Visitation Entries 2007

1. New Practice Visitation Entries 2007 New Practice Worker/Child Home Visits Monthly Documentation 90% to Avoid Penalty Better Outcomes for Children New Practice

2. Worker/Child Visits • Worker/child visits are recorded in the visitation history tab within the treatment plan for each child in CYFD custody. What? • CYFD Policy 8.10.8.22 (B) • “CYFD visit each child in CYFD custody at least monthly in the child’s placement and assess the placement for appropriateness in meeting the child’s needs and safety.” PSD Facts Aug 07

3. Worker/Child Visits • Active Initial Assessment Plan or Individual Treatment Plan • Record these visits in Visitation History • Worker/child in the placement (home visit) • Parent/child visits • Sibling visits • Pre-adoptive placement visits Where? PSD Facts Aug 07

4. Worker/Child Visits • Worker/child visits are recorded in the visitation history tab within the treatment plan for each child in CYFD custody. • Double click on ACTIVE treatment plan. • Click to visitation history tab • Click Insert (top menu bar) How? PSD Facts Aug 07

5. Screen appears blank How? FACTS is NOT broken…Click Insert. Click over to the Visitation History tab; Click the “Insert” button to begin entering the visit between worker and child. Visitation items don’t carry forward from plan to plan in the tab …To view prior entries go to the previous Tx plan. PSD Facts Aug 07

6. Documenting worker/child visits Able to back date visit. Relationship field has two additional dropdowns – “Social Worker– Primary” and “Other CYFD staff” PSD Facts Aug 07

7. Documenting worker/child visits This detail must be completed for each visit, each child. In the description field, enter “Child’s residence”. PSD Facts Aug 07

8. Documenting worker/child visits Choose the child that was visited (same as who the tx plan is for) Record visit detail in reference child plan for all siblings. See Visitation Detail for complete description of visit w/siblings. Click on the text button and choose “Visitation Detail (new entry)” to document the details of the visit PSD Facts Aug 07

9. Documenting worker/child visits Content? And click okay in the treatment plan window. If you enter narrative (visitation detail) in each child’s plan in the case, it will show multiple times in this document. PSD Facts Aug 07

10. “CYFD visit . . . and assess the placement for appropriateness in meeting the child’s needs and safety.” Visitation Entries8.10.8.22 (B) CYFD Policy Content? PSD Facts Aug 07

11. Documenting worker/child visits How? If you are entering several visits with the child, simply click the “Insert” button to record another visit. PSD Facts Aug 07

12. Documenting worker/child visits How? Open the visitation history summary to create the text document before exiting the window …after all visits have been recorded. PSD Facts Aug 07

13. Documenting worker/child visits How? The summary will combine all the visits (worker/child, parent/child, sibling visits) recorded in the visitation history tab for all siblings. This could be helpful to print if the court is requesting a list of visits. PSD Facts Aug 07

14. Documenting worker/child visits How? Click “OK” when finished. Creation Date shows when entry is made in FACTS, versus date of visitation. PSD Facts Aug 07

15. Finding Visitation Entries How? When a new treatment plan is active, at least one entry must be created (or exist) to access visitation text from this plan. To review prior entries or text when this message appears, go to the previous treatment plan for the child. PSD Facts Aug 07

16. Program Inst Guide 07-2007-#01 • Field staff is encouraged to schedule, conduct and document worker-child visitations within the first twenty days of each month. • Reports will run on the 20th day of each month and will be distributed immediately to field staff to allow managers the remainder of the month to ensure children are visited and that documentation is entered. • The management information report that will be used for federal reporting purpose will be run on the 5th day of the subsequent month. Measures... PSD Facts Aug 07

17. Worker/Child Visit Report Measures... Lists children with worker/child visitation recorded with in report period. Lists blanks for children with no worker/child visitation recorded. The report will “find” visits created within the report period, even if plan is terminated or historical. PSD Facts Aug 07

18. Worker/Child Visits - Summary Sample Measures... PSD Facts Aug 07

19. Forget yesterday habits… “I was trained to…” “I always put visitation …” “I was never trained to…” “My SWS says … in narrative.” PSD Facts Aug 07

20. Frequently Asked Questions • Do I have to put visitation narrative in activity notes and the visitation history tab? • No. Don’t do duplicate work. • Isn’t the entry on each child duplicate work? • No. The ‘insert window’ (time, place, who, etc) is required for each child. • Visitation detail (narrative) need be entered for only one child in a sibling group, placed together. Text combines to one document from all plans. PSD Facts Aug 07

21. Frequently Asked Questions • What if I’m a case-worker, not a social worker? • If you are the primary worker on the case use ‘Social Worker, Primary.’ • Secondary worker or out-of-county worker visit will use ‘Other CYFD staff.” • Isn’t the visitation tab is broken? • No.(Report any new problems to FACTS support.) • Can I just enter visits under caretaker plan? • No. Visitation history can only be entered in child plans. PSD Facts Aug 07

22. Frequently Asked Questions • Do I have to enter the visits in order? • No. FACTS will sort visits by date of the event. So, if you have several weekly visits to record, you can enter the visits in one child’s tx plan, then go to the next child’s tx plan. • Can I just say everything is appropriate? • No. A novel isn’t needed, but some indication of why you concluded ‘everything is appropriate.’ A description of child’s behavior and interaction…consider what you would say in a verbal summary, then write it. PSD Facts Aug 07

23. Frequently Asked Questions • Are these requirements the same as Q.A. review? • Essentially. For this federal reporting the Primary Social Worker and and Other CYFD staff are counted . • The focus of Q.A. is more related to over-all consistency and quality of contact w/the child and best interest of the child. • Maybe the minimum standard is met, but what about quality? • Q.A. asks, “Are we making the right assessments, asking the right questions, etc. for best practice/outcomes.” PSD Facts Aug 07

24. Program Inst Guide 07-2007-#01 • Last year, Congress passed the Child and Family Services Improvement Act of 2006 (P.L. 109-288). P.L. 109-288 was signed into law on September 28, 2006. • It amends title IV-B of the Social Security Act (the Act). The amendment allows the federal government to withhold title IV-B subpart 1 funds unless the state has provided data that shows: • The percentage of children in foster care under the respon- sibility of the state who were visited on a monthly basis by the caseworker handling the case of the child; and • The percentage of visits that occurred in the residence of the child. Why? PSD Facts Aug 07

25. Program Inst Guide 07-2007-#01 • P.L. 109-288 requires that each state determine a baseline. • The baseline year has been defined as results from the federal fiscal year ending September 30, 2007. • P.L. 109-288 further requires that by the federal fiscal year ending September 30, 2011,at least 90% of the children in foster care will be visited monthly and the majority of these visits are occurring in the child’s place of residence. Why? PSD Facts Aug 07

26. Program Inst Guide 07-2007-#01 • Annually, New Mexico receives approximately 1.8 million dollars in Title IV-B part 1 funds. • The funds are used to support field operations, including staff salaries. • To ensure funding, New Mexico must submit our baseline data to the Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families no later than October 31, 2007. Why? PSD Facts Aug 07

27. Program Inst Guide 07-2007-#01 • Congress noted in its findings that “…CFSRs also found a strong correlation between frequent caseworker visits with children and positive outcomes for these children, such as timely adherence of permanency and other indicators of child well-being.” • Our Quality Assurance reviews support these findings and recognize the importance of worker visits with the child. Why? PSD Facts Aug 07

28. Documenting parent/child visits What? Enter parent/child visits, sibling visits, other child specific visits here as well. Next slides show selection choices for fields. (Parent/Child visits by phone or letter should be recorded in the visitation history tab.) PSD Facts Aug 07

29. Foster Parent Social Worker CSA (Client Service Agent) CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocate) Contract Agency Relative Therapist Other CYFD Staff Other None “Supervised By” Choices PSD Facts Aug 07

30. Both Parents Mother Father Step-Mother Step-Father Mother/Step-Father Father/Step-Mother Sibling Grandparents (Maternal) Grandparents (Paternal) Non-Relative Parent’s Partner Parent/Parent’s Partner God-parent(s) Kinship Fictive Kin Extended Family Prospective Adoptive Parent(s) “Relationship” • Social Worker (Primary) • Other CYFD Staff • GAL • Guardian • Caretaker • Parents & siblings • Other Relative Choices PSD Facts Aug 07

31. Child Residence Phone Letter Foster Home Parents Home CYFD Office Tx Program Relative Home Fictive Relative Home Park Resource Home Religious Event School/Daycare Restaurant Other “Description” Choices PSD Facts Aug 07

32. Frequently Asked Questions • What about Parent/Child visits that are supervised by Casa or Contract providers? • Yes. They should be recorded in the visitation history tab. • Enter the detail about supervision, time, relationship, attendees, for each visit. When copying and pasting the report, remember, don’t paste graphics or letterhead into FACTS (to avoid memory/space issues). • Further policy clarification will be coming regarding what documentation (for contract visits) is required in FACTS. PSD Facts Aug 07

33. Do any visits go in Activity notes? Yes. Worker/Parent contact goes in narrative. Worker/Family-Face-to-Face Worker/Client- Face-to-Face Worker/Client- Telephone Worker/Family- Telephone “Worker/Parent” Visits in Narrative PSD Facts Aug 07

34. -Monthly in home visits Monthly documentation Assess appropriateness in meeting the child’s needs and safety. 90% to avoid penalty Better outcomes for kids! Summary: Worker/Client Visits Email “CYFD-PSDFACTSSupport” for help. PSD Facts Aug 07