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August 3, 2023                                                                                                                             Volume 2, Issue 8

• Announcements
• We are Children's Division Podcast
• Permanency
• Prevention
• Recruitment
• CCU and You
• Legal Aspects
• Upcoming Training Schedule
• Memos

Announcements

In Need of Volunteers to Assist in the St. Louis Area

The St. Louis CA/N Program is in need of volunteers to assist with completing Timely Initial Contact (TIC) visits on 1240 CA/N Reports. We are asking for 75 volunteers to come and see the children on the reports and enter the TIC into FACES. This will equate to about 16 to 17 reports per volunteer. Volunteers will be responsible for entering the TIC into FACES and notifying Pinkie Maxwell and Amber Robinson of the entries. Volunteers will not be responsible for concluding the reports. The goal is to have this project completed by September 1, 2023.

Pinkie Maxwell and Amber Robinson are the coordinators for the volunteer project.  Please reach out to them if you’re able to provide assistance. Your help is very much appreciated by the St. Louis Region. The Region is grateful for any assistance that you’re able to provide.

The St. Louis AC Program is also in need of volunteers to assist with conducting visits with children in alternative care. We are asking for volunteers to complete monthly visits with children in their placements to ensure safety and document the contact in FACES. The worker assigned to the case will continue to provide all the case management services to the children and resource providers. We are requesting help through the end of November 2023.

Kenyatta Eleby and Michelle Klohr are the coordinators for this project. Please reach out to them if you’re available to assist. The request for help is open to staff at all levels to include field staff and central office staff.  Please contact your Circuit Manager, Field Support Manager, Supervisor, or Regional Director to be a part of the CA/N or AC volunteer team.  For a limited time, we will have the opportunity to pay overtime to those who are willing to go.

Child and Family Services Review Week

Many of you are aware that last week, July 23^rd- July 28^th,  Missouri was involved in the case review portion of the CFSR (Child and Family Services Review).  The CFSR is a two part process that includes a Statewide Assessment as well as an onsite review. This review is conducted by the federal Children’s Bureau to help states improve safety, permanency and well-being outcomes for children and families who receive services through the child welfare system. The onsite case reviews were held in the 16^th Circuit, the 36^th Circuit and the 45^th Circuit. Thank you to the local staff that scheduled interviews, pulled records and gathered information needed for the reviews as well as the staff throughout the state that traveled to help review the cases and support the process.  

A special Thank You to JoDene Bogart for leading Children’s Division through this process!

New ICAMA System Training

**ATTENTION SUBSIDY WORKERS AND SUPERVISORS**

You should've received the information/links for the ICAMA redesign trainings. Use this link to access the training. If prompted, the meeting ID is 816 7575 4532. If you haven't participated in any of the trainings prior to the upcoming training on AUGUST 9, we ask that you please participate.

The final training will be hosted August 9^th at 10AM CT.

PLEASE SEND ALL QUESTIONS TO CANDICE NAHLER. 

Child Welfare Worker Appreciation Week is coming up next month. Register for this year's national recognition event hosted by NCWWI and the Children's Bureau on Tuesday, September 12, at 3 pm EDT. Check out this list of ways to get involved for Child Welfare Worker Appreciation Week from the National Child Welfare Workforce Institute. 

We are Children's Division Podcast

Season 2 Episode 6: A Legislative Recap: Where Your Heart is, There Your Treasure Will Be In this episode, we catch up with DSS Director Robert Knodell and Division Director of Financial and Administrative Services Pat Luebbering about the outcome of the 2023 Legislative Session. It goes without saying that Children's Division has a lot of heart - these leaders tout that heart and determination and even discuss goals for the next legislative session.  We hope you enjoy this episode! Don't forget, you can earn education credits for listening to the podcast through your ESS portal. To ensure you get credit enter the name and date of the podcast in the, "my development screen." Be sure to share with your colleagues and subscribe so you never miss an opportunity to be at the table and hear first hand of the great things happening at Children's Division.  LISTENING TIP: The podcast is available on most popular podcast apps and you can listen and subscribe wherever you like to listen to podcasts at this link.

Permanency

The Call to Foster Podcast: "I found out I was adopted after my father died." Season 1, Episode 7 Brandon and Liz Matthews share their moving story of their journey into foster parenting and many inspiring stories of their experiences. This pair is full of passion and we are proud to have them as Foster Parent Ambassadors for the State of Missouri.  Be sure to subscribe on your preferred podcast platform and use this as a resource when speaking with anyone interested in foster parenting! Feel free to leave a review so this podcast can reach a larger audience and help recruit more foster parents.

Adoption and Guardianship Subsidy Regulation Updates

In case you missed it: The Department of Social Services and Children’s Division recently announced draft emergency amendments to the regulations governing adoption and guardianship subsidies. These amendments are needed to ensure the administration of the subsidy program is current with the following changes in Missouri:

• Missouri law transferred the authority to administer the subsidized child care program from the Department of Social Services to the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education; and  
• Behavioral Health services were carved into MHN covered services, allowing residential treatment rehab services to be paid for through MHN or the managed care plan for enrolled children .

Quick Facts Regarding Proposed Changes:

• The proposed changes do not reduce or eliminate subsidy services for children and families.
• Children receiving adoption and guardianship subsidies will continue to be eligible for “protective service childcare subsidies” through DESE.
• The proposed changes do not make any changes to the “protective service childcare subsidy” administered by DESE.  
• Children and families receiving subsidy will NOT have to meet new eligibility or income requirements as a result of the proposed changes.  
• The proposed changes improves timely and equitable access to residential treatment services by removing barriers to service and providing consistent eligibility criteria.  

Prevention

The Prevention Team is underway and growing! Job postings have gone out and will continue to go out in an effort to fill 20 Team Decision Making positions, 20 Family-Centered Services positions, 9 Supervisor positions, and 51 general prevention positions. This is an exciting opportunity for us to partner with our communities and families in a way that we’ve not been able to in the past. We encourage you to share the job postings with your friends, family, and former colleagues who may have a desire to grow with Missouri Children’s Division! Check out our jobs map to see what might be opening in your area! Refer a friend! 

Recruitment

There has been an exciting uptick in interest from students to complete their internship with the Children’s Division.  As a reminder, here are a few fast facts about internships with the Division.   

1. Several interns have become full-time employees! An excellent combination for employee growth is having an intern with a passion for child welfare and staff with the ability, willingness, and capacity to supervise and mentor. You are not only training future employees but also developing your skills as a leader and mentor!
2. To request a paid intern, refer to Administrative Policy 2-127. Christine Steele is willing to answer questions, don’t be afraid to ask!
3. A paid intern is an employee of the Division. Upon the termination of their internship, Human Resources requires a resignation letter.
4. Requests for ALL UNPAID internships MUST be discussed with Christine Steele to be sure the appropriate contracts are in place with the intern’s school.
5. Do not sign contracts or agreements from the student’s College/University. Please submit these requests to Christine Steele.

Upcoming Recruitment Events

Events for our Fall activities are starting to be scheduled and the below listing will grow!  If you have a local event you believe would aid in recruitment or retention please let Christine Steele know.  She will be excited to see if there are any supports/supplies she can aid you in obtaining if needed. Also, don’t forget to share your pictures with our communications team – we want to share the good you do in our State.

CCU and You

CCU is always willing to assist with locating DCNs during our consults and adding them into the system; however, it is also beneficial for workers to check for DCNs before going out on reports so they can review prior history before meeting with the family (see Section 2, Chapter 5 (Child Abuse and Neglect Reports), Subsection 2 – General Procedures for Completing a CA/N Report) for additional information regarding prior history. If you are not able to find DCNs prior to meeting with the family, please be sure to ask the family for all of the necessary information needed to create DCNs (including the correct spelling of first, middle and last names for all family members; dates of birth and social security numbers.)

We would also like to remind workers that completing other tasks while on hold with CCU is still encouraged, but please make sure that once the Specialist answers, that you give them your full attention so that we can get the information needed for a quality consult, and so that we can get through the staffing as quickly as possible so we are able to assist the next caller that is waiting.

CCU Shining Star Heather Cure Heather began working for CD when she graduated college in 2020 with a Bachelors of Social Work. Because the COVID pandemic was in full swing, she had to learn her job from home due to office restrictions, but knew this was the field she belonged in due to her passion for the clients Children’s Division serves. She says her job satisfaction comes from her clients and the CCU. Before the CCU was implemented, her average caseload was at least 28 open cases daily. She often felt that the cases that should be getting more of her attention were sometimes delayed because she was carrying such a heavy caseload. Heather stepped away for about a year, and when she returned to Children’s Division, she was in the middle of her Master’s of Social Work. She was overwhelmed and thought she might have been taking on too much by taking on school and work as an investigator all at the same time. But her circuit manager, Brandi Parris, encouraged her and said, “Wait until you get to use CCU!” Heather was nervous to use CCU at first, but she quickly learned how helpful and amazing the CCU team members were! With the CCU, she is able to take the time to focus on the difficult cases. The CCU types, sends letters and closes cases with no concerns found and she is able to consult on difficult cases with the CCU as well. A feature Heather really enjoys is being able to open a case file on the conclusion screen and see an itemized check list of what she needs to complete to close the case, which helps with organization and time management. She’s able to keep up with her schoolwork and cases without feeling burnt out or overwhelmed. Heather will complete her Master’s degree in the Spring of 2024. She has three children, two of which are adults. She has three dogs that occasionally steal all her time and attention that she loves with all of her heart.

Legal Aspects

Upcoming Training Schedule

The following is the Legal Aspects schedule and other relevant trainings for the rest of the year. To access the trainings, click on the course ID or links listed below. 

NOTE: If you are a supervisor, please take a moment to register for one of the supervisor courses below. They are required to be taken by new supervisors within 6 months of employment. Openings in both are currently available! 

If you have trouble enrolling in a legal aspects course, please contact CD.latrainingteam@dss.mo.gov. For trouble enrolling in other courses please contact, CD.PROFDEVELOPMENT@dss.mo.gov.

Memos

CD23-19 - Faith Foundation Children's Home

CD23-18 - Levels of Care (Elevated Needs, Medical and Treatment Foster Care)

We Want to Hear From You!

If you have something you would like to share in the next newsletter issue, please email Ashton Kever at ashton.kever@dss.mo.gov. 

Our Mission: Empower Missourians to live safe, healthy, and productive lives.

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