Reviewer's signature, phone number, and date

CCA also reminds agencies that LOC reviews must be conducted according to the schedule developed by DCFS or financial sanctions will apply. Additionally, DCFS will use an agency�s performance in the LOC reviews as part of the criteria for determining contract levels for next year. Questions can be directed to Melinda Woods-Lis of DCFS (312-814-6880.) (MB)

The proposed regulations still need to be reviewed in their entirety to identify any changes proposed in the PZZ process. Please call the CCA office and talk to Bridget Helmholz if you are unable to obtain the proposed regulations and if you have specific concerns. CCA must hear these ASAP in order to provide comments to the Corey H. Monitor, Judge Joseph Schneider. (BRH)

After the departure of Gordon Riffel from ISBE, several new administrators have been named. The new Acting Deputy Superintendent for Special Education is Christopher A. Koch, Ed.D. (217-782-5589). Dr. Koch is also the Division Administrator for LRE (312-814-5560). Ms. Kathryn Cox has been named Division Administrator of Intervention and Assessment (217-782-5589). Jack Shook remains Division Administrator of Compliance. (BRH)

Many CCA members have been working to advocate for a cost of doing business adjustment from the state of Illinois. Here are some of the ideas CCA members have shared about those efforts:

1. Letters to editors asking readers to support a cost of doing business increase for private, community based human service agencies.
2. Letters to legislators asking for support for a cost of doing business adjustment, attaching any printed letters to editors.
3. Involving staff by asking them to write to legislators in the legislative districts they live in, asking them to support the Cost of Doing Business
4. Involving Board members in writing letters to legislators and editors

For more information, assistance writing letters, editorial contacts, and more, contact Linda Lenzini of CCA at [email protected].

The National Child Care Development Association is made up of professionals who work in development, public relations and marketing in agencies that serve children with specialized needs. The association, first founded in 1989 through the encouragement and support of Lloyd Wagnon, who is currently working with a number of CCA members on development issues, will hold its 2002 Conference March 13^th � 15^th, 2002, In Chicago and is currently calling for papers. The particular area of focus is in the applications of public relations, marketing and development concepts or specialized supports for these functions in a child welfare setting.

For more information, contact Linda Lenzini at CCA at [email protected]., or Debbie Reed at Chaddock at [email protected].

Templates for media advisories, press releases and talking points for National Foster Care Month can now be found on the CCA website at http://www.cca-il.org. Go to the bottom of the home page and click on "Media Materials for National Foster Care Month." The available information available through CCA will help your agency plan and launch a public education program about foster care in your community. For additional ideas, resources, and suggestions on events, media attention, and advocacy, contact Linda Lenzini at [email protected]. Additional information with a national perspective is available on the Casey Family Programs website at www.casey.org/cnc (LLL)

The CCA Member Agency Salary and Benefit Survey is now available to CCA members and will be free of charge to CCA members who participated in it. The report includes information on salaries for workers in the child welfare field and covers a full range of job positions. The information is separated by geography and operating budget. An aggregate statewide salary report is also included. The benefits portion of the survey examines a range of benefits, recognizing that they are an integral part of compensation and thus comprise a substantial percentage of an agency�s operating budget. The report includes information on hours of employment, paid leave, holidays, medial plan eligibility, health and insurance health and wellness plans, retirement plans, tuition reimbursement, raises, bonus or incentive plans certification and licensing plans and staff turnover. Non-participating members may purchase the survey for $100; non-member cost is $150. To order a copy, contact Sandy Armstrong at the CCA offices, 217-528-4409, or e-mail her at [email protected].

Need assistance with media contacts, pitch letters, and other efforts to reach the media in your area? Contact CCA for assistance via phone or e-mail at [email protected] or [email protected]

The CCA Annual Membership Meeting is a little over two weeks away. The location is the Crowne Plaza in Springfield. If you are planning to attend please send your registration to the CCA by May 23^rd. If you need the information on the meeting and registration form, please call 217.528.4409 and someone will fax the information to you. (SKA)

May 16 � CCA Board of Directors Meeting, Crowne Plaza Hotel, Springfield, IL

May 17 � Chicago Child Care Society�s Annual Child Care Symposium "Coming Together As A Community". For registration, contact Erin Walton at 773/256-2464.

May 20-21 - Business and Education 2001 Conference, The Capital Hilton, Washington DC, contact

Customer Service (212) 339-0345.

June 26-27 - Tools to Effective Leadership Summer Academy: "A Framework for Understanding

Poverty and Learning Structures," Collinsville, IL. Call (618) 395-8626 for more information

June 28-29 - Tools to Effective Leadership Summer Academy: "A Framework for Understanding

Poverty and Learning Structures," Marriott Chicago Oak Brook, Oak Brook, IL. Call (618) 395-

8626 for more information.

July 25-27 � SUSTAINING KINSHIP TIES: PERMANENCY AND BEYOND--The third national kinship care conference, sponsored by the Child Welfare League of America, will be held July 25-27, 2001 at the Chicago Hilton and Towers. For more information contact the Child Welfare League at (202) 638-2952.