|
Pilot agencies are currently being sought for SSIS Statewide Release v22.3. Pilot begins July 27 and continues until statewide release August 24, 2022. Agencies piloting the new release receive priority help desk assistance and have the opportunity to be the first to try new functionality and provide feedback on issues and concerns. If interested in being a pilot agency, contact the SSIS Help Desk.
What’s new in SSIS v22.3:
- Child Mental Health Screening: Revised screen to allow saving updates without all required fields filled in. The system will warn the user it is not complete and allow the save. Also, a title for the screen was added. It is a hyperlink to a tip sheet.
- Template Search: When a user goes to Documents and then the Document Search screen, it will no longer have the blue [E} on the page. It is not needed for selection of a template and this will prevent users from over riding a template.
- Permanency folder allows Action of "New Team Member" but no longer results in an error. Clicking the Permanency folder, then on a QRTP Family and Permanency Team record, the Action menu allows "New Team Participants" without an error.
- Defect fixed: QRTP placements are able to be calculated when a child has multiple placements.
- Out of Home Placement Plan (OHPP): The "Effective to date" is now required to be at least 150 days after the "Effective from date" in order to save the "Setup" tab. The rule will be enforced on all new OHPPs and any OHPPs created after the 21.3 release where the "Setup" tab is not complete.
- County Preferences: Email addresses entered in the "EPS Notifications" fields no longer clear when turning notifications off.
When an agency is working with an expectant/parenting youth in out of home placement, the agency needs to complete the Expectant/Parenting Youth screen in SSIS. This is required by the Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System (AFCARS) for youth aged 10 years and older in a Continuous Placement with a Start Date on or after September 1, 2020. When the youth is parenting, the youth’s child needs to be entered as a client in the workgroup. The relationship also needs to be entered on the Relationship screen. Clients are individuals within the household who receive services or are the subject of a report. All clients must be added to workgroups. For more information about the Expectant/Parenting youth screen see the Expectant and Parenting Youth document on the SSIS Worker Documentation page.
Questions should be directed to the SSIS Help Desk.
The removal condition of “Safe Place for Newborns relinquishment of parental rights” must be used only when Safe Place for Newborns applies. It is very important that this option is selected only in this instance, as this data is used to report on infants relinquished via Safe Place for Newborns provisions.
For Safe Place for Newborns to apply, the following criteria must be met:
- The infant must have been born within 7 days of being left with an employee at a designated safe place.
- The infant must not be harmed.
- The infant must be anonymously relinquished so that information about their identity is not known.
Do NOT use Safe Place for Newborns as a removal condition when:
- Infants are placed on holds due to:
- Their parent having prior involuntary terminations of parental rights or transfers of custody
- Possible or confirmed prenatal exposure
- Open child protection or foster care placements for their sibling/s.
- A parent wishes to voluntarily terminate their parental rights, and the parent’s identity is known. This includes when a parent gives birth in a hospital and does not want to parent their newborn.
- An infant is abandoned, rather than relinquished to an employee at a designated safe place. For example, Safe Place for Newborns does not cover situations where infants are left at churches, fire halls, or police stations, or when infants are dropped off at a designated safe place but without a safe place employee’s involvement (e.g., “baby boxes”).
For more information on Safe Place for Newborns, including when it does or does not apply, refer to bulletin #21-68-16, Overview of Safe Place for Newborns Law.
Agencies are reminded to split payments for placements in group facility settings that started on or after September 30, 2021. The first 14 days of each new placement should be paid separately from day 15 moving forward in order to claim the first 14 days. IV-E reimbursability indicators on those placements must be set to Yes in SSIS.
Only Qualified Residential Treatment Program (QRTP) placements have proofing messages for the first 14 days of the placement enabling many IV-E Eligible and Reimbursable youth placed in other group facility settings to be claimed.
Additional information can be found on the Minnesota Child Welfare Training Academy website under Webinar Recordings>Title IV-E and FFPSA (10/06/21).
The ‘Time to Initial Contact’ report located in SSIS>General reports is not yet updated with the exemption activity or new Child Maltreatment Report exemption field. In lieu of being able to use that report to review timeliness errors and potential missed exemption entries, DHS Research staff have updated the Tableau ‘Timeliness’ report to be used for this purpose. Agencies should access this link to use, find, review, and enter missed exemptions dated 7/1/21-2/23/22. The CW timeline exemption activity is scheduled to be inactivated in V22.3 making it unavailable for use in late entries as of that release. SSIS Mentors should contact the SSIS Help Desk if assistance is needed.
The Minnesota Department of Human Services is offering a virtual training opportunity for county and Tribal Initiative SSIS users responsible for residential placements.
Training is focused on supporting agency case workers and supervisors in meeting documentation requirements for placements in the new specialized settings:
- Qualified residential treatment program (QRTP)
- Pregnant and parenting youth (PPY)
- Sex trafficked, commercially sexually exploited youth, and at risk youth (ST/CSE/At Risk)
- Supervised independent living settings in a facility (SILS).
Tools to guide workers through the placement process in specialized settings and documentation steps will be shared during this event. The recording and related materials will also be posted to the Minnesota Child Welfare Training academy website
Date: Tuesday, July 19
Time: 9:00-10:30 a.m.
Zoom meeting link:
https://umn.zoom.us/j/98142600989?pwd=Sms1VGNRaFZiUnlzVzNzbEdJU3FjZz09
Meeting ID: 981 4260 0989
Passcode: 03TB3Z
Contacts:
The SSIS team is sad to share that Lisa Litchfield has passed away after battling health issues. Lisa started at DHS as an SSIS trainer in 2000 and concluded her career last month as the SSIS Change Coordinator. There are few people who had the depth of SSIS understanding that Lisa amassed. Her work with the counties and tribes will be remembered and she will be truly missed.
SSIS mentors and coordinators are encouraged to review agency contact lists regularly to ensure accuracy of contact information. Up-to-date SSIS mentor and coordinator contact information assists SSIS staff in communicating SSIS news and events accurately, effectively and efficiently. Current contact lists are located on the SSIS Resource page under SSIS Mentor Program. Change requests should be submitted to the SSIS Help Desk and include the contact name, role (fiscal and/or worker, mentor and/or coordinator), email address, and phone number.
Is there an SSIS topic you would like to learn about that would make a great coffee talk presentation? SSIS Business Operations and Training staff are in the process of planning coffee talk events and would love to hear ideas. Please contact Heide Moris, SSIS Mentor Program Coordinator, with suggestions for upcoming sessions.
Training opportunities for new SSIS users or those seeking a refresher are now available to SSIS users. Courses are great for those new to SSIS or those seeking a refresher. Click the topic below for course descriptions, schedules and registration information.
SSIS webinar materials and previous recordings can be found on the MCWTA site.
|
