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Governor Walz and Lieutenant Governor Flanagan announced the appointment of Tikki Brown to serve as the first Commissioner of the DCYF July 1, 2024, when the agency is originated by state law. DCYF will bring together programs focused on children, youth, and families currently housed across four state agencies.
Brown serves as the Assistant Commissioner for Children and Family Services with the Minnesota Department of Human Services (DHS). Before her appointment as Assistant Commissioner in 2021, Tikki served as the agency’s Economic Opportunity and Nutrition Assistance Director. She has worked for DHS since 2001.
In coordination with the establishment of the new Department of Children, Youth and Families (DCYF) July 1, 2024, work has begun to update affected language and documents within SSIS. The first set of updates will occur with a special SSIS release Monday, July 1, 2024. This initial set of updates will impact the most critical documents requiring DCYF information, language, and logos. These documents will primarily be SSIS documents used with clients as well as documents of a legal nature. Remaining documents needing changes will be updated within the regular SSIS release schedule. A list of affected documents for the SSIS Special Release, including those with an updated RTF document template header, will be shared with agency SSIS coordinators/mentors prior to the release.
The following fields are commonly missed when reporting AFCARS. Agencies are encouraged to review and ensure these fields are completed timely.
‘Environment at Removal’- Select the child’s living environment at the time of removal. This is required for all continuous placements, including those that are currently open and were created prior to October 1, 2022. Placements that began prior to October 1, 2022, that have been closed should not be reopened. *This may cause additional AFCARS errors. *
 ‘ICWA’ field on continuous placement screen- Select the most up to date ICWA eligibility on the continuous placement screen. Many continuous placements are opened, and sometimes closed, without the ICWA field chosen on the Continuous Placement. Best practice is to complete this field within 30 days of the continuous placement start date.
 ‘Removal/Adoption/TPLPC’ History screen must be created with the first continuous placement then reviewed as subsequent continuous placements occur. Removal/Adoption/TPLPC History is created by right clicking on Permanency (or using one of the permanency action menus) and choosing 'New Removal/Adoption/TPLPC History'. This creates the node that appears in the treeview under Permanency and displays the Removal/Adoption/TPLPC History screen that needs to be completed, or updated, for each continuous placement episode. Best practice is to complete this within 30 days of the continuous placement start date.
  Completion of these fields will ensure compliance in AFCARS reporting. SSIS Business Operations will be adding tracking methods to assist agencies in identifying missing information. More information coming soon.
Sometimes errors occur when entering data in SSIS. Attempting to make corrections but not knowing how may cause larger issues in the future. SSIS mentors, coordinators, supervisors, and IT contacts are encouraged to reach out to the SSIS Help Desk when guidance is needed.
The initial review of all child protection items in SSIS has been completed. This has included twelve listening sessions with case workers, mentors, and state policy staff who work on the continuum of child protection (CP) in SSIS.
A SSIS CP Review feedback meeting will be held Friday, May 3rd at 8:30 a.m. and is open to all. Click here to register. The Review process, themes, items currently being worked on, and next steps on the journey towards modernization will be shared during this time.
Questions can be directed to the SSIS Help desk or Cynthia Shypulski.
The SSIS Business Section at DHS would like to celebrate Doris Hoy, SSIS worker mentor from Mower County, as mentor of the month.
Per Doris’ colleagues, “Our agency is extremely fortunate to have Doris!” Doris has extensive knowledge of SSIS and has put countless hours into helping agency staff with SSIS concerns; she does so without complaint and is quick to help in resolving issues.
Thank you and congratulations, Doris.
Nominations for mentor of the month can be submitted to Heide Moris, SSIS Mentor Program Coordinator.
Seeking initial training for new child protection workers or a refresher on some of the basics in SSIS? The SSIS Basics for Child Protection video training is available to help meet that need.
SSIS Basics for Child Protection replaced SSIS Lab 2 and Lab 3 previously included in the in-person Foundations Training from the Minnesota Child Welfare Training Academy (MNCWTA). SSIS Basics is a series of videos, ranging in length from 1 to 25 minutes covering the topics on intakes and assessments including SDM tools, ICWA, and Permanency. Videos can be viewed in any order from any browser on any device.
Access the SSIS Basics for Child Protection video training link located under the Quick Links column on the MNCWTA Training page to get started.
Registration is open for SSIS Statewide Release Version 24.2 (v24.2). The webinar will be held Tuesday, May 21 at 9:00 a.m. Visit the SSIS Resource page>SSIS Release Information to view what’s new in v24.2 including Release notes, calendars, and previous Release information. Statewide Release v24.2 is scheduled for Wednesday, May 22 at 6:00 p.m.
All coffee talk webinar recordings and related materials are posted on the Minnesota Child Welfare Training Academy website seven to ten business days following each event.
Two new fiscal job aids have been posted to the SSIS Resource page under Fiscal Documentation:
The Northstar Basic and Supplemental rates effective July 1, 2024, through June 30, 2025 (SFY2025), will be deployed to SSIS with Release v24.2. Rates for SFY2025 were published in DHS Bulletin 24-32-02 Northstar Care for Children Rates, dated March 28, 2024.
Questions can be directed to the SSIS Help Desk.
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.
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