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FFPSA established requirements to promote placement prevention services and limit the number of children/youth placed in child care institutions (congregate care). The new requirements for placing agencies are meant to ensure that children/youth receive the treatment and services they need within their family, a family foster care setting or in their community and only when that is not possible they are placed in a child care institution. If these new requirements are not met, county and tribal social service agencies will no longer receive federal Title IV-E reimbursement for out-of-home placement costs in these facilities. Existing child care institutions will be required to become certified as a qualified residential treatment program (QRTP). The requirements are effective Sept. 30, 2021, and apply to the following child care institutions:
- Children’s residential treatment
- Group homes
- Foster care residences (commonly known as corporate foster homes).
Policy and SSIS webinars as well as written guidance for FFPSA will be available through September. Policy webinars will contain policy information as well as data entry components in SSIS. SSIS Coffee talks will follow most policy webinars and focus on the navigation of these changes in SSIS.All SSIS mentors, coordinators and users are welcome. Webinars will be recorded and posted at a later date.
Registration is required for each session. Registration links to both policy webinars and SSIS Coffee Talks are as follows:
- Juvenile Treatment Screening Team Process and Documentation
Thursday, August 12, 2021
Policy Webinar 1:00 - 2:00 p.m.
Thursday, August 19, 2021 **Please note the date of this SSIS Coffee Talk webinar has changed**
SSIS Coffee Talk Webinar 2:30 – 3:30 p.m.
- QRTP Assessment Process and Qualified Individual Requirements
Tuesday, August 17, 2021
Policy Webinar 1:00 – 3:00 p.m.
SSIS Coffee Talk: 3:30 – 4:30 p.m.
- Out of Home Placement Plan
Tuesday, August 24, 2021
Policy Webinar 1:00 – 3:00 p.m.
SSIS Coffee Talk: 3:30 – 4:30 p.m.
- AFCARS Facility Classification Documentation in SSIS
Tuesday, August 31, 2021
Policy Webinar 1:00 – 3:00 p.m.
**No SSIS Coffee Talk Scheduled**.
- Family and Permanency Team’s Role in Assessment and Placement
Thursday, September 2, 2021
Policy Webinar 1:00 – 3:00 p.m.
SSIS Coffee Talk 3:30 – 4:30 p.m.
- Court Review for Placement and Extended Placement in QRTP
Thursday, September 9, 2021
Policy Webinar: 1:00PM to 2:00PM
SSIS Coffee Talk 2:30 – 3:30 p.m.
- Specialized Residential Settings for Youth who have been or At Risk for Sex Trafficking
Tuesday, September 14, 2021
Policy Webinar 1:00 - 2:30 p.m.
SSIS Coffee Talk 3:00 – 4:00 p.m.
- FFPSA and Expectant and Parenting Youth Overview
Thursday, September 23, 2021
Policy Webinar 1:00 – 2:30 p.m.
SSIS Coffee Talk 3:00 – 4:00 p.m.
- Specialized Residential Independent Living Facilities for Youth Age 18 Years and Older
Tuesday, September 28, 2021
Policy Webinar 1:00 – 2:00 p.m.
SSIS Coffee Talk 2:30 – 3:30 p.m.
The Minnesota Maltreatment of Minors Act requires child welfare agencies to make face to face contact immediately, or no more than 24 hours from the date and time a maltreatment report was received, with the alleged child victim in reports of sexual abuse and substantial child endangerment [Minn. Stat. § 260E.20, subd. 2(b)]. Beginning July 1, 2021, exceptions were added allowing delayed contact for reports of sexual abuse or substantial child endangerment. The new exceptions allow child welfare agencies to have face to face contact with the child within five calendar days when:
- The child resides in a location that is confirmed to restrict access with the alleged offender, or
- The child welfare agency is pursuing a court order for the caregiver to produce the child for questioning.
The updated statutory language requires the commissioner for the Department of Human Services to issue guidance, which is outlined in bulletin 21-68-12, for implementation by child welfare agencies.
The current SSIS waiver activity ended on June 30, 2021. In place, SSIS staff developed a temporary new activity that will allow agencies to record the information and the rationale for the delay in response time when initial face to face contact is postponed In accordance to Minn. Stat. § 260E.20, subd. 2(b).
- A new SSIS Activity: “CP Timeline Exception” is now available in SSIS, effective July 1, 2021.
- The new Activity is associate to the following BRASS Code and should be used on Staff time Records:
- 104 (Child Protection Investigation) and;
- 108 (Family Assessment Response)
- Workers can go back and adjust the time record now that the new “CP timeline exception” activity is available.
- Note: If the time record is locked, a request should be submitted to the SSIS Help Desk for a data fix to unlock the time record and update the time records with the new
A permanent SSIS solution for the exception is expected to be included in an SSIS release later this year. Please reach out to the SSIS Help Desk if you need any technical assistance.
Join a 90 minute workshop to give feedback on the proposed plan and process for collecting Child Welfare Services case and workload data for the DHS Caseload Study. The Improve Group will present on the data collected from county caseworkers and supervisors this summer about case and workload, and ask for feedback on the way they plan to capture case and workloads this fall. You must register to participate. Please invite any colleagues affected by or interested in case/workload monitoring. Reach out to Karissa Propson with any questions at karissap@theimprovegroup.com.
Friday September 10, 8:30-10AM: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZcvde6orTkrGdRZZAHnC9BCjECbXVXpdpCs
The Find Panel is used to filter and search for keywords within grid search results.
This feature filters records based on keywords and highlights the keywords included in the search area. All visible columns in the grid are searched for the keywords entered. If a column is not visible, add it to the grid.
To exclude a column from the search, remove the column from the grid.
General rules to remember when using the “Find Panel” feature:
- A space must exist between each word
- Enter a plus (+) sign in front of the keyword if it MUST be in the record
- Enter a minus (–) sign in front of the keyword to exclude the records included with the keyword
- Use the percent (%) sign as a wildcard for an unlimited number of characters
Example: John% will find both Johns and Johnson
- Use the underscore (_) as a wildcard for a single character
Example: Anders_n will find both Anderson and Andersen
- Searching for common words such as “the” and “and” may generate larger results than anticipated
Turn this feature on by clicking Find Panel from the Grid Action Menu
or using Ctrl F.
Turn this feature off by clicking Find Panel from the Grid Action
Menu, which removes the checkmark, or by clicking the red x in the Find
Panel. The Find Panel remains in the grid until it is removed by the user. If a Manage Grid Setting with the Find Panel active is saved, the Find Panel remains part of the users saved Manage Grid Settings.
Effective July 27, a change was implemented in SSIS requiring users to create stronger passwords when prompted to change them in SSIS. If a “weak” or “easily guessed” password is created, SSIS will reject the password and a “Server Threw An Exception” error will display. When this occurs the user must create a new stronger password. Please keep in mind new passwords must contain one uppercase letter, one lowercase letter, one number, and one special character
Emergency Background Studies
Instructions with the steps and information entities need to submit an emergency background study are available on NETStudy 2. Frequently asked questions about emergency background studies are also available on the background studies COVID-19 webpage.
Adoption-only background studies and emergency background studies for foster care
This information was originally released in the February 2021 Permanency Support Issue of the CSP Update.
When a child foster care provider is planning to adopt a child under guardianship of the commissioner, but their foster care home study was approved using emergency background studies, adoption-only background studies can be completed on each prospective adoptive parent and all required household members to fulfill background study requirements for adoption and Northstar Adoption Assistance eligibility. This option is only currently available to foster families who are adopting a child under guardianship of the commissioner and whose foster care license was issued using emergency background studies.
Adoption-only background studies have different procedures than child foster care and emergency background studies. Adoption-only background studies are completed using hard fingerprint cards, where fingerprints are taken manually, not electronically, and processed via the former NETStudy system (not NETStudy 2.0). Gemalto Thales fingerprinting sites cannot be used for fingerprint requests for adoption-only background studies, as those locations are for electronic fingerprinting for NETStudy 2.0.
If pursuing this option, agencies should provide fingerprint authorization forms to prospective adoptive parents and all required household members, and direct them to take the form to a location that will complete hard fingerprint cards, such as a local law enforcement or sheriff’s office. The agency who completed the foster care home study for a family must complete a home study update upon receiving the adoption-only background study results.
When submitting Adoption Placement Agreements (APA) to DHS staff in this situation, results from both types of background studies (emergency and adoption-only) must be submitted with the APA.
If you have questions about this option, contact Kathleen Hiniker, permanency unit supervisor, at kathleen.a.hiniker@state.mn.us.
This information was also published in the SSIS Permanency Update, April 1, 2021.
Family First Prevention Services Act
The Family First Prevention Services Act (FFPSA) requires that all staff working in a Title IV-E Group Children’s Residential Facility (CRF) receive fingerprint-based “Adam Walsh” background checks in order to meet Title IV-E child safety requirements.
To assist counties and initiative tribes with claiming Title IV-E reimbursements for these placements, we will periodically update the list of facilities that have met the background checks safety requirements.
Click here for an updated list of facilities in compliance
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