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Tags Posts tagged with "PA Office of Children Youth and Families"

PA Office of Children Youth and Families

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The Office of Children, Youth and Families (OCYF), as a part of the ongoing revision process for the Regulatory Compliance Guide (RCG), is seeking feedback and comments on the most recent guide. The guide has been developed over the past year as part of summer providers’ convenings and other stakeholder forums.

It is important to note that this guide is to act as a companion to the Chapter 3800 regulations and not in place of the regulations. However, prior to finalization of this document, OCYF requests your feedback and comments in relation to the RCG document.

The department requests that all feedback and comments be submitted by Friday, February 14, 2020 to their established resource account.

The RCPA Children’s Residential Work Group will also be working on this area, and they are asking that RCPA Children’s Division Director Jim Sharp be included on the correspondence for the group’s information. The RCG guide link can be found here.

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The Office of Children, Youth and Families (OCYF) has released Bulletin 3490-19-03 entitled, “Information Sharing in Custody Filings (Act 107 of 2013).” The purpose of this bulletin is to transmit requirements and guidance related to legislative changes to Pennsylvania’s Child Custody Act, specifically Act 107 of 2013, which requires custody courts to determine if a child is the victim of a crime which would constitute child abuse as defined in the Child Protective Services Law (CPSL).

Questions regarding the bulletin should be directed to your OCYF Regional Office. You may also reach out to Mr. Erik Walters, Human Services Program Specialist in OCYF’s Bureau of Policy, Program and Operations. If members have further questions, please contact RCPA Children’s Division Director Jim Sharp.

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The Office of Children, Youth and Families is pleased to announce the following upcoming training opportunity for staff who complete Title IV-E eligibility or reimbursability determinations for children and youth in placement:

Accurate Title IV-E eligibility and reimbursability determinations are key to claiming Title IV-E foster care placement maintenance and administrative funds appropriately. Over the last two years, there has been extensive turnover in the staff who complete the Title IV-E eligibility/reimbursability determinations and invoicing for the Title IV-E Foster Care program. Accordingly, we’re offering training that will support staff’s understanding of Title IV-E eligibility and reimbursability criteria. Learning will be supported through practical application.

The training will be held at five different locations throughout the Commonwealth, on five separate days, from 9:00 am to 3:00 pm, as listed below.

  • Tuesday, October 22, 2019 – Cumberland County, Child Welfare Resource Center
  • Wednesday, October 23, 2019 – Allegheny County, Mon-Valley Regional Office
  • Thursday, October 24, 2019 – Lackawanna County, Lackawanna Children’s Services
  • Friday, October 25, 2019 – Mercer County, George Junior Republic
  • Tuesday, October 29, 2019 – Montgomery County, Montgomery County Office of Children and Youth

Parking at each location is $5.00 or less. A lunch break of one hour is built into the schedule, but lunch is not provided.

When deciding who should attend, please keep in mind that this training will be focused on the eligibility and reimbursability determinations for the Title IV-E Foster Care program. We will touch on completion of the eligibility determination forms during the practical application, but this is not the focus of the training. This training will not cover Title IV-E eligibility determinations for Adoption Assistance and Subsidized Permanent Legal Custodianship, completion of Title IV-E invoices, or details regarding completion of the Title IV-E Administrative cost pool, Random Moment Time Study case counts, or Administration for Children and Families child counts.

To register for this training, please use this email and include:

  • Your name;
  • Name of the training;
  • Location you would prefer to attend;
  • County and agency that you work for;
  • Position title; and
  • What part of Title IV-E your job focuses on (for example – eligibility determinations, claiming, etc.).

Seating is limited and priority will be given to staff from counties with low compliance rates in recent Title IV-E quality assurance reviews and/or a high amount of turnover with their eligibility determination and claiming staff. We recognize that you may be unable to attend a session near you or simply unable to participate at this time, so we will be hosting another round of trainings early next year. If you have any further questions, please contact RCPA Children’s Division Director Jim Sharp.

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RCPA would like to congratulate Jonathan Rubin and Amy Grippi on their new positions with the Department of Human Services. We look forward to collaborating in the future, to continue improving the quality of life for our children across the Commonwealth.

(From DHS Secretary Teresa Miller)

DHS Staffing Update

I am excited to announce that Jonathan (Jon) Rubin will join the Department of Human Services as the Office of Children, Youth, and Families’ Deputy Secretary. Jon has led Bucks County’s Housing and Human Services division since 2014, overseeing the county’s child welfare agency, behavioral and developmental health programs, drug and alcohol services, mental health and developmental programs, housing services, and Area Agency on Aging.  As director, Jon has focused on creating a more integrated approach to Housing and Human Services’ work, encouraging two-generation, whole-family focuses and facilitating public-private partnerships and generative program development.

Jon started his career spending 15 years with the Bucks County Children & Youth Social Services agency, beginning as a social worker and eventually serving four years as a child protective services manager. He has also worked to strengthen the child welfare system on a state level, working at the Pennsylvania Child Welfare Resource Center, providing technical assistance and training to children and youth agencies around Pennsylvania, and later with Deloitte as a senior consultant and child welfare subject matter expert, helping implement the Child Welfare Information Solution project. Jon has also worked at the national level supporting child welfare systems across the country when he served as an Organizational Effectiveness Consultant for the American Public Human Services Association.

Jon will join DHS on November 4. At that point, Amy Grippi will transition into a new role, Child Services Executive Director, in the Secretary’s Office. This role will focus on synthesizing initiatives and priorities around child services and create a stronger bridge between OCYF and the Office of Child Development and Early Learning. Amy will be focused on strengthening services provided to children around Pennsylvania, including our work to implement the enterprise case management system and Family First, increasing the incorporation of predictive analytics and trend analyses through improved data collection, and other initiatives.

I think this new role will be an invaluable asset to help enhance and support the work done at DHS and at the county level, and I know Amy’s skills and experience will help us do more to support children and families around Pennsylvania.

I want to thank Amy for her tireless work and leadership as OCYF’s Acting Deputy Secretary over the last few months, and I am so excited to welcome Jon to the agency. I look forward to seeing the good work that DHS and OCYF will accomplish as we move forward.

Thank you,
Secretary Teresa Miller

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This week we had the opportunity to meet with Office of Children, Youth and Families (OCYF) Acting Deputy Secretary Amy Grippi and her staff to review the current OCYF Bulletin 00-19-02, “Notification Protocol for Formal Licensing Action and Incidents.”

As part of the discussion, RCPA provided a list of concerns and recommendations regarding the language outlining the notification of stakeholders as it related to staff removal from childcare duties based upon an approved plan of supervision.

RCPA supports the goal to ensure safety, transparency, and efficient practices within the scope of the bulletin, but the unintended operational consequences of this part of the notification process has created logistical issues that deem review. At this time, OCYF will engage stakeholders to review the current language and its collateral systems impact. The goal to create a notification process that balances the importance of information dissemination to those directly impacted, that is effective in scale and scope, and within the CPSL reporting standards, is supported.

Additionally, RCPA joins the Pennsylvania Council of Children, Youth, and Family Services (PCCYFS) in supporting the language change below, submitted to OCYF for consideration by Juvenile Detention Centers and Alternative Programs (JDCAP) Executive Director, Wayne Bear.

“This letter is to inform you that in accordance with OCYF policy, a staff has been removed from child care duties based upon an approved plan of supervision pending the outcome of an investigation into an allegation.”

RCPA is grateful for the opportunity to engage in this process with OCYF, as well as future systems initiatives. We will continue to update our members on the status of any changes or issuance of bulletins regarding this topic. If you have any questions or comments, please contact RCPA Children’s Division Director Jim Sharp.

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This serves as notice to all RCPA members who provide services that fall under the Chapter 3800 Regulations for Child Residential and Day Treatment Services. After 20 years, revisions are being considered to this regulatory chapter to reflect modifications needed to comply with recent legislation, to reflect responsiveness to the evolving needs of the population served, to support incorporation of best practices, and to address the concerns raised by providers delivering these services.

As a first step in this process, regional stakeholder meetings are being scheduled to solicit input from providers, county children and youth and juvenile probation offices, youth, advocates, and state OCYF, OMHSAS, JCJC, AOPC, and PDE staff during July and August. Stakeholder input compiled from this series of meetings will be incorporated into a master list of areas to be considered for edits and additions. The Department of Human Services OCYF has identified priority areas to be addressed as a starting point in this regulatory change process.

As a Chapter 3800 provider, you will receive an invitation and registration form from OCYF to attend a meeting in your area. The regional dates and locations are as follows:

  • Central Region – Child Welfare Resource Center, 403 E Winding Hill Rd, Mechanicsburg, July 16
  • NE Region – Pittston Crossing, 400 Rte 315, Suite E, Pittston, July 24
  • Western Region – George Jr. Republic, 233 George Junior Rd., Grove City, July 29
  • SE Region – TUCC, 1515 Market St, Philadelphia, August 7

As part of the preparation of the regional meeting agendas, you will be asked to identify the top five sections/issues/concerns from the vantage point and experience of your agency and identify the two participants attending this meeting. This information should be returned to Erin Livsey by Friday, July 12, 2019. Please copy RCPA Children’s Division Director Jim Sharp, so we may track those comments and recommendations as we develop our strategic responses to the process. Jim Sharp will plan on attending all four regional meetings.

If you have any questions, or do not receive an invitation from OCYF to a regional meeting, please contact Jim Sharp.

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The Office of Children, Youth and Families (OCYF) has released the Statewide Adoption and Permanency Network (SWAN) Unit of Service Payment Rates and Programmatic Changes Bulletin. This bulletin rescinds and replaces the payment chart on page 3 of the Office of Children, Youth and Families (OCYF) Bulletin 3350-18-02, titled “Statewide Adoption and Permanency Network Unit of Service Payment Rates and Programmatic Changes” and replaces the unit costs on page 83 of OCYF Bulletin 3140-19-02, titled “Fiscal Year 2020-21 Children, Youth and Family’s Needs-Based Plan and Fiscal Year 2019-20 Implementation Plan Instructions.” The programmatic changes outlined in OCYF Bulletin 3350-18-02 remain in effect.

The new SWAN payment rates established in this bulletin were developed as a result of actual cost and time data submitted by SWAN affiliate agencies from January 2018 – December 2018. The new rates apply to all services referred on or after July 1, 2019. Payment for any services referred prior to July 1, 2019, will be paid at the rate established for the year in which the referral was made.

As a reminder, cost adjustments for SWAN units of service will be determined by the Office of Children, Youth and Families on an annual basis and communicated in an annual SWAN Unit of Service Payment Rates Bulletin as well as in the annual Needs-Based Plan and Budget Bulletin. Established rates will be based upon actual cost and time data submitted by SWAN affiliate agencies to the SWAN prime contractor.

Contact RCPA Children’s Services Director Jim Sharp with any questions.

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On June 3, 2019 the Office of Children, Youth and Families (OCYF) hosted the monthly Child Welfare Council meeting at the Child Welfare Resource Center in Mechanicsburg. The day-long session provided interactive overviews and discussion on new Title IV E funding for legal representation, a Family First Update, an OCYF update, and a review of the PA Council Charter. View/download the meeting highlights. If you have any questions, please contact RCPA Children’s Division Director Jim Sharp.

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