Effective Sept. 30, 2021, Family First Prevention Services Act (FFPSA) established new requirements for placements in congregate care facilities certified as qualified residential treatment programs (QRTP) including completion of QRTP assessments by qualified individuals (QIs).
Department staff are providing clarification on two aspects of the QRTP assessment process:
- Required documents QI’s review to complete assessment
- Engagement of family and permanency team members
A QRTP assessment must be completed prior to a QRTP placement or within 30 days of placement if it occurs due to a crisis situation. To ensure the QI has time to complete a QRTP assessment within the required timeframe, case workers must provide the QI with required information when the case is referred to a QI.
If a QI does not receive this information at the time of referral, the QRTP assessment is at risk of not being completed timely. Although a QRTP assessment takes approximately 12-18 hours to complete, it requires coordination with family and permanency team members for interviews who may not be readily available or need to be contacted multiple times. Most QI’s have full time jobs and are completing this work after hours or on weekends.
Information required
-
QRTP assessment referral form, which is also available in SSIS under the Participant/Documents node;
- List of Family and permanency team members including phone numbers and emails addresses of team members;
- Level of care determination (Minnesota Statutes, section 245.4885) as recommended in recent diagnostic assessment; and
- Documentation to a QI that referring case worker has signed releases of information (ROI’s). QI cannot contact youth or members of a family and permanency team without signed releases of information. ROI’s are the responsibility of placing agency.
Information not required
If a QI requests additional information, a case worker works with a QI to determine if the information is necessary to support information a QI has already collected during interviews with family and permanency team members. The responsible agency makes the determination if additional information is deemed necessary for a QRTP assessment.
The QI is not required to review other documents to complete a QRTP assessment such as but not limited to:
- Individual Education Plans (IEP’s)
- Psychiatric evaluations
- Previous residential program assessments/discharge paperwork
- Out-of-home placement plans
- Juvenile treatment screening team summaries.
Completing QRTP assessments require QIs to engage with child/youth and family and permanency team members.
During a juvenile treatment screening team meeting, when it is anticipated that placement in a QRTP will be discussed, a case worker should come prepared to recommend membership of a family and permanency team and bring necessary releases of information for signature by parent or guardian. Preparing for the QRTP assessment during the juvenile treatment screening team supports family engagement in determining membership of a family and permanency team and will result in a more thorough assessment.
The QRTP assessments must be completed in consultation (interviews) with the child/youth and family and permanency team members. It is imperative for a QI to have a diverse group of individuals to consult with so a QI has an understanding of a child’s needs and strengths. Information gathered by the QI will assist in determining the most appropriate and least restrictive placement setting for a child/youth.
Detailed information on the QI and QRTP assessment review is available in bulletin 21-68-22, Family First Prevention Services Act: Qualified residential treatment program (QRTP) assessment.
Information on the Family and permanency team is available in Family and Permanency Team practice guide, DHS-8120B (PDF)
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