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FFPSA documentation is now available on the SSIS Resource page. Documentation can be found under SSIS Training>Worker Documentation>Family First Prevention Services Act.
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. SSIS mentors, coordinators and users are welcome. All FFPSA policy and SSIS webinars will be recorded and posted to the Minnesota Child Welfare Training Academy website.
Registration is required for each session and will close one hour prior to the event. Registration links to the remaining policy webinars and SSIS Coffee Talks are as follows:
- 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 SEY/STY tutorial has been updated to reflect upcoming changes due to the Family First Prevention Services Act. SEY/STY documentation is located under the Worker Documentation section of the SISS Resources page.
Treatment coordination is a treatment service involving the deliberate, collaborative planning of SUD services with the client and other professionals involved in the client’s care. A new job aide discusses the new programs, service changes and SSIS billing released in SSIS v21.3.
Please contact the SSIS Help Desk if you have any questions.
The SSIS Adult Protection Worker course follows the life of a vulnerable adult maltreatment case starting with the intake received from the Minnesota Adult Abuse Reporting Center (MAARC) through the investigation and closing of a case. This is a technical training designed to provide overview of data entry as related to Adult Protective Services (APS) into SSIS. Training is offered in two half-day virtual classes and is designed for new adult protection workers, SSIS Mentors, and for those seeking refresher.
Training dates and registration can be found on the SSIS Adult Protection Worker Training page.
The SSIS Adult Protection Module is now being updated quarterly versus annually. The Frequently Asked Questions document is ongoing and information will be added as needed.
In the 21.3 release, there was an enhancement to the Activity screen to allow for more detailed documentation of caseworker visits with a child in foster care. Specifically, this enhancement allows for documentation if a child 4 years or older is interviewed at caseworker visits outside the presence of their foster parents, unless there are exceptional, documented circumstances such that it would not be in the child’s best interest to do so. This typically applies to Child Protection, Children’s Mental Health Developmental Disabilities, and Child Welfare workgroups.
Completion of this additional information is not mandated statewide, but should be utilized uniformly at the discretion of each Agency for applicable situations. This section should be disregarded if not applicable and if not required by an agency.
Enhancements for additional rules for this change are pending. More details to come.
Beginning September 28, 2021 additional SSIS Child Protection Basics courses will be available for enrollment in TrainLink. The SSIS Child Protection (CP) Basics courses focus on data entry requirements for caseworkers using a “life of a case” model and various activities pertaining to learning content. These courses are designed for new staff or support staff that enter data into SSIS. This training is also available for new SSIS Mentors and for those seeking a refresher. Classes can be taken as a series or individuals can choose which course(s) to take based on the work they do for their agency.
Class schedules, prerequisites, and registration details can be found here.
The statewide release notes and PowerPoint for v21.3 have been uploaded to the SSIS Resource page. SSIS Statewide releases include enhancements, fixes and new requirements from the Federal and State government.
We want to thank Nicollet, Freeborn, and Sherburne counties for their efforts piloting V21.3.
Special thanks to Hennepin County for completing functionality testing for all Family First related items.
If your agency is interested in piloting Version 21.4, please contact Lisa Litchfield. Pilot begins October 27th through to November 29, with statewide release on November 30, 2021. Information on what will be included in 21.4 will be available soon.
The following issue was fixed in 21.3 release and no longer requires a manual work around:
“Problem Description? Person Merge: The Merge is not keeping any Professionally Determined Conditions records if the keeper person did not originally have a Professionally Determined Conditions record with any Status”
Background
Extended Foster Care has been a requirement for many years. When a youth in foster care turns 18, they may be eligible for Extended Foster Care. County and tribal agencies must continue extended foster care as long as the youth remains eligible and engaged in case planning, potentially up to age 21. If the youth is Title IV-E eligible, the agency may earn Title IV-E revenue to offset the cost by including the expenditures on the Child Foster Care Report. The non-federal portion of eligible costs on the Child Foster Care Report is included in Northstar Care for Children, earning additional state share through the Northstar Care fiscal reconciliation process.
What’s new?
Due to the pandemic, the federal Consolidated Appropriations Act has temporarily expanded the requirements of extended foster care. It requires counties and tribes to permit youth in extended foster care to continue (or in some cases resume) in foster care, including up to age 22, through September 30, 2021. Details on these requirements and how to enter in SSIS may be found in Bulletin #21-68-11 “Temporary Changes Allow Youth to Remain in/Re-enter Foster Care During the Pandemic” (April 2, 2021).
Getting Reimbursed
Agencies should strive to include these costs on the Child Foster Care Report, eliminating as many proofing errors as possible. If the data is otherwise correctly entered into SSIS, DHS will use queries to sidestep errors such as those who are age 21.
For youth who are Title IV-E eligible, DHS will reimburse agencies with Title IV-E revenue and will include these expenditures in the Northstar Care fiscal reconciliation process to earn additional state share. Agencies must complete a new Title IV-E eligibility determination for each youth who re-enters foster care, using special Title IV-E eligibility instructions in the bulletin.
For youth who are not Title IV-E eligible (even under the special Title IV-E eligibility) and are part of this required expansion of Extended Foster Care, DHS intends to reimburse agencies using temporarily available federal Chafee funds.
The details for these temporary reimbursement processes are still being developed. Please be patient.
If you have questions on Title IV-E or Northstar Care revenue, please contact Sheena Lossing at sheena.lossing@state.mn.us or (651) 431-3781, Dave Piechowski at dave.piechowski@state.mn.us or (651) 431-3484, or Erin Kintop at erin.a.kintop@state.mn.us or (651) 431-3765. On Chafee revenue, please contact Christi Tosarello at Christine.tosarello@state.mn.us or (651) 431-3740 , or Erin Kintop at erin.a.kintop@state.mn.us or (651) 431-3765. For help with SSIS aspects of the Child Foster Care Report, please contact the SSIS Help Desk at (651) 431-4801 or dhs.ssishelp@state.mn.us. For assistance on Extended Foster Care policy issues, please contact Nicolas Vogel at Nicolas.vogel@state.mn.us or (651) 431-4707.
Northstar Care Fiscal Update
As noted last quarter, the state fiscal year 2022 Northstar Care Basic and Supplemental Rates become effective July 1, 2021 and continue through June 30, 2022. The rates for the Pre-Northstar Care legacy programs remain the same, and both old and new rates are available in SSIS. For details, please see bulletins #21-32-02 “Northstar Care for Children Basic and Supplemental Payment Rates and Initial Clothing Allowance” (April 23, 2021) and #21-32-01 “Pre-Northstar Foster Care Program Maintenance Rates” (April 23, 2021). (Bulletin #21-32-02 as originally issued has an error for Supplemental Level L, displaying an incorrect value for the daily rate. The correct value is $36.49 and a corrected bulletin will be issued. SSIS has the correct rates.)
DHS has been focused on competing priorities, but intends to complete three initial Northstar Care Fiscal Reconciliations for counties before Labor Day:
- 2020 Q3 as of 2020 Q4
- 2020 Q4 as of 2021 Q1
- 2021 Q1 as of 2021 Q2
As part of the upcoming Family First changes, effective October 1, 2021, corporate foster care (foster residence settings) will no longer be eligible for Northstar Care state share. Accordingly, such costs will not be included in Northstar Care Fiscal Reconciliations as of October 1.
Please see the section on Temporary Expansion of Extended Foster Care for additional Northstar Care information.
If you have questions, concerns, or need further assistance, please contact Sheena Lossing at sheena.lossing@state.mn.us or (651) 431-3781, Dave Piechowski at dave.piechowski@state.mn.us or (651) 431-3484, or Erin Kintop at erin.a.kintop@state.mn.us or (651) 431-3765. For help with SSIS aspects of Northstar Care Fiscal Reconciliations, Child Foster Care Report, RCA Report please contact the SSIS Help Desk at (651) 431-4801 or dhs.ssishelp@state.mn.us.
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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