MONDAY REPORT
February 19, 2002
SPECIAL NOTE: Copyright 2002. 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.
Table
of Contents
CCAI�s
SPRING MEMBERSHIP MEETING
CHILD
WELFARE ADVISORY COMMITTEE REPORT
�
Committee Reports were provided by:
�
Federal Child and Family Services Review:
CWLA
MIDWEST PUBLIC POLICY COMMITTEE
CCAI�s SPRING MEMBERSHIP MEETING
You should have received a �Save the Date� information page and
registration for the Association�s Spring Membership Meeting. Further
information on the meeting will be sent to you as soon as possible.
In the meantime, if you would like to take advantage of the early bird
registration fee, please send us your registration and fee before March 4th.
CCAI now accepts Visa, Mastercard, and American Express.
Please call the CCAI office to charge your registration fee.
There will be a Leadership Dinner at 6:15 at The Hyatt Lodge on March 20th.
Executive Directors and executive level staff are invited to join the
CCAI board at the dinner. Guest
speaker will be Jerry Stermer, President, Voices for Illinois Children.
On March 21st the Membership Meeting will begin at 9:30 a.m.
with registration at Hamburger University Conference Center, Room 222, adjacent
to the Hyatt Lodge. Topics will
include: CCAI Three-Year Strategic Directions; Specialized Foster Care
Developments; Trends in Residential Care; CCAI Outcomes Findings and Future
Directions; Current Illinois Budget Status; and Legislative Agenda.
If you need a registration form please call the CCAI office at
217.528.4409, ext. 22.
Reservations at Hyatt Lodge: If you need an overnight room at The Lodge you need
to call 800.233.1234 or 630.990.5800 before February 26th to
guarantee a rate of $113.00. There
are only a few rooms left in our block, so please call now if you need a room.
Be sure to say you are attending the CCAI meeting.
(SKA)
CHILD WELFARE ADVISORY COMMITTEE REPORT
CWAC met in
Chicago on February 15.
Director
McDonald shared his current thoughts on the status of the extremely tight state
budget and impacts on DCFS. DCFS
general fund budget was $925 million+ for FY�02 which represented a small
increase from FY�01. Twenty five million was cut in November and an additional
$35 million will be cut from FY�03. They are expected to be diligent in
drawing all federal funds possible. Their budget assumes maximum foster parent
reimbursements for licensed homes. This impacts the current unlicensed kinship
homes and the imminent imposition of DHS policies preventing administrative
reimbursement for unlicensed placements, if the rate of licensing does not
significantly improve. Additionally,
DCFS has to be concerned about 2 year periods. If there is significant excess
draw down from the Children�s Services budget this puts stress on FY�04.
There could be additional cuts imposed if the state revenue continues to fall.
If there are further cuts, DCFS will have to look at prioritizing service areas.
Some programs will be immediately impacted. Placement Stabilization is already
being reviewed. There will be significant shrinkage of Specialized Foster Care.
Status
of Homemaker services was discussed. In the previous CWAC meeting, the Director
had announced DCFS� agreement to change the program plan and revise the rate
structure. That has now changed. As Bureau of the Budget reviewed DCFS� budget
for �03, cautions were issued about unauthorized rate increases. As DCFS
finance staff reviewed the revised program plan, it did not seem it would
survive BOB scrutiny as being sufficiently new and different. Given the scenario
of the entire state budget situation, DCFS has now chosen not to pursue the
potential increase. Providers reinforced the severe financial situation in some
Homemaker programs. Additionally, the group stressed that the work group
highlighted the inequities in Homemaker use across regions and the disparities
between DCFS foster care and POS foster care use.
DCFS staff did agree that regional staff should not be applying any of
the recommended program plan changes since the rate did not change. This issue
may be revisited later in the spring, as the total state budget scenario becomes
clearer.
� Committee Reports were provided by:
 | FAS
(See Monday Report of January 21 for full report.) Bed Hold policy is now
out for comment. (CCAI I/GH agencies will receive this draft the week of
2/19.) |
| SED
(See Report following.) DCFS staff suggested that the review of more
diligent use of ILO for 18-21 year olds suggests many of the kids will not
have the educational levels suggested by the current policy. Programs will
need to develop strong educational support components to properly prepare
these children for independence. |
| Foster
Care Infrastructure (See Monday
Report of February 4 and materials mailed to all F/C agencies this week
for complete report.) This work group must grapple with the challenges
suggested by standardization of program plans and rates proposed at the
same time as significant shrinkage of the specialized population and
increased use of the wraparound concepts for special needs kids. |
| Front
End: DCFS staff are looking at
Intact Service issues and examining the discrepancies between Cook and
non-Cook in the areas of length of service, rate of recidivism and rates
of children placed. There should be further discussion both via the expert
panel and the CWAC Front End group how to develop a more focused,
short-term, safety-oriented approach to achieve required outcomes. |
� Federal Child and Family Services Review:
Mike
Sumski of DCFS QA reported on the preparatory audits conducted thus far of
agencies to prepare for the Federal Audit. Illinois will be formally reviewed
for compliance by the feds in the fall of 2003 and DCFS intends to conduct
preparatory reviews of all agencies by next January. The results of the federal
audit could have severe financial implications for Illinois. Any financial
penalties would impact private agency programs. DCFS� goal is to for Illinois
to meet the federal requirement: �States must receive substantially achieved
ratings on all outcomes in 90% of the cases reviewed.�
The current audit results point to Illinois� rate of compliance with
federal outcomes and demonstrates the gaps between current rates and the
required targets by region and agency. A full report on audits thus far is
available in a bound version by contacting DCFS Division of Quality Assurance at
312-814- 4650. Agencies that have not yet been reviewed are asked to volunteer
for the next round of reviews. (MB)
CWAC SED
Committee met in Chicago on February 14. Jeff Burhmann of DCFS outlined the task
for Safety/Emergency Planning for Group Homes and Institutions. Since September
11 there is increased scrutiny of state agency disaster plans. DCFS� scope is
intensified because of its responsibility for dependent children. DCFS hopes to
develop a reasoned and reasonable plan in consultation with private providers.
SED members agreed with the charge and signed onto a work group that will first
collect and review existing plans at I/GH agencies and then determine how to
frame a master DCFS plan. CCAI will be working with DCFS on this, as well.
 | Standards/Outcomes:
The Standards/Outcomes/Quality Assurance work group reported that data is
being entered on the web site. Agencies previously encountered difficulty in
entering medical data due to blurring on the screen. This problem has been
fixed, so agencies can now re-enter that material, if necessary.
Additionally, when there is no IQ score available for a child, the score of
200 should be entered. This score will flag NU that there is no score
available. There is also a different procedure for late entries. Previously,
entries more than 2 weeks old were locked out of the database and had to be
mailed. For the next 6 months, the data system will accept late entries but
will flag them as late. This is being done purely to avoid parallel
automated and paper systems. Agencies are still expected to comply with
timeframes. |
| Training:
The Residential Child Care Worker Training Work Group reported that the
competencies for each of the 7 modules are developed. UIC will develop the
actual curriculum using these competencies and materials gathered from many
experts. There are also recommendations for registration, evaluation
structure, screening process for trainers and frequency of training cycles.
The current plan will now be reviewed to assure eligibility for
reimbursement for IV-E funds. Still to be determined is whether the training
will be mandatory for all workers, and how agencies with potential trainers
and training facilities can apply as providers in this area. |
| Joint
Planning: The Joint Planning Work
Group reported they are working with DCFS on development of a resource
matrix by program profile and child needs. This will match children�s
needs with available programs and community resources and identify where
there may be service gaps. |
| Care
Management/Community Linkages: The
Care Management and Community Linkages reported discussions on how to
enhance older adolescent�s linkages back to communities of origin or
preference when they are released from guardianship. There are challenges in
helping them understand what resources are available for them in these
communities. |
This
group also recommended a pilot that will be implemented in Cook South and
Central Region on ILO. Clinical managers in these regions will make the intake
decision for ILO referrals and avoid going through DETS. There will also be
efforts for more rapid evaluation and intake processes for the 18-21 year olds
to avoid lengthy waiting periods once decision is made that they can transition
from residential to ILO.
| UIR
and Medicaid: The Medicaid and
UIR Work Groups reported on their recent meeting (see complete reports
elsewhere in this Monday Report.) The
UIR group identified that foster care cases are getting UIR numbers more
quickly via AP than residential cases are getting from DCFS workers. There
is also a need to assure all agency staff have been trained on the current
UIR plan since training was rolled out at the same time as the last minute
changes to UIR were being developed. |
| Medical
Consents: Agencies also reported
problems in obtaining medical consents in a timely way since Gatekeepers
were phased out. Requests are sitting on supervisor desks for a long time
and the Consent Unit has been reluctant to cover. DCFS staff agreed to look
into this problem. |
| Bed
Holds: The group discussed the
proposed Bed Hold Procedures that are now out for review and comment. This
draft represents many previous versions and discussions with the department.
It offers concrete procedures to protect agencies although there are
challenges associated with reporting time frames. There are also changes
DCFS wants to make which involve extracting the board portion of rate from
bed hold days when a child does not return, unless the agency can prove it
had other purchasers for the bed for those days. Additionally, some SED
members felt the Bed Hold policy would have significant clinical impacts.
CCAI members will receive a copy of this Bed Hold procedure for
review next week. We encourage members to share this with residential staff
and to express their concerns on clinical or payment issues in their
comments to DCFS. The
next SED meeting is April 11. (MB) |
The
UIR work group met on Feb. 6, 2002. First
issue addressed was criteria being used for approvals/denials. . DCFS reported
that it received approximately 40 requests for waivers. These waivers often included multiple requests.
They indicated that they were more likely to approve requests where the
behavior was low risk, and if it involved aggression, the aggression was not
assaultive behavior. No requests for restraint reporting were approved. The DCFS
staff reported that often times there were no previous incidences of the
requested behavior on file in the state record of UIR.s. The staff reported that
they had approximately a 25 percent approval rate, however Jane Gatner would be
providing us with specific statistics regarding this issue, broken down by the
type of incident/waiver.
The staff from
the private agencies reported that many people had stopped applying for waivers
as the approval rate was very low. They also indicated that the paperwork
involved in requesting a waiver exceeded the paperwork necessary to report the
incident. A discussion of the process of reviewing waivers and
notifying staff of the reason for their denial indicated that there is some
confusion regarding procedures that will be corrected.
The staff from the private agencies suggested that there be a phone call
at the end of the process to review why a waiver was denied. In some instances
the staff reported that licensing was not willing to go along with the waiver
for reporting incidents, in spite of the procedures being published.
Second major
issue discussed was the fact that most incidents reported by private agencies
had not been notified of the incident report ID number needed to complete the
Disposition. This is running anywhere between 50 percent for foster care
cases and 100 percent for some residential agencies.
A number of agencies indicated that they have been sending the
disposition form with the incident report as a way of circumventing this.
Committee
agreed to review the final procedures as distributed and make recommendations to
resolve the following issues:
1
� review all listed behaviors that can be waived in light of other procedures
and policies requiring they be reported.
2
� UIR training will be reviewed to identify areas to improve consistency in
training.
3
� review the distribution data of waivers that have been approved or denied
based on specific behaviors and risk factors to increase the frequency of
successful requests.
4
� develop draft revisions for the UIR waiver procedure to incorporate the
issues addressed above.
5
� maintain contact with Larry Small of DCFS in order to assure the
appropriateness of waiver requests.
6-
DCFS staff will use the UIR data presented by participants to confirm the
database for accuracy in capturing the UIR�s that have been submitted.
7-
the workgroup suggested that any wavers that are submitted could include UIR�s
prior to the 9-1-01 start-date of the current system to document prior behavior.
(We thank Ed
Sherk of Shelter, Inc. for this report.) (MB)
Last week,
Senators Joseph Lieberman (D-CT) and Rick Santorum (R-PA) introduced the Charity
Aid, Recovery, and Empowerment (CARE) Act of 2002 (S. 1924) which includes tax
incentives for charitable giving and other support to help nonprofit
organizations address community needs. The
Senators who co-sponsored the bill include: Evan Bayh (D-IN), Sam Brownback
(R-KS), Jean Carnahan (D-MO), Hillary Clinton (D-NY), Thad Cochran (R-MS), Orrin
Hatch (R-UT), Richard Lugar (R-IN) and Bill Nelson (D-FL).The Charitable Giving
Incentives Package, Title I of the CARE Act, creates eight new or enhanced ways
to encourage all Americans to expand their generosity and increase giving.
Three of the more notable provisions of the package are: 1) the
charitable deduction for nonitemizers, 2) the IRA Charitable Rollover, and 3)
the reform of the excise tax on net investment income of private foundations.
For a summary or the full text of the legislation, please visit www.independentsector.org.
Agencies may also wish to sign on to a letter of thanks to the sponsor and to
express support for the proposed CARE legislation. A standard letter is also
available on this web site. CCAI has signed on in support of this legislation
via a joint letter from the Alliance. (MB)
The CWAC
Medicaid Workgroup met at the Baby Fold in Bloomington on Feb. 7, 2002.
The agenda included SACWIS; HIPAA; Suspension, Termination and Appeal
Procedures; Post-Payment Reviews; Additional FY01 Billing Runs for Comp
Programs; Certification of Campus-Based Programs and 45 Day Pre and Post Billing
for FFS Contracts.
The issue
related to what elements related to Medicaid would be included in SACWIS was
discussed and what actions were occurring within DCFS and the SACWIS Advisory
Committee to address the issue. A
small workgroup was formed with representatives from POS agencies, DCFS co-chair
of Medicaid Workgroup, representative from Infant Parent Institute and SACWIS
project staff from DCFS. It was
reported that there is a meeting on March 5th with Director McDonald
to review the service plan information developed for SACWIS so the group needed
to meet prior to that date in order to submit at least preliminary
recommendations related to Medicaid needs.
The group scheduled a meeting on Feb. 25, 2002 at 1:00 to begin review of
Medicaid needs in relation to SACWIS.
Stephanie Hanko,
DCFS co-chair of the Medicaid Workgroup, reported on the status of HIPAA
requirements and the potential impact on child welfare services.
There are two parts to implementation of the HIPAA requirements � one
relates to transaction codes and one relates to privacy aspects. Compliance with the code transaction requirements has a
deadline date of October 2002 and the privacy aspects deadline is April 2003.
The more critical issue is related to the privacy aspects.
What impact will the privacy requirements have on client information
systems? Stephanie noted that DCFS
attorneys had initialed reviewed the requirements and determined DCFS was not
affected. With ongoing discussions
with DPA, that position has now changed. Also
what will be the impact on the development of the SACWIS application?
A meeting was facilitated by the Governor�s with a large number of
state agencies to review what is happening in Illinois with HIPAA.
There are no funds in the FY03 state budget to address the HIPAA
requirements. It was suggested that CCAI take a look at the regs on behalf
of its members to determine what minimum preparation agencies could be working
on now and what steps are needed for agencies to ramp up.
Also check with other organizations to determine what steps they have
taken and review potential for joint seminars or training.
(JMS)
Last November, Governor Ryan announced a
number of budget cuts in the response to the projected $500 million deficit in
the current year�s operating budget. Original reports indicated that most of the Fiscal Year 02
budget increase for Healthy Families Illinois would be eliminated.
Fortunately, the final reduction of $249,000 in the FY02 Healthy Families
budget was less than was originally anticipated.
However, as a result of this cut, the amount allocated for expanding HFI
services this year was decreased by 50%; the Illinois Department of Human
Services has notified the 14 HFI grantees affected.
For FY03 members of the HFI Policy and Advocacy Committee have expressed
concern about the possibility of any further reductions in the Fiscal Year 03
budget for HFI which begins July 1, 2002. A
review of the Healthy Families line in the FY 03 budget that is announced this
week will be provided to members. (JMS)
CWLA MIDWEST PUBLIC POLICY COMMITTEE
The CWLA Midwest Public Policy Committee met
in Chicago on Feb. 7th and 8th.
Legislative priorities for the League during this Congressional session
will be: 1.) TANF Reauthorization; 2.) Child Protection/Alcohol and Drug
Partnership Act; 3.) The Younger Americans Act; 4.) Social Services Block Grant
Restoration Act; 5.) Child Protection Services Improvement Act � this includes
the workforce issue; 6.) The Act to Leave No Child Behind.
With the introduction of the federal FY03 budget, TANF has received level
funding so at this point it is not the administration�s position to cut
funding to TANF. Juvenile Justice
reauthorization is on hold for the moment.
Republicans had amendments they wanted to offer which were very
controversial. (JMS)
Feb. 21 � Downstate Agencies Cash Flow
Meeting
Feb. 25 � Medicaid/SACWIS work group �
Bloomington
Feb. 28 � Healthy Families Advocacy/Policy
Committee
March 5 - �Discipline of Students with
Special Needs in Illinois,� Bev Johns, Gary Kerr,
Springfield IL, register by phone:715-833-3959
March 8-9 � 2002 Spring Foster and Adoptive Parent Conference��Every
Child is a Success
Story.� Crowne Plaza
Hotel, Springfield.
March 12 � CWAC SACWIS Advisory Committee
March 20 � CCA Board Meeting and Leadership Dinner, The Hyatt Lodge, Oak
Brook
March 21 � CCAI�s Spring Membership Meeting, Hamburger University
Conference Center,
Oak Brook
May 3 - Learning Disabilities Association of
Illinois Spring Workshop, featuring Reed Martin,
Special
Education Attorney, Holiday Inn, Naperville, (708) 430-7532
| For further information on any of the
above, contact the staff member noted in parentheses at the end of the
text: MB
= Marge Berglind 312/819-1950
([email protected]) JMS = Jan Schoening
217/528-4409 ext. 25 ([email protected])
BRH= Bridget Helmholz 217/528-4409
ext. 24 ([email protected]) BMO=Barb Oldani
217/528-4409 ext. 21 ([email protected])
|
RJS=Rommel J. Sangalang 217/528-4409
ext.26 (RJS@cca-il.org) SKA = Sandy Armstrong
217/528-4409 ext. 22 ([email protected]) LLL = Linda Lenzini
217/528-4409 ext. 27 ([email protected]) CMS=Cindy Stich
217/528-4409 ext. 23 ([email protected]) |
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