FSFN Frequently Asked Questions

We have recently had some dependency cases where “Interventions"? have been filed and the Judge has granted them. How do we handle this in FSFN as the CBC is now out of the case?

Answer: The removal episode and placement is ended when the judge grants the intervention. The case remains open in order to make sure that the adoption does finalize and for us to document the finalization. In cases where the family requests a subsidy, you must document a Private Adoption Page, determine eligibility, have subsidy agreement signed and approved, etc.

Answer: The person address documents each person or case participant's specific location at a point in time. Consequently, it must be provided each time that the person's address changes, particularly a child's change in address. However, the Case address is a different matter. While the Case Type may indicate what the address may be, the general rule of thumb is:

If it is an ongoing services case with or without a removal, it is the caregiver (parents) or removal caregiver's address. This includes cases created as a result of special condition referrals for caregiver unavailable or parent needs assistance.
If it is a case created for an institutional investigation or a foster care referral, it is the institution's address.
If it is a case created as a result of a services referral, not including ICPC homestudy requests or incoming placements, it is the caregiver's address.
If it is a case created through an ICPC request for a homestudy and subsequent placement in Florida, it is the Florida caregiver's address.
If it is an adoption subsidy case, it is the adoptive parent's address.
If it is a case opened for RTI services to a young adult and there are no other children active or inactive as case participants, it is the young adult's address.
If it is a case with only a youth receiving IL or SIL services (are still in a removal episode), the case address is the removal caregiver's address.

Date: 27-Nov-07; 08/26/2014

Reference/Resource: DCF

Where is it written in policy that all case notes for anything happening to a child/case must be entered into Florida Safe Families Network (FSFN) within 48 hours?

Answer: CFOP 170-1, ch 12 (5) states: "All case activities, including contacts and attempted contacts with a child, the child’s parent or caregiver and collaterals must be entered in FSFN no later than two business days after the actual contact or other event.."

Timely entry of information relating to investigations and case management into the official case file and system of record is critical and should be completed as quickly as possible, not to exceed 48 hours unless otherwise specified in Florida Administrative Code.

Date: 27-Nov-07,

Reviewed/Updated: 08-Mar-10 and 30-Jun-10; 08/26/2014; 7/6/17

Reference/Resource: DCF FSPO; CFOP 170-1, Chapter 12

What is the policy for case assignment from one worker to another in FSFN?

Answer: A case cannot be transferred from one program to another (investigations to ongoing services) or unit to unit without there being a Case Transfer Staffing (for program to program) or a request from a sending unit supervisor to a receiving unit supervisor (unit to unit).

Answer: From the Maintain Case page, select the Remove hyperlink for the Appropriate participant to be removed. Click Save and then Close.

NOTE: Only a Supervisor can remove a participant from a case Provided.

Date: 6-Feb-08; 08/29/2014

Reference/Resource: DCF; Maintain Case User Guide

Define "age of majority" as a deactivation option when deactivating a person from the case.

Answer: "Age of Majority" applies when a youth is deactivated as a participant in a case due to first, having turned age 18 and, second, the Department is no longer providing any services to that youth. It is important to remember that the court may continue to exercise legal jurisdiction over a young adult after the age of 18 under special circumstances defined in Florida Statute and Florida Administrative Code and the Department may continue to provide services (examples are young adults receiving transitional services or aftercare or who are awaiting a decision on their immigration status), so reaching the Age of Majority in and of itself does not always deactivate a participant. The 18 years plus participant may remain active to the case if he or she is continuing to receive services.

"Age of Majority" by definition is that age at which a youth assumes all the responsibilities of an adult under the laws of a given state. This age is legislated individually by each state. Florida's age of majority is 18. Children under 18 are "minors."

Date: 29-Feb-08

Reference/Resource: DCF

Why would FSFN deny my case closure?

Answer: The request for case closure may be denied if any of the following items are not completed:

Open Living Arrangement
Intake not linked to an Investigations
PS Reports without completed Initial Assessments
Open Placement, Medicaid Certifications not complete
Pending or Ongoing Plans
Participants in Protective Custody
Approval Processing not complete

If a new adoptive family is identified and the adoption placement process initiated, it would be appropriate to create a new Case Plan to protect the confidentiality of the adoptive family and, of course, at finalization the FSFN User processes the case in the system in order to create a completely new post-adoption case. (Currently, there technical problems with regard to separating the names of children in the legal header of the Case Plan, should separating case participants even become necessary.)

Date Answered: June 10, 2009

Reference/Resources: DCF Family Safety Program Office

As the FSFN Case Plan contains Visitation Information for the parents and siblings, when would the separate FSFN Visitation Plan be required or needed? We have information that the separate Visitation Plan is required for all Out-of-Home cases but appears this is duplicate information already contained in the Case Plan.

Answer: The Visitation Plan must be approved by the court and cannot be altered without court approval. Both the Out-of-Home Plan and the Visitation Plan must be attached to the case plan. The JRSS/CPU must address not only the plan for visits as ordered by the court, but must also address the results of the parent-child interaction and any agency recommendations for expansion or restriction of future visitation.

Date: July 2, 2010

Reference: F.S. 39.701 (8)(a)7; DCF Pre-Service Training Curriculum – Case Management Overview

Is there a policy or other reference giving specific time frames for submitting case closures in FSFN for both judicial and non-judicial cases?

Answer: Because FSFN is Florida's official case file of record for investigations and case management whether judicial or non judicial, it is critical that information contained in that record be as current and accurate as possible at any given time. Timely entry of information into FSFN is key and applies equally to documenting case closure (and current case status) under all circumstances as much as it applies to any other data or information required to be documented in FSFN as soon as possible after it occurs.

Please reference Florida Administrative Code s. 65-30.001(13) regarding FSFN as the official case record. (13) "Case File" means all information for a case contained in the department"s statewide automated child welfare information system (SACWIS), i.e., FSFN as well as the supporting paper documentation gathered during provision of services to that family. The "case file" may also refer to a duplicate, paper copy of the electronic case file and the supporting paper documentation.

Date: Nov. 2010

Reference: DCF FSPO

When do you change the legal goal from Reunification to Maintain and Strengthen placement with parent? Is it at the time the court orders the child to be reunified with the parent OR when a permanency/case plan hearing is held and the court approves Maintain and Strengthen case plan?

Answer: The case plan goal in FSFN needs to be updated (as well as legal and placement status) once the court has ordered that custody be returned to the parents.

Date Answered: Feb 9, 2011

Resources: FAC: 65C-30.014; CFOP 175-38; DCF

Eligibility

Define "age of majority" as a deactivation option when deactivating a person from the case.

Answer: "Age of Majority" by definition is that age at which a youth assumes all the responsibilities of an adult under the laws of a given state. Florida's age of majority is 18. "Age of Majority" can be used as an option to deactivate a person from the case once the youth has reached the age of 18 AND is no longer receiving any services from the CBC agency.

Date Answered/Reviewed:7/29/08; 8/27/14

Reference/Resource: DCF

If an initial Medicaid (2626a) has already been submitted to FLORIDA with a citizenship status of "no," and the child gains citizenship status, how should the user submit this information to FLORIDA?

Answer: An Initial Medicaid submission shall not be completed in FSFN if the child does not meet the technical requirements.

Date: 3/25/10

Updated/Reviewed: 4/8/10; 9/2/14; 4/16/19

Reference/Resource: DCF

Since Medicaid eligibility is re-determined annually by the DCF Child in Care worker in FLORIDA does FSFN require this is done there also?

Answer: No, annual Medicaid redeterminations are not documented in FSFN.

Date: 1/26/09

Date Updated/Reviewed: 9/2/14; 4/16/19

Reference/Resource: DCF

Family Assessment

Who should be included in the family assessment?

Answer: The focus of the FFA will always include the parent/legal guardian of the alleged child victim who resides in the household where the child was maltreated.
The information domains for adult functioning, parenting and discipline/behavior management will be developed separately for each parent/legal guardian or caregiver in the household with significant responsibilities for the care and protection of the child(ren).
Other household members, intimate partners and members of the family resource network who do not have significant responsibility for the care and protection of the child(ren) will be described in the context of any impact they have on adult functioning, parenting and discipline.

Date: 9/9/14

Reference/Resource: Safety Method Practice Guidelines – All Staff; FS 39.01(10);FAC 30.005

If every person (child or adult) living in the home with the parent/caregiver has to be assessed, how would we put them in the Family Assessment, do we need to add them in FSFN and give them a service role?

Answer: Yes, if not all household members have been included in the initial case, they should be added to the case. The Family Assessment, again, should accurately reflect the members of a child's household. They will have Service Roles attached.

Households fluctuate and may change from the time of initial investigation to case transfer. Household members may come and go and the current household composition should be reflected in the Family Assessment as well as any others who may have a relationship to the child as defined in Chapter 39.

Date: 28-Jul-08

Date Reviewed/Updated:9/9/14

Reference/Resource: DCF; FS 39.301 (3) & (7)

What if a case reopens for modification of placement and child may or may not switch homes, do we assess caregiver child was removed from and prospective placement (e.g. another family member)?

Answer: If there is a motion to modify a placement, it would be appropriate to update the Family Assessment to reflect the current circumstances surrounding the child and the role of the new, proposed caregiver, background information and his or her relationship with the child, etc.

Date: 28-Jul-08

Reference/Resource: DCF

When is staff required to create a Family Assessment in FSFN?

Answer: An initial Family Assessment and an Updated Family Assessment are required by Florida Administrative Code 65C - 30.005 and should be created and documented in FSFN in both new and currently active cases. The initial Family Assessment is completed within 15 working days of the Early Services Intervention staffing and is updated, at a minimum, every 6 months.

*Note: Staff currently practicing the Safety Methodology will update the FFA-ongoing, via a progress update, at critical junctures and no less than every 90 days. Other areas, not practicing the methodology (old cases) will continue to work under the 6 month time frame the family assessment.

Date Answered: 8/7/08

Date Reviewed/Updated: 9/9/14

DCF Office of Child Welfare; Phase 1 Implementation Sites: FAMILY FUNCTIONING ASSESSMENT POLICY; FAC 65C-3.005 Family Assessment

Question: If a parent is non-offending, but unable to locate or refuses to participate, are the counselors required to complete an assessment on the parent or can they check them as Not Applicable and explain this? Hopefully this makes sense, if not let me know. My field experience indicates that you gather as much data as possible on all parents. However, I don't know how this applies to FSFN documents. Can you provide some direction for us?

Answer: The issue is more a legal one than a FSFN one. The parents, wherever they are, are legal parties to the case. Because the Family Assessment forms the foundation and literally generates the Case Plan, it is important to remember that we have legal requirements to provide a Case Plan to the parents and to make documented efforts to locate and involve non-custodial or non offending parents in the case planning process. I realize not all parents want to be a part of the process or be located, but I would be careful about the ""not applicable"" statement unless it can be documented what efforts have been made to involve them.

Be careful of looking at the Family Assessment as not being connected to the Case Plan and the entire legal process.

That being said, if one of the parents truly cannot be located or absolutely refuses to participate, that should be noted in the FA and what information can be gathered and documented about that parent should be included as it is still relevant. Sometimes, what a parent does not do, etc., can tell us more about them than what they do as far as their commitment to the child, parenting, and so on.

Date: 29-Sep-08

Reference/Resource: DCF

Do children with goals of adoption, APPLA, or even a child that has been TPR'd, need to have Family Assessments performed every 6 months?

Answer: Six month updates to the initial Family Assessment (or completed more frequently in the event of significant changes during the 6 month interim) are required until the Department's case is closed and services to the family are terminated.

NOTE: Staff currently practicing the Safety Methodology will update the FFA-ongoing, via a progress update, at critical junctures and no less than every 90 days. Other areas, not practicing the methodology (old cases) will continue to work under the 6 month time frame the family assessment.

Date: 3/31/09

Date Updated/Reviewed:9/9/14

Reference/Resource: DCF Office of Child Welfare; Phase 1 Implementation Sites: FAMILY FUNCTIONING ASSESSMENT POLICY; FAC 65C-3.005 Family Assessment

Should a Family Assessment be completed on Voluntary (non-court) cases?

Answer:The new Safety Methodolgy requires that a Family Functioning Assessment-Investigation (FFA-Investigation) is completed for in-home investigations involving allegations of maltreatment by a parent, legal guardian, and/or other caregiver in the household with significant responsibity for care and protection. The only noted exceptions are when the investigation is being closed out as “Patently Unfounded,""? as a “Duplicate"? report , as a “No Jurisdiction"? report, or if the intake involves the in-home subtype ‘Other.’ Additionally, Fl Administrative code (pre-Safety Methodology) states that the Services Worker shall complete an initial family assessment within fifteen working days following the ESI staffing. The ongoing family assessment shall be completed at least every six months until termination of services. There is no distinction between court involved and non-court involved cases.

Date: 3/17/10

Date Reviewed/Updated: 9/9/14

Reference/Resource: FAC 65C-3.005 Family Assessment; Safety Methodology Practice Guidelines, Investigations

Financial Services

Is there a reporting category for flex funds?

Answer: No, there is no reporting category, flex funds. Other would be an option. The reference values have been reviewed and flex was not seen there. Flex funds are among those we are working with OS Budget to develop policy around in terms of whether or not and how they are captured. They are currently captured in ICWSIS; however, it is unclear where they landed in FSFN.

Date: 26-Feb-09

Reference/Resource: DCF

Will overpayment adjustments feed back into trust accounts to recoup funds if taken out to cover cost of care?

Answer: Yes. Any overpayments to providers involving money deducted from the child's Master Trust account, requires the replacement of those funds into the child's Master Trust account. Please note this is a manual process not an automated one. (Information Source: FM07: Trust Accounts Topic Paper)

Date: 2-Jun-09

Reference/Resource: DCF

If multiple benefits are included in one general trust account (SSI, SSA, etc), which benefit is deducted for cost of care?

Answer: CFOP 175-59 provides detailed explanation and guidance regarding the administration and appropriate application of specific funds associated with Master Trust accounts. The electronic allocation process is mapped as a part of the FSFN design structure. Funds are accessed in the following order:

SSI
VA
SSA
Other

The FM07: Trust Accounts Topic Paper describes the process which FSFN determines and generates the appropriate allocations:

Answer: There is automated processing to generate overpayments or payments based on retroactive rate changes when the rate is corrected on the Service Rate page, Provider Service Rate page, or using Foster Care Rate Setting. It is a batch process performed by the Calculate Ongoing Amounts Batch (FM01). However, if the rate was entered as a child-specific rate on the OOH Placement page (or Services Page), the Placement must be ended and a new placement created with the new rate. If this is done retroactively, the system will automatically generate the retroactive overpayments for the ended placement, and new payments for the new placement.

Answer: No. Information typed into the designated screens in FSFN will automatically populate into the corresponding templates such as the Family Assessment, Safety Plan, Out of Home Plan, Visitation Plan, JRSSR, and the Case Plan. A few of the fields on the templates are user entered but most pre-populate based upon information entered on the corresponding data screens. Because the templates function as word documents, information that is user entered on the template is not automatically saved into the system and will have to be re-entered when the template is pre-populated the next time. Also, if a field is pre-populated from a screen the information must be edited on the screen and not on the template.

Date: 16-Feb-09

Reference/Resource: DCF

Are there specific instructions for filling out the Axis 1 and Axis 2 diagnosis in the mental health tab? Some of the choices do not match up with the doctor diagnosis.

Answer: The diagnoses listed as specific reference values for Axis I and Axis II on the Mental Health Profile Tab are consistent with those values currently recognized for these two Axes. Values for Axis I and Axis II are established diagnoses and are clinically assessed by the physician. The selection(s) chosen for these fields must match the doctor's written diagnosis. Remember that under each of these broad, very general classifications, however, are multiple "sub" diagnoses. If the diagnosis given by the doctor is one that is actually a diagnoses found under one of the broader classifications, the general classification should be selected and the actual diagnosis noted in FSFN. For example, a youth may be diagnosed with anorexia nervosa. Anorexia nervosa falls under the Axis I general classification of "Eating Disorder" The general classifications for Axis I and Axis II and their corresponding, or "sub", diagnoses can be found in the DSM-IV-TR. If the diagnosis is still unclear, clarification should be requested from the physician.

Date: 3-Jun-09

Reference/Resource: DCF

Should the Mentoring and Modeling for Quality in case management specify every 90 days versus every quarter? For example, the first quarter review may occur July 1, but the second quarterly review may not happen until December 31.

Answer: The expectation is that supervisory reviews occur each quarter, but certainly not as described above. The intent is to have frequent, meaningful, and timely discussions with staff. Given the scenario above, six months would have passed between discussions and that is not acceptable. Reviewers should use a logical, common sense approach to assessing this process based on the understanding that supervisory reviews should occur regularly, but at a minimum approximately every 90 days.

Date: 23-Jun-09

Reference/Resource: DCF

Is it possible to view Medical/MH information on a closed case?

Answer: You can view the meds main page, but the "edit" link that takes you to the dosage, court approved, parental approved page can not be seen. To view the additional meds page, you must have an assignment to the case.

Assignment to case requires the case be open.

Date: 24-Jun-09

Reference/Resource: DCF

Does MEETINGS allow the user to print out a meeting sheet that documents what you input as the results of the meeting or is it just view only?

Answer: There is a blank text template that is available within each meeting. This blank text template can be used to document important meeting decisions and this can be printed. As this is a blank text template, it will not display any of the information added to the Meeting page but any information documented on the text will be maintained within the Meeting module and can be accessed through the options drop down. The print screen is also available for printing what displays on the screen.

Date: 10-Aug-09

Reference/Resource: DCF

Who approves the PDS in the system? Does the CPI complete their portion and then the CPIS approve it?

Answer: The PDS legal document requires a Level 2 approval in the system (typically supervisor). If the document includes input from more than one user (ie. CPI and Case Manager), you should have them work on inputting on the same document and determine who is the most appropriate person to do the final approval based on who has the ultimate responsibility for the document.

Date: 11-Aug-09

Reference/Resource: DCF

Answer: Sections 65C-30(13) and 65C-30(134) of Florida Administrative Code establish our Statewide Automated Child Welfare Information System, currently the Florida Safe Families Network (FSFN), as the official record and case file for both child protective investigations and case management. Documenting case notes is an integral and critical function of the FSFN system. Case notes must be accurate, substantive and entered in a
timely manner. Once entered and saved in FSFN, edits to case notes may only be made by the FSFN user who originally created the case note or by his or her supervisor. Any edits or changes made to a case note will be reflected in a "versioned history" of that change, allowing a review of the original language of the case note before edits. The versioned history of the note is available by selecting View History and pressing the Go button on the Options dropdown. FSFN users should always review the history of a
versioned case note. Edits to case notes may also be researched through system audit.

FSFN users should carefully review s. 839.13, Florida Statutes, regarding falsification of public records for specific guidance on maintaining the integrity of any data entered in the FSFN system. This statute refers to penalties for "... Any person who knowingly falsifies, alters, destroys, defaces, overwrites, removes, or discards an official record relating to an individual in the care and custody of a state agency, which act has the
potential to detrimentally affect the health, safety, or welfare of that individual..."; however, there are provisions in that statute for "correcting" or "updating" records. CFOP 175-42 also provides guidance regarding case note documentation.

Any edits to a case note should not alter the substantive content of the events, observations and activities initially reported in that note. Obvious typographical errors may be corrected, such as accidentally reversing the numbers of an address or telephone number or misspelling a key name, place, etc. Information should not be deleted, but may be clarified. Information accidentally omitted or not included in the initial case note should be added to the record by creating a new case note explaining the omission. Information should be updated by the creation of a new case note. Case notes should be documented as completely as possible at the time the events occur as opposed to entering a deliberately brief entry with the intention of adding information via a versioned history at a later date. Any additional information under those circumstances should be entered as a new case note referencing the earlier case note.

Date: 25 Feb 2010

Reference/Resource: DCF

How do we enter private insurance for a child covered under the parents' insurance into FSFN?

Answer: Information on insurance policies is captured on the Assets and Employment module on the Assets and Liabilities tab. There is also a field found in the Medical and Mental Health screens that documents contact information if the health provider is an HMO. The only place to document type of insurance in the Medical and Mental Health screens is as a "note" in one of the text fields. Contact information for a private health provider should be included in the Case Notes.

Date Answered: June 22, 2010

Date Updated:

Reference/Resource: DCF Family Safety Program Office

When should you use absconded over abducted?

Answer: "Children and Families Operating Procedure 175-85 ("Prevention, Reporting and Services to Missing Children") provides the following:

"Abducted" means that an individual who does not have care and custody of a child under the jurisdiction of a dependency court has taken the child and left the jurisdiction of the court or in some manner is avoiding the supervision ordered by the dependency court.
"Absconded" means that an individual who has care and custody of a child under the jurisdiction of a dependency court has taken the child and left the jurisdiction of the court or in some manner is avoiding the supervision ordered by the dependency court.

The difference is in "abducted" the parent is not the custodian of the child (this would, for example, be the abduction of a child in an in-home supervision case by a non-custodial parent) and in ""absconded"", the parent is the custodian of the child (this would, for example, apply to an in-home case in which the family disappears with the child to avoid supervision). These circumstances may apply to Living Arrangements both investigations and in-home cases when the family is under the jurisdiction of the dependency court.

**Please note that the DCF Missing Children Guide currently uses "Parental Abduction"" to describe any abduction of a child by a parent. The word "absconded" is not frequently used as a descriptive term, although it is occasionally used as a verb when referring to an abduction. The term "Endangered" is used if the abduction is suspected to be an abduction by a stranger."

Date: 27-Oct-08

Reference/Resource: DCF

Is there a policy or other reference giving specific time frames for submitting case closures in FSFN for both judicial and non-judicial cases?

Answer: Because FSFN is Florida's official case file of record for investigations and case management whether judicial or non-judicial, it is critical that information contained in that record be as current and accurate as possible at any given time. Timely entry of information into FSFN is key and applies equally to documenting case closure (and current case status) under all circumstances as much as it applies to any other data or information required to be documented in FSFN as soon as possible after it occurs.

Date Answered: October 11, 2010

Reference/Resource: Florida Administrative Code s. 65-30.001 (13), DCF Family Safety Program Office

When the court places a child into Permanent Guardianship and closes the case, do we also close the Removal Episode in FSFN? If the child then comes back into out-of-home care because the placement disrupts or the Permanent Guardian dies, is this a new Removal Episode? Who is the child sheltered from? The original removal parents or the Permanent Guardian?

Does it matter if parental rights are terminated or not?

Answer: When a child is placed by the court into Permanent Guardianship as one of the five permanency goals under section 39. 6221, F. S., and the court closes the case to further services by the Department or its contracted agency, the Removal Episode is considered discharged and is ended in FSFN.

If the child is later removed from the Permanent Guardian and re-enters out-of-home care, a new Removal Episode in entered into FSFN. The child is considered removed from the Permanent Guardian not from the original removal parents even if parental rights have not been terminated. The court may shelter the child and modify the existing custody order, as appropriate, to reflect a new entry and placement in out-of-home care.

Please note that CFOP 175-71 provides definitions for a "Removal Episode" as follows:

3-8. Removal Episode. A "removal episode" refers to the period of time that begins with the child"s removal (physically, judicially, or voluntarily) and includes one or more subsequent placements in out-of-home care settings. A removal episode ends when a child is:

Reunified with his/her parent(s); this does not include returned for a trial home visit. A trial home visit is considered a "step in the reunification process," unless it extends for more than six months without a judicial extension; or
Legally adopted (finalized); or
Permanently placed in the home of a relative or non-relative and the Department and court involvement ceases.

The definition for "Removal Episode" is also found in Florida Administrative Code at s. 65C-30.001 (116) and in federal language on the DHHS Children's Bureau website at the following webpage: http://www.acf.hhs.gov/cwpm/programs/cb/laws_policies/laws/cwpm/policy_dsp.jsp?citID=149

Please note that section 39.6221(5)(6) provides that certain parental rights do remain intact unless parental rights are legally terminated.

(5)The court shall retain jurisdiction over the case and the child shall remain in the custody of the permanent guardian unless the order creating the permanent guardianship is modified by the court. The court shall discontinue regular review hearings and relieve the department of the responsibility for supervising the placement of the child. Not withstanding the retention of jurisdiction, the placement shall be considered permanency for the child.

(6) Placement of a child in a permanent guardianship does not terminate the parent-child relationship, including:

(a) The right of the child to inherit from his or her parents;

(b) The parents" right to consent to the child"s adoption; and

Date: October 13, 2010

Reference/Resource: DCF Family Safety Program Office

If a child is taking psychotropic medication while residing with his/her parent (in-home) does this information need to be entered within the Medical/Mental Health screens the same as a child in out-of-home care? Do we have to document medical and mental health information in FSFN for in-home supervision cases?

Answer: Yes. Any child who is prescribed psychotropic medication, regardless of their living arrangement/ placement, must have this documented in FSFN within the Medical and Mental Health module screens. Unlike children in out-of-home care, children in in-home care, however, are in the legal custody of their parents or legal custodians. The parents/legal custodian can consent to medical treatment and medication without the intervention of the court. The issue with in-home cases is not around consent but, rather, documentation of a child's overall health needs while under the supervision of the Department or contracted agency.

Section 65C-30.007, Florida Administrative Code (F.A.C.), provides that children under the supervision of the Department must be seen, at a minimum, every 30 days. The 30-day face-to-face contact with the child must include information regarding the child's progress in terms of health and well-being. Per F.A.C., this information must be documented in the child's case file (FSFN) within two working days. Documenting a child's medical and mental health history is critical to ensuring child well-being and is essential to providing effective services to families. Requirements to document a child's health needs apply to both investigations and case management. Gathering information on a child's health, including mental health, should be documented in FSFN from the investigation phase throughout the life of the case to termination of services. Medical and mental health information are essential to developing and maintaining other critical FSFN assessments and required documents such as the Family Assessment, Case Plan, JRSSR, Safety Plan and the Out-of-Home Plan. This requirement applies to judicial in-home cases. Non-judicial in-home cases must also have a Family Assessment and Case Plan; however, these are not filed with the court.

Date: Nov-2010

Date Reviewed/Updated: 8/31/16

Reference/Resource: DCF FSPO; FAC 65C-30.007

ICPC

What address is to be used for the "case" address as users are prompted to enter the case address prior to saving changes (such as changing the case type) on the participants screen?

However, the Case address is a different matter. While the Case Type may indicate what the address may be, the general rule of thumb is:

If it is an ongoing services case with or without a removal, it is the caregiver (parents) or removal caregiver's address. This includes cases created as a result of special condition referrals for caregiver unavailable or parent needs assistance.
If it is a case created for an institutional investigation or a foster care referral, it is the institution's address.
If it is a case created as a result of a services referral, not including ICPC homestudy requests or incoming placements, it is the caregiver's address.
If it is a case created through an ICPC request for a homestudy and subsequent placement in Florida, it is the Florida caregiver's address.
If it is an adoption subsidy case, it is the adoptive parent's address.
If it is a case opened for services to a young adult and there are no other children active or inactive as case participants, it is the young adult's address.
If it is a case with only a youth receiving IL services (are still in a removal episode), the case address is the removal caregiver's address.

Date Answered: 11/27/07

Dave Reviewed/Updated: 09/15/14

Reference/Resource: DCF

Is it required to add a goal for ICPC supervision cases?

Answer: No, we do not enter a permanency goal for a child from another state that is placed here in Florida (incoming ICPC cases), as the sending state holds jurisdiction. The system does not require this.

Date:12/17/07

Dave Reviewed/Updated: 09/15/14

Reference/Resource: DCF; FS 409.401l; CFOP 175.54

When we receive children here form another state through ICPC and are providing courtesy supervision, is there a time limit for "building" the case in FSFN?

Answer: Unless otherwise specified in Florida Administrative Code, ALL casework information should be documented in FSFN within 48 hours. Some actions referenced in Florida Administrative Code give a different time frame, e.g., documenting a visit with a child, or an unsuccessful attempt to make such a visit, must be documented within ""two working days". This 48 hour time frame is a carry-over from HomeSafenet and is supported by requirements found in CFOP 175-42. CFOP 175-42 provides, " Each entry in the case chronological recording will be complete but concise, and must be made at the time of or immediately following the event or contact." The time frames for entering data have not changed with the implementation of FSFN.

Documenting out-of-state children in FSFN as soon as possible is extremely important. We are not only providing supervisory information back to the sending state but in the event of a Hotline report on a child recently placed in Florida, the Hotline and the CPI benefit from current case information being available to them in the system.

Date:7/28/08

Dave Reviewed/Updated: 9/3/10; 09/15/14

Reference/Resource: DCF;F.S.39.301(9)(b)5.; CFOP 175-42 (5); F.A.C. 65C-29.003(6), 65C-30.018

Is the Case Manager required to obtain birth verification for children placed in Florida via an ICPC request from another state?

Answer: The birth certificate may be sent with the Home Study request from the other state. However, if it is not, the Case Manager is not required to obtain and document the birth certificate for a child placed on Florida via ICPC.

Date: 9/26/08

Dave Reviewed/Updated: 09/15/14

Reference/Resource: DCF

When do we use the FSFN Case Type "ICPC"? When the children are placed here in Florida from another state or when we send children from Florida out of state, or both?

Answer: The FSFN Case Type "ICPC" is used to designate children coming into Florida from a Sending State and for whom we have no legal jurisdiction. Their legal jurisdiction rests in the Sending State. We, therefore, are not required to have a Florida Case Plan, complete Judicial Reviews or complete similar case management, typically legal, activities. These responsibilities are being completed in and by the Sending State. We are providing the completion of a home study, supervision of the child and services, as indicated.

Children leaving Florida to reside in another state via ICPC are given the FSFN Case Type that corresponds to their case status in Florida. For example, ""Out-of-Home - Court Ordered"" would be the Case Type for a child going to an out-of-home placement in another state. An In-Home Supervision case in Florida moving to another state would have the Case Type "In-Home - Court Ordered Supervision".

"ICPC Priority" is a Case Type referring to an expedited home study request.

Date Answered: July 2, 2010

Date Updated/Reviewed: 9/24/14

Reference/Resource: DCF

When you create a SIL child as a Person Provider what values do you give the Person Provider for "Type", "Lcns Type", "Lcns Agency"?

Answer: The Type is "Services", the Licensing Type is "Not Applicable" and the Licensing Agency is "Not Applicable". The youth is neither licensed nor approved by any agency to provide placement or services. Rather, the youth is created as a Person Provider strictly for the purpose of receiving services from the Department under the Independent Living program.

Date: 10-Aug-09

Reference/Resource: DCF

Intake

Currently, FSFN requires the user to identify a caregiver responsible for any verified maltreatments. However, there are instances in which the caregiver responsible is unknown. How should this be reflected in the system?

Answer: FSFN does not allow the user to add an Unknown, Unknown person to the investigation. "In instances in which the hotline intake does not have an unknown participant and:

Maltreatment is verified, the possible caregivers responsible are ruled out and the perp is an unknown person other than those named in the intake.

Maltreatment is verified, but the alleged caregivers responsible can neither be ruled in or out, meaning, it cannot be determined which of the alleged perps are responsible for the maltreatment.

In these instances, the user will add an unknown person to the case and the investigation, as follows:
From the dsktop, click on the case name link
On the Participants Tab, click Insert button
This will bring you to the Search Screen
Enter "Unk" on the Last Name field and "Unk" in the first name field. If both are not done at the same time, it is not considered a valid search and the user will have to search again.
Click Search, the results are returned
Ignore the search results
Click Create at the bottom right corner of the screen
This will take you to the Person Management screens
Create a case participant person with a last and first names of "Unk, Unk"
Do not spell out the full name of "Unknown"
Once the Unk case participant is created, click on the investigation
Click on Participants Tab
Click Insert button
Additional Case Participants Pop-up Box will appear
Select the "Unk, Unk" case participant
Click Continue
Proceed to complete all other required information.

Date: 21-Jun-07

Reference/Resource: DCF

How much work can I do on my investigation before I can no longer delink the Intake from a case?

Answer: The delink intake process can be utilized up to the point where the commencement note is created. Any work on the investigation beyond the commencement note will prevent the ability of the Intake from being delinked. The System automatically assigns the intake to the user completing the delink process.

Date Answered: 3/12/08

Date Updated/Reviewed: 9/24/14

Reference/Resource: DCF; FSFN Intake User Guide

When a new intake comes in to the Hotline on a child that has been adopted and results in a removal from the adoptive home, should the intake be linked to the post adoption case? Should the removal be documented in the post adoption case or should a new case be started for this removal?

Notes to CPI: After the investigation has been completed, the post-adoptive case and the subsidy remains open in FSFN and re-assigned back to CBC as primary.

Date: 11-Feb-10

Reference/Resource: DCF

Where is the rule and/or policy about splitting cases/investigations when you have more than one family in a home and there are numerous victims?

Answer: The following policy is from the Family Safety Program Office:

Intakes should be split when there is more than one distinct family unit in a household AND maltreatment allegations exist on both primary caregivers of the two distinct households.

Date: 7-Mar-07

Reference/Resource: DCF

Please provide guidance on Child intakes with regard to (a) creating parent(s) for child victims in the case and (b) whether a case needs to be created for each family/child when an Intake alleges the abuse and neglect of multiple children in an Institutional setting. If multiple cases are created, how will this work if only one Intake comes in, yet an Intake is needed to create each case. Who will the Institutional Intakes and Cases be named after? The Organization/Institution or the perpetrator who works at the Institution/Organization/Facility? Please clarify who we include as Case Participants in FSFN for Institutional Investigation cases.

Answer: For each victim named in an Institutional Investigation, add their primary caregiver(s) as a Case Participant on the Maintain Case page. The parent/caregivers do not need to be added to the Institutional investigation.

An intake can only be associated to one investigation under a singular case. For Institutional intakes, the case will be named after the Institutional provider. For example, Happy Times Child Learning Center. This will allow for the maintenance of all intakes and investigations for a provider to be tracked through one case only. A prior history check on the named victims will reflect the institutional cases to which they maybe associated.

How much work can I do on my investigation before I can no longer delink the Intake from a case?

Date: 12-Mar-08

Reference/Resource: DCF

How should the Cases for Institutional Investigations be named?

Answer: They come automatically named after the youngest victim's name from the hotline. The CPI is required to change the case name after the mother's name or next in the naming convention hierarchy, as appropriate. If the intake is an institutional intake, the case will be named after the provider's name. If it is a person provider, the person provider's name. If the provider is an institutional provider, the case name is entered as the institutional provider's formal name, entered in the case last name field.

Date: 1-Apr-08

Related FAQs: Intake 3

Reference/Resource: DCF

What are the closing reasons for child investigations?

Answer: It should be noted that on all investigations that are closed as a duplicate or no jurisdiction, the investigator shall document the rationale for this determination in the chronological record and obtain supervisory approval.

Duplicate - If the review of the prior reports indicates the existence of a prior that contains allegations of the same incident contained in the new initial report, and the new report does not offer new information, additional subjects, new evidence, or additional allegations or incidents, the child protective investigator shall submit the new report for supervisory review and approval to close the report as a duplicate of the prior report.

No Jurisdiction / Federal Property – If during the course of the investigation it is determined that the allegations are of harm or threatened harm to a child residing on federal property such as an Indian reservation, military base, or employee housing at a Federal Prison, etc. (unless there is an agreement with the appropriate authorities to surrender jurisdiction to the Department), the investigator shall immediately transfer the information on the report to the appropriate authorities who have jurisdiction over the property and submit the report for supervisory review and approval to close the report as "No Jurisdiction – Federal Property".

No Jurisdiction / Non Caregiver – If during the course of the investigation it is determined that the instance of known or suspected child abuse, abandonment, or neglect was alleged to have been perpetrated by someone other than a parent, legal custodian, caregiver, or other person responsible for the child"s welfare, the investigator shall immediately transfer the information on the report to the appropriate county sheriff"s office and submit the report for supervisory review and approval to close the report as "No Jurisdiction – No Caregiver".

No Jurisdiction / Official Capacity – If during the course of the investigation it is determined that the alleged perpetrator is a staff member in a general hospital (excluding a psychiatric ward), law enforcement officer or employee of a jail (excluding a law enforcement officer employed in any facility, service, or program for children that is operated or contracted by the Department of Juvenile Justice) acting in an official capacity, the investigator shall immediately transfer the information on the report to the appropriate county sheriff"s office and submit the report for supervisory review and approval to close the report as "No Jurisdiction – Official Capacity".

No Jurisdiction / Victim Out of State – If during the course of the investigation it is determined that the instance of known or suspected child abuse, abandonment, or neglect occurred out of state and the alleged perpetrator and the child alleged to be a victim live out of state, then the investigator should transfer the information on the report to the appropriate state and submit the report for supervisory review and approval to close the report as "No Jurisdiction – Victim Out of State".

No Jurisdiction / Victim Over 18 – If during the course of the investigation it is determined that the alleged victim of maltreatment was over the age of 18 at the time of the alleged maltreatment, the investigator shall immediately transfer the information on the report to the appropriate county sheriff"s office and submit the report for supervisory review and approval to close the report as "No Jurisdiction – Victim Over 18".

Closing / No Services – When the investigation is complete and neither voluntary or court ordered services have been referred for any of the participants on the investigation, the child protective investigator shall submit the report for supervisory review and approval to close the report as "Closing – No Services".

Closing / Services – When the investigation is complete and voluntary or court ordered services have been referred for any of the participants on the investigation, the child protective investigator shall submit the report for supervisory review and approval to close the report as "Closing – Services".

Date: 1-Apr-08

Reference/Resource: DCF

When CPI's create a provider for placement purposes, are these providers supposed to be transferred to the community based care agency when the case is transferred from investigations to case management? Where can I find this information?

Answer: (From the "How Do I? Job Aids") - Approved relative/non-relative providers will be created by the Child Protective Investigator or Case Manager making the placement.

If the approved provider is created by the CPI and the case is transferred for ongoing services, the assigned to the provider will be transferred to the appropriate caseworker in conjunction with the Case assignment transfer.

The last worker assigned to the approved provider record will be responsible for inactivating the provider record once the approved provider ceases to provide placement services to all the children placed in the home.

Date: 31-Jul-08

Reference/Resource: DCF

What would be the Service Role for a child/victim's parent/caregivers in an Institutional case/investigation?

Answer: The Service Role for a child/victim's parent/caregivers in an institutional case/investigation would be "Primary Caregiver".

Date: 30-Mar-09

Reference/Resource: DCF

The Child on Child Job Aid clearly states to add the parent/caregivers (including substitute caregivers) as Case Participants. Are they also added to the investigation as Investigation Participants?

Answer: For each child included as a Participant to a Child on Child Referral, add their Primary Caregiver(s) as a Case Participant on the Maintain Case page. If the child is in out-of-home placement, enter both the primary substitute caregiver and the biological/adoptive parent or caregiver from whom the child was removed. The parent/caregivers (including substitute caregivers) do not need to be added to the Child on Child Referral.

Date: 30-Mar-09

Reference/Resource: DCF

If an intake meets criteria to complete an on-site investigation, what selection should we choose for the "determination" screen?

Answer: The selection as either an on-site investigation or enhanced investigation does not change the child protective investigators selection decision for the "determination" value.

If the investigator determines the report meets the parameters of either a "duplicate" or "no-jurisdiction" report, then they should close as such. If the initial assessment determines the report meets the parameters for an on-site investigation, but the family may benefit from services, then they should refer as appropriate and use the "closing-services" value. For on-site investigations the child protective investigator is still required to assess for service provision and make appropriate referrals. If the initial assessment determines the report meets the parameters for an on-site investigations, and the investigator does not refer the family for services, then the "determination" value is "closing-no services".

Date: 6-May-09

Reference/Resource: DCF

When an investigation is moved, does the CPI have to close the originating case shell; assuming nothing else was going on in the originating case shell.

Answer: Yes. The investigation move process does not close the originating case. If there is not additional work that needs to be completed within the originating case, the Case Closure process should be completed and the text field on the case closure can be used to document why the case was opened and closed.

Date: 7-Aug-09

Reference/Resource: DCF

In reference to the printed Intake Summary on special conditions reports, why does the investigative sub-type reflect N/A instead of the type of Special Conditions Intake, such as child-on-child or parent in need of assistance? Is it possible to get this changed so that the type of special conditions report shows on the printed intake summary?

Answer: Special condition referrals are not investigations. Therefore the "investigation sub-type" would not be the appropriate area to document such information. The intake summary does differentiate a special conditions from an investigation, but you are right ... the intake summary does not contain the special conditions type (parent needs assistance, child-on-child, etc). However, this information is easily accessible and viewable on the special conditions tab within the intake in FSFN.

Date: March 2, 2010

Reference: DCF Office of Family Safety

When a youth under the age of eighteen is already a participant in a FSFN case, whether In-Home or Out-of-Home Services, and that youth is also a parent who becomes the subject of an abuse investigation, is the investigation created in the existing FSFN Case or is a new FSFN Case created on the youth/parent?

Answer: If a youth/parent who is a participant in a FSFN Case becomes the subject of an abuse investigation, a new FSFN case is created as the result of that investigation. Although the youth/parent is residing in the same household as other participants or family members, he or she is still a separate family unit for purposes of an investigation.

Date: July 2, 2010

Reference: DCF

Legal

In FSFN there are two legal statuses for children whose parental rights were terminated. One is TPR Obtained and the other is TPR Granted (All). What is the difference? When do you use one over the other for legal status?

Answer: TPR OBTAINED can apply to a single parent or more than one parent; however, TPR ALL reflects that TPR has been obtained on ALL persons who have a legal right to the child, be that one, two or three people, etc. That is the intent of the TPR-ALL reference value in the drop-down. In other words, a child is not free for adoption unless the TPR-ALL is selected.

TPR OBTAINED could be that we have TPR on the mother only, or the mother and one of the fathers, but not the other father, if there is a third father. If there are only two parents, a mother and one father, and you have TPR on both of them and they are the only ones with parental rights to the child, then you have TPR-ALL.

Actually, if the mother is the only living parent and the only parent with parental rights to the child, then to TPR her alone, could be a TPR-ALL. There is no one else to TPR.

The way it was originally conceived and expressed in design is that there is a need to capture when only ONE parent is "TPR'd" (or had their legal rights to a child terminated) as opposed to the termination of the parental rights of ALL those who have legally established parental rights to a given child.

A child may have more than two parents with legal rights that must be severed or terminated before they can become legally free for adoption. For example, a birth mother, a proved or acknowledged and legally recognized legal father (mother was legally married to at the time of the child's birth), an actual birth father, etc. There may a legal but not a birth father in the event of a child being born into a legal marriage but not the birth child of the husband, which adds a birth or a putative father. Until all these parents' legal ties are severed, the child is not truly free for adoption.

Date: 16-Sep-08

Reference/Resource: DCF

A case worker has two cases that are related. One mother had her children put under a VPS agreement. The mother's step daughter was removed from the home and placed with a relative. Legal had the case worker do the case plan as one document. However, in FSFN shouldn't the cases be separated? What is correct in this situation?

According to Stephen Pennypacker, Esq., Special Counsel, Family Safety Program, Department of Children and Families, this should be two separate case plans - one for the voluntary case plan that does not have court supervision and one for the court-ordered case plan. That does not mean you can not file a copy of the voluntary case plan in the court file and report to the court on compliance as it may impact the court case for the child that was removed. It also does not preclude inclusion in the court-ordered case plan of some accountability for compliance with the voluntary case plan by the non-party parent, i.e., the parent over whom the court has jurisdiction has an obligation to see that the voluntary case plan is completed.

Any time we "remove" a child and require a placement change, we must have a shelter hearing. Unless the child is placed in Voluntary Licensed Care via a Voluntary Placement Agreement, we cannot orchestrate a change of placement without a shelter hearing. It is understood that sometimes there are informal changes of placement required...but, again, it cannot require a change of placement without a shelter order. Please refer this question to CLS in your Region for clarification.

Date:16-Sep-08

Reference/Resource: DCF

"If Placement is not in close proximity to the child's home and the child has been removed from his/her school district explain why the placement outside the child's community was necessary" Then below that, is Provider Name and the Search link to put in the placement information!

Answer: The issue: Foster Parents' addresses should not be available to the parents and this template Could be attached to the Case Plan. The Provider Information (name and address) is indeed included on the Out of Home Plan template. The foster parent (or other provider) information on this document, once it goes to the court with the Case Plan, may indeed subject it to viewing by parents and others. Children's Legal Services may wish to consider redacting it.

The Out of Home Plan falls into that group of documents attached to the Case Plan and the JRSSR that contain sensitive information that should be reviewed and possibly redacted or protected, as the attorneys and the courts feel appropriate. This Provider information will also apply to relative and non relative placements.

IMPORTANT: follow-up to this response regarding confidentiality and foster parent information on the Out of Home Plan from Stephen Pennypacker, Esq. Special Counsel, Family Safety Program. We DO need to redact or delete information in the Out of Home Plan that identifies Licensed Providers and their addresses before this information goes to the court as attachments to the Case Plans and the Judicial Review Social Study Reports and can be viewed by others. Security around this information for Relative and Non Relative providers must also be considered if security is an issue with the placement.

Both CPI's and case managers may complete an Out of Home Plan at placement so this applies to both. CLS needs to be aware, as well, that this is an issue.

Date: 30-Sep-08

Reference/Resource: DCF

I am entering a status review hearing date into FSFN. Is there a place where I can enter the reason for the status review hearing, such as "re: status of adoption" or a notes section anywhere?

Answer: When creating a legal page in FSFN, the "Legal Action Initiated" drop down selection box contains a number of options, one of which is "Status Review – Adoption". Also the "Tracking" tab on the legal page contains an additional comments field which can be used to document any additional information necessary for both the "Legal Action and Status" tab and the "Tracking" tab.

Date Answered: June 22, 2010

Date Updated:

Reference/Resources: FSFN multimedia video for legal Staff (Legal Staff (17:12) and FSFN Legal Trainer Guide

Maintain Services

What is the policy for Maintaining Services in FSFN for Youth 18-23? How should a case worker document in FSFN Independent Living, Transitional, and Aftercare Support Services for youth age 18-23?

Answer: Current Policy:

Current FSFN policy for documenting and tracking youth aging out of care at 18 is to deactivate the youth as a case participant upon turning 18, providing the youth is no longer receiving services. Removal episode and placement end. If the youth, age 18 or over, continues to receive services, he or she remains active as a case participant in their original case. This policy was developed in part around a desire to retain the youth's history under the same case and to support continuity.

Current Considerations:

When youth become adults at age 18 and are continuing to receive services, allowing them to remain active as a case participant raises questions, including legal questions, regarding confidentiality and reasonable expectations for privacy for the now adult youth. The current policy creates a now independent adult as a participant to a case to which he or she may not wish to be connected either legally or in a statewide electronic data system. The other adult participants in the case (parents, relatives, etc.) may have access to information about the youth/adult to which they should not be privy. This policy creates the possibility of intentional and unintentional breaches in privacy and confidentiality as the result of the youth remaining active to a case in which he or she is no longer a dependent minor. While FSFN does have audit capability, if there are breaches of security and confidentiality, this is not a fail-safe. Overflow of information among staff and others is always a possibility.

Current practice in the field appears to be inconsistent despite established policy. Some areas keep the youth active in the original case. Others deactivate the youth based upon reaching age 18, then re-open the youth in a Services Referral case for continued services.

The advantage to the youth remaining active to the original case from a social work and best practice standpoint is that history is readily available to staff, which provides valuable background information and a sense of continuity of services. Disadvantages are the stated legal and privacy considerations and concerns as well as errors generated in FSFN in attempting to document these cases.

New Policy:

The new policy for documenting services to this age group in FSFN will be to deactivate the youth as a case participant to their original case at age 18, ending the placement and the removal episode (reached the Age of Majority). Then, re-open the case as a Services Referral "case of one" with the youth acting as his or her own Provider for payments. For all practical purposes, the youth is now in his or her own Living Arrangement.

Adding a hyperlink between the new and original cases has been discussed; however, it is felt that staff will be able to search and locate the original case easily enough if history, background and other information are needed.

Date: 5 Sep 08

Reference/Resource: DCF

Is there a link between service category and reporting category? Will the system warn if a reporting category that doesn't match the service category is selected?

Answer: This is a how does the system function kind of question. I believe they are indeed linked because the user has to enter them both when completing the process but I do not know if there is a warning if they do not match.

There is no link between the Service Category and Reporting Category nor a warning if it does not match. But they are fairly intuitive and can be changed if it is later discovered they are wrong.

For example Foster Care could match to Foster Care Services, Foster Home, Adoptive Placement, etc. It would not be a good thing if there was an edit to prevent or alert the user to a perceived "mismatched" reporting category.

Date: 26 Feb 09

Reference/Resource: DCF

Is there a reporting category for flex funds?

Date: 26 Feb 09

Reference/Resource: DCF

What can I do stop users from seeing a "service" that I do not want anyone to use?

Answer: If you want the service type to not display on any page, on the Maintain Service Type page:

Uncheck - Payments Allowed
Uncheck - Ongoing Service/Placement

This will no longer display in the dropdown on the Payment Request, Service Page, or Out of Home Placement.

Answer: The practice of closing services cases on children currently categorized as missing is not acceptable practice. It is difficult to justify closing a case for a child considered to be at risk significant enough to be under an active services case who is now missing. Staff have no ability to assess the child's safety and well-being. For this reason, FSFN is configured to not allow case closure for children currently categorized as missing in the FSFN system.

Active Missing Child Reports in the FSFN system can only be closed in one of three ways:

A child can be located and a "Located Recovery" form can be entered into the FSFN system.
A child can turn 18 and ""age-out"" of the system and an "Aged Out Recovery" form can be entered into the FSFN system.
A case can be closed by the court and a "Judicial Recovery" form can be entered into the FSFN system. Judicial recoveries can only be utilized in those cases where the court has ruled that the services case be closed while the whereabouts of a child remain unknown.

Neither the case management organization nor a Children's Legal Services attorney may request that a services case be closed while the whereabouts of a child remain unknown. Should the court pursue this option the Children's Legal Services attorney is required to

Answer: The use of the term "Licensing" in both these fields is confusing if the home is an approved home.

License Types: Relatives, Non Relatives and Adoptive Homes are "Approved" not Licensed. Foster Family Homes are "Licensed". These are Person Providers only, not Organizational Providers. The terminology in the dropdown is confusing because not all Person Providers are going to be licensed providers. Licensed Type can also apply to approved homes. ie: Approved, Licensed by Family Safety, Licensed by Non Family Safety, Not Applicable.

License Agency: The home is either licensed by the Department or it is not. By the Department we mean Family Safety as opposed to another agency or entity, in Florida or out of state. The licensing authority could be another state agency, a private agency or a tribal agency. "Approved" homes such as relatives and non relatives, or adoptions, may also be approved by Family Safety, or not. Again, the terminology is confusing because the "Licensing Agency" may have only approved the home not licensed it.

Examples: If a relative is approved by a CPI working for a sheriff's office under contract to the Department, the Licensing Type is Approved and the Licensing Agency is Family Safety. If a Licensed Foster Home is studied and recommended for licensing by a CBC under contract to the Department and the license is issued by the Department, the Licensing Type is Licensed by Family Safety and the Licensing Agency is Family Safety.

Date: 13-Dec-09

Reference/Resource: DCF

How do we determine race and ethnicity? Are there definitions on ethnicity?

Answer:The methods for determining and documenting race and ethnicity and the definitions under federal guidelines are based on self disclosure, as well as any supporting official documentation. If the two conflict, the determination should predominately rely upon the personal statement of the individual regarding his or her race and ethnicity and that of their children.

Multi-racial is defined as being composed of, involving, or representing various races, and generally refers to a group or other entity made up of more than one, sometimes several, races. In referring to an individual, the intent is to convey that he or she personally identifies with more than one race. FSFN provides the capacity to document multiple races for individuals.

Please note ethnicity and race are not the same. Ethnicity is more closely identified with a variety of factors including a person's (or his or her family's) country of origin and cultural background and is generally defined as relating to a sizable group of people sharing a common and distinctive heritage including certain racial, national, religious, linguistic, or cultural attributes. While racial groups often have similar ethnic and cultural backgrounds, it must be remembered that they may also be very different. For example, an African American individual who grew up in Cuba or in a Cuban community in the United States may identify racially as African American, but ethnically and culturally as Cuban/Hispanic. It is also important to remember that a person of any race born in the United States, but whose family origin or community is of a specific ethnicity and culture may continue to self identify with that ethnicity and culture.

Date Answered: 1/8/10

Reference/Resource: DCF

How do we document on the Person Management Screen in FSFN a child who is placed outside the United States? When I enter the street address in the other country and the name of the country, the system forces me to also add a state in the United States or an error is created.

Answer: AFCARS element #42 requires that we enter a yes or no answer to whether or not a child is placed in Florida or outside Florida. This question applies to children placed in another state in the United States or in another country. We document this information on the Person Management screen. To document a child living outside the United States, the FSFN user should select "Non US County" in the county dropdown, then select "98" in the state dropdown and, finally, select the country that applies. The FSFN user must approach the address of the caregiver needing modification through Provider Work. When "98" is added for the state dropdown, the error message no longer displays on the AFCARS exception page.

Date: 28-May-10

Reference/Resource: DCF FSPO

Who is the legal parent of a child post TPR, but prior to the finalization of an adoption? Who does the CPI list as the parent in the child's person management screen in FSFN since the birth certificate has not been changed and still lists the parent whose parental rights have been terminated?

Answer: Legally, the Department assumes legal guardianship of a child at TPR and becomes the child's legal parent. In regards to how to document in the Person Management screens in FSFN, keep the names of the birth parents until the child's adoption is finalized.

Date: 29-Jul-09

Reference/Resource: DCF

Placement

How do we determine how to document a child removed from one parent and placed with the other parent? Is it a Living Arrangement, Service, Out of Home Placement? Also, how do you document a child in a closed permanent guardianship with a relative and the parent petitions the court to have the child placed back with him/her?

DCF Answer: In instances where a child is physically removed from the parent with primary residence and released to the other parent, this will be documented as a change in Living Arrangement. For children in a closed case, where permanency has been achieved with a relative (new statutory goal of permanent guardianship), and the removal parent will petition the court to be reunified with the child: If the court grants the parent's request to re-open the case and consider reunification, the case will be reopened and a new case plan with a permanency goal of reunification will be documented. The child will continue in a Living Arrangement with the relative. In the event that the court eventually returns the child to his/her parent, a removal episode with the relative WILL NOT be documented. Rather, a change in Living Arrangement from the relative to the parent will be documented.

Date: 7-Feb-07

Reference/Resource: DCF

How do we document temporary absences from a placement? For example, weekend visits with removal caregivers, a Baker Act, detention, or a week at summer camp (when the child is clearly returning to his or her same placement)?

Answer: Documenting temporary changes in placement with a Removal Episode: Temporary absences from placements within a Removal Episode include such brief and temporary absences from a child's current FSFN placement as summer camp, respite, Baker Act confinement, DJJ detention, and brief hospitalizations. A temporary absence from the child's current FSFN placement might also include visits with relatives and non relatives (both in Florida and out-of-state via ICPC) who are not documented in FSFN as Person or Organization Providers or visits with parents that are scheduled as a part of the reunification process. A temporary absence is, in short, a brief (typically more than 24 hours and less than 30 days) absence from the child's FSFN placement of record with the understanding that the child is returning to the same placement once the temporary absence ends.

All temporary absences from a placement, regardless of the length of the absence, must be documented as a new placement event. This is a federal requirement. Please note that this will not affect the placement stability measures.

A Chronological Note Type of "Note to File – General", describing the circumstances surrounding the temporary absence from placement must be documented in the child's FSFN record.

A child's physical address must be documented in the Person Management screen each time it changes. This data documented for the child's current Primary Residence address on the Person Management screen must match the child's actual physical location at any given time.

To document a temporary absence, the user ends the current placement for reason of "Placement Change Within Removal Episode". All placement events must be linked to a Provider record within the system. The new (temporary) placement is documented either with a Person Provider or Organization Provider within the FSFN system or via the Statewide Visitation Provider.

The user will search the provider listing to determine if the Person Provider, Organization Provider or the Statewide Provider Placement "Service Type" already exists within FSFN for his or her Fiscal Agency. If not, the user will need to create the Placement "Service Type" within the Statewide Provider listing for his or her Fiscal Agency, e.g., "Summer Camp", "Out-of-State Visit - ICPC", "Visit with Parent - Reunification", "Visit with Removal Caregiver - Reunification", and so on.

To end the temporary absence the user will reverse the steps, ending the temporary placement and returning the child to the earlier placement.

Payment to the original placement provider may be maintained during the temporary absence.

Date: 27-Nov-07

Revised: 3-Sep-09

Reference/Resource: DCF

In a case where the children were removed from the biomother and placed with the stepfather (never physically removed from the home), would this be a "Constructive Removal" or "Living Arrangement"?

Answer: If children are removed from the mother's custody and placed with a non-relative, (for example, the step-father, not biological or legal father), this is counted as a removal episode and a placement. The location of the placement is not an issue. The fact that the children were removed from their custodian (the biomother) and placed with a non-relative (the stepfather) is what is important. Please note that all placement requirements will need to be met in this instance (e.g., background check, homestudy, etc.).

If the same situation occurs, but instead it involves a mother and biological or legal father living together, the best approach would be to get a Chapter 39 injunction on the mother and leave the children with the father. Even if a shelter hearing is held, this would not count as a removal episode and placement under the federal requirements, as the feds do not count this as a removal, as long as the children are with a custodial parent.

Date: 11-Dec-07

Reference/Resource: DCF

What is the policy on length of absence from a Living Arrangement that constitutes a change in a child's living arrangement?

Answer: A Living Arrangement specifically refers to the child's physical location, the current place bodily occupied by a child, when a child is in an In-Home Supervision case and not in a Removal Episode/Placement. If the Department is responsible for the In-Home Supervision of a child to ensure that child's safety, it is clear we are expected to have FSFN reflect the child's current physical location if the absence from the home is one that is clearly expected to extend beyond a brief visit such as an overnight with a friend or school mate, in keeping with normalcy for children in care, or a very brief visit to the home of a relative. We are referring to the same type of brief absence that might occur with a child in licensed care, i.e., an overnight or "sleep-over" that has been cleared with the Services Worker responsible for the case. More extended absences from the supervised home must be cleared with the Services Worker and in some cases with the court and the Living Arrangement changed to reflect the child's new location. It is important to also update the child's address on the Person Management Screen/Address Tab.

Date: 15-Feb-08

Updated: 6-Apr-09

Reference/Resource: DCF

Under what circumstances should the placement type "Foster Home Relative" be used?

DCF Answer: A "Foster Home - Relative" is a licensed foster family home that has been licensed as a child specific placement for a family that is related to the child or children. Sometimes relatives of children who enter care prefer to become licensed rather than go the route of simple relative caregiver as there may be a need for increased supports and services for the child, etc. Sometimes these homes are licensed to accept children other than the ones related to them, sometimes not.

Date: 6-Mar-08

Reference/Resource: DCF

What do I need to know about the FSFN approval process to help me with my casework?

Answer:

Placements always require approval. Living arrangements do not.
If the placement or the placement ending has not bee approved, a new placement CANNOT be done.
Placement corrections also require approval.
One unapproved placement in the history will stop other placements from occurring.
Until the case closure status is accepted, the approval options are grayed out.

Date: 12-Mar-08

Reference/Resource: DCF

When a child is in a removal episode and runs away, what is the procedure for documenting this change in placement?

DCF Answer: For any child in a removal episode, a runaway event is treated as a change in placement. Do not create a living arrangement for a child in a removal episode who runs away from his/her placement.

Follow the following procedure:

End the current placement with an "Ending Purpose" of "Placement Change within Removal Episode"
Select the "End Reason" of "Runaway-Not Closing Case"
Create a new placement event with a type of "Runaway"
Link the placement to the "Runaway Statewide Provider" in FSFN
When the child returns, just reverse the process - end the runaway placement episode with the same Ending Purpose and End Reason.

Date: 12-Mar-08

Reference/Resource: DCF

If there is only one placement, or if the error is on the active removal/placement, we are unable to use the placement correction screen. Can you provide procedure in order to add initial removal reasons in these instances?

Answer: Currently the application does not allow for the placement correction to be used on active removal/placements.

Date: 14-Apr-08

Reference/Resource: DCF

Why is the Out-of-Home Plan set up to require two plans for the same placement? It is assumed that they are referring to having to do one for each child, when the placement is the same for both.

Answer: The Out of Home Plan is intended to be an assessment of the needs of a child in relation to a specific proposed placement. This document is intended to ensure good placement matching and placement stability. Because each child's needs and characteristics are highly unique and individual, a separate assessment (Out of Home Plan) is completed for each child and at the time of each placement change.

Date: 6-Jun-08

Reference/Resource: DCF

On the Child In Care (CIC) Annual Review, some of the information in FSFN is not always current. Is there a time standard for entering the information on FSFN after a removal or change has occurred?

Answer: The requirement for entering information into Florida Safe Families Network has not changed from the former HomeSafenet requirement of 48 hours, with the exception of other time frames established in Florida Administrative Code for documenting certain specific actions such as the Missing Children Record. Another example is the time frame for documenting a child visit in FSFN, which is two working days. Time frames for various actions are scattered throughout code, but are typically 48 hours. Regarding documenting a removal or a placement change, in addition to documenting the event in a timely manner, the intent is that we know at all times when a child enters the system and where a child is placed and supposed to be residing. Because in a removal episode there will be a hearing within 24 hours and other legal, case, eligibility and financial actions going into motion that are based on time frames, it is critical that this information is entered almost immediately. Removal and placement information should, therefore, be entered as quickly as possible but certainly no more than 48 hours should ever elapse.

Date: 7-Jul-08

Reference/Resource: DCF

What is the permanent legal address of a child in out-of-home care?

Answer:

For a child in shelter status the Answer is the parent's address (from whence removed).
For a child where parental rights have been terminated, the child's current physical residence.
For a child in the temporary custody of the Department or placed with a relative, circumstances may vary; however, in most cases, the permanent address will remain the address of the parent or legal custodian from whom the child was removed unless parental rights are terminated. This is also a consideration in the child remaining in a placement setting in close proximity to his or her school and community at the time of removal.

After closing this message, the PI selects "yes" or "no" for Emergency Removal for each participant listed, enters the date the shelter petition was filed, indicates grounds for removal and reasonable efforts and/or grounds for expedited TPR (if any), and then saves and closes this page.
Additionally, an Out-of-Home (OH) Plan is required any time there is an out-of-home placement and is a required attachment to the Case Plan.

Date: March 31, 2009

Reference/Resource: DCF, Center"s FSFN page

A child is placed in foster care under court order, although the court has granted unlimited, unsupervised visits with the parent until the child ages out of the dependency system. For FSFN documentation purposes, what is the child's placement and if the child is no longer in foster care does this fact negatively affect Road to Independence eligibility?

Answer: The child's placement is still considered in foster care until/unless reunified with parents or legal custodians or ordered into some form of permanent guardianship. Thus, in this case the child's out-of-home status satisfies that particular RTI eligibility requirement.

Date: 17-Jun-09

Reference/Resource: DCF

How do you correct placements in FSFN; particularly, changing dates that were already approved?

Answer: Once approved, the OOH placement record is frozen. To change the placement record, the current placement would have to be ended..

Open OOH Placement Record
Options Dropdown
Select Removal/Placement Ending, click Go
Enter date and time
Select ending purpose of "admin change within removal episode"
Select ending reason of " placement made in error"
Record must be approved
A new OOH placement record can be created
Child"s address can be updated through the person management record, address tab, click on edit

Date: 28-Jul-09

Reference/Resource: FSFN Trainers

How do we proceed if a child spends one night in a paid licensed placement, then the shelter order is denied by the court the next day and child exits care?

Answer:The length of time (more or less than 24 hours) the child is in the care of the Department determines how this case is documented.

If the removal period is greater than 24 hours and the discharge reason is "dismissed by court", then the removal is a Removal Episode and the Discharge is considered a reunification. The removal is not considered an actual Removal Episode if the removal period lasts less than 24 hours, regardless of discharge reason.

The Child Protective Investigator will complete a TANF determination based upon the report received by the Hotline at Intake. The TANF determination is good for one year regardless of the outcome of the shelter hearing.

Policy and Practice

Define when to use Living Arrangement, Placement, or Services in FSFN.

Answer: There is no change in practice from HSn in the definition of Living Arrangement, Placement or Other Placement. Only the manner in which it is documented in FSFN has changed:

A placement is the substitute care setting in which a child resides during a removal episode. It refers to a type of placement that is arranged, managed and/or paid for by the Department (such as a shelter, foster, relative or non-relative home). A child can have one-to-many placements within the same removal episode.

A child's living arrangement applies to children living in their own home and describes the living arrangement (such as living with two parents) for the in-home setting. Living arrangement also includes the child(ren) who is/are with a relative (not a parent) or non-relative at the time the Department becomes involved if the children are left in that home. Other Placement refers to a placement of a dependent child not made or managed by the Department of Children and Families (e.g., jail, DJJ commitment facility, runaway over 30 days, etc.). Such a child may be receiving either in-home or out-of-home services.

Date: 11-Feb-07

Reference/Resource: DCF

The system requires that at least one AFCARS Removal From Home value be selected in order to record a child's out-of-home placement. In instances where a sibling is removed for prospective abuse/neglect, which values should be used to be in compliance with AFCARS (e.g., sibling removal for Prospective Physical Abuse due to the severe abuse of a sibling)?

Answer: "When documenting a sibling's removal for prospective abuse/neglect, the user must select the appropriate state required value (e.g., Prospective Sexual Abuse) and also select the reason for the sibling's removal, which creates the threat of harm for the child (e.g., Sexual Abuse). There are other state required values that do not clearly map to an AFCARS value, however, the cause for the removal can be related to one of the AFCARS values as the contributing factor for the removal, such as:

Inadequate Supervision due to the parent's Alcohol Abuse.
Adoption dissolution due to the adoptive parent's Relinquishment or Caretaker's Inability to Cope or the Child's Behavior Problem.

Date: 11-Feb-07

Reference/Resource: DCF

What is the policy on Case/Caregiver 1's name?

Answer: Caregiver 1 should be the primary caregiver for the child. This could be male or female. If the male is not specifically identified as the primary caregiver, the rule of thumb to follow is to select the female head of household. This can be updated later, if appropriate.

Date: 7-Mar-07

Reference/Resource: DCF

Is there a policy set on what data must be in the system before assigning to case management agency? (similar to info needed for auto case create and subsequent data needed to be entered so there would not be any AFCARS errors).

Answer: CPIs will be expected to document the same information for which they have always been responsible, regardless of which system is used. These responsibilities are specified in Chapters 65C-28, 65C-29 and 65C-30, F.A.C.

Date: 8-Mar-07

Reference/Resource: DCF

What's the policy for case naming convention? Specifically for naming a institutional investigation involving multiple children?

Answer: For all victims named in an institutional investigation, the child victim's parent/Caregivers' names should be entered in FSFN. An intake can only be associated to one investigation, under a singular case. Therefore, for institutional intakes, the case will be named after the institutional provider. For example, Happy Times Child Learning Center. This will allow for the maintenance of all intakes and investigations for a provider to be tracked through one case only. A prior history check on the named victims will reflect the institutional cases to which they may be associated.

Date: 8-Mar-07

Reference/Resource: DCF

When a child is on an extended visit and the visit last more than 30 days is there a way to code in FSFN so that they do not show on Not Seen list?

Answer: No, there is no way to code in FSFN so the child on an extended visit that lasts more than 30 days on the Not Seen list. An extended visit that lasts more than 30 days is not an exception for the face-to-face visit with the child.

Date: September 4, 2012

Reference/Resource: 65C-30. 007, F.A.C

Provider

Provider Basic - When would you use "Court Order" in the reason field?

Answer: Provider Basic Page, Basic Tab, Worker Group box, Accept Reason dropdown box "Court Ordered". This value was requested by design team members in order to be able to document relative/non-relative providers with whom the court may order a child to be placed, prior to the CPI/CBC caseworker being able to complete a homestudy and determine the relative/non-relative"s appropriateness as a placement for the child.

Date: 6-Feb-07

Reference/Resource: DCF

How do we define Caregiver 1 and Caregiver 2 for a Provider?

Answer: Caregiver 1 and Caregiver 2 apply to a person provider only, whether licensed or approved. Caregiver 1 shall be the main caregiver for the child when there are more than two caregivers in the household. For example, for an approved relative/non-relative or licensed foster home, where the female will be the main caregiver, the female will be entered as Caregiver 1. Conversely, if the male will be the main caregiver, the male will be entered as Caregiver 1 and the female as caregiver 2.

Date: 7-Feb-07

Reference/Resource: DCF

Define when to use values listed (Inquiry Info Box, Inquiry Type. For example, difference Other Placement versus Placement).

Answer: The Provider Inquiry Page is used to document the initial inquiry by a person or organization to become a provider in the system. Completion of this screen creates an inquiry record and when saved, provides a historical record of the documentation. This historical record will be useful when trying to identify potential providers who are declined and "shop around" other areas of the state. In Florida, relative/non-relative caregivers and other providers who come under the jurisdiction of the department have to be created as providers in the system. CPIs have to use this screen when creating a relative/non-relative provider or a provider under investigation, which may not already exist in the system.

As a result, the following values are provided for the Inquiry Type:

Investigation – This value is selected when a provider is being created for the purpose of associating the provider to an adult or child investigation (when the provider does not exist in the system at the time that the intake is received).
Other Placement – This value is used when creating a provider in the system for the purpose of documenting a child's "Other Placement" (e.g., a DJJ facility).
Placement – This value is used when creating a relative/non-relative or licensed placement provider.
Service – This value is used when creating a services provider in the system, whether paid by the department or not.

Date: 11-Feb-07

Reference/Resource: DCF

Which members of household/organization must be added and what role to use for each?

Answer: For a person provider, all household family members should be documented in the system. The relationship reflected should be the appropriate familial relationship to the caregivers (1 and 2) as reflected in the drop-down box (e.g., caregiver 1, is the main relative/non-relative caregiver for the placed child, daughter is the daughter of the primary caregivers.

One of the benefits to this documentation is to have an up-to-date account of all persons living in the home and their role. This enables the CPI, licensing worker and the caseworker to determine new household members who have come into the home, in order to ensure licensing and background check requirements are in compliance. The Organizational Provider page does not capture family or household members.

Date: 11-Feb-07

Reference/Resource: DCF

Will only investigators be able to create Org. Providers?

Answer: Child protective investigators will be able to create organizational providers who do not exist in the system ONLY for the purpose of an investigation, i.e., document a provider who is the subject (the institution) of an investigation. Licensed providers, both person and organizational, can only be created and maintained by licensing staff.

Date: 11-Feb-07

Reference/Resource: DCF

What details are required when creating a new provider (even if not required in FSFN)?

Answer: Name, Address, Phone Number, Caregiver 1 and Caregiver 2 Information and Inquiry Type.

Date: 11-Feb-07

Reference/Resource: DCF

How are Providers removed from a worker's desktop? What are the re-assignment guidelines?

Answer: Licensed providers will be assigned to the licensing staff responsible for the licensing and re-licensing of the provider. Re-assignment will occur when there is a transfer of that responsibility to another worker, as determined by the supervisor.

Relative/Non-Relative providers will be assigned to the CPI or ongoing services counselor making the placement. If the CPI creates the placement provider in the system, and case is ESI"d to services, the relative/non-relative provider is re-assigned to the ongoing services worker or other CBC staff, per local CBC protocol. Providers created by the CPI for the purpose of an institutional provider will automatically be assigned to a default "dummy" worker, not the CPI. This occurs when the CPI selects a Provider Type of "Investigation" when creating the provider record and the record is completed.

Date: 11-Feb-07

Reference/Resource: DCF

If a CPI creates a Provider and chooses Investigation type, which results in "assignment to default worker," how then can anyone ever maintain that provider since no actual worker has assignment? What if services worker needs to update provider's info? What if PI creates a duplicate (despite built-in search), then will these duplicates just always exist?

Answer: Any worker with the appropriate security can maintain the non-licensed provider record that was created for the purpose of a child or adult investigation.

Date: 8-Mar-07

Reference/Resource: DCF

Is there a default user to assign all relative and non-relative providers too? If so how is this done during entry of Provider Inquiry? Will the provider inquiry type of Investigations be used to create the provider under the default user?

Answer: The system will assign Relative/Non-relative providers to the worker creating the provider in the system. If it is the CPI, it will be assigned to the CPI. If the case is assigned to services, the CPI will end his/her assignment and assign the provider record to the primary caseworker assigned to the ongoing services case. Relative/Non-relative information needs to be maintained current in the system, therefore the reason for not assigning it to a "default" worker.

Date: 21-Jun-07

Reference/Resource: DCF

If providers are assigned to this default worker and I want to update the provider information I will have to assign myself as a secondary worker. What Type and Responsibility should be used during this assignment as a Role of secondary to allow and update of the worker?

Answer: The last worker assigned to the Relative/Non-relative provider record will be responsible for inactivating the provider record once the Relative/Non-relative ceases to provide placement services for the child. However, they still remain in the system and can be re-activated if needed in the future. The Provider Type should be "Placement", not "Investigations". The Provider Type of "Investigations" is used only to document providers that are created explicitly for the purpose of conducting an institutional investigation, if they do not already exist in the system.

Date: 21-Jun-07

Reference/Resource: DCF

For a case Assignment Type of Licensing, how should one apply the different values for Responsibility Type and Role Type?

Answer: When you select an assignment type of Licensing, the system provides you with the following options for Assignment Responsibility:

Inquiry/Homestudy/Provider Maintenance - This value is selected when the assignment is to a worker who will be responsible for recruitment, conducting the licensing homestudy and once the license is approved, maintaining the provider information in the system. These can be more than one person, e.g., one worker may be responsible for the recruitment (including handling call-in inquiries) and another worker is responsible for conducting the homestudy and once approved, maintaining the information in the system. The Role for a licensing assignment with this responsibility is "Primary". Placement - This value is used to reflect the assignment of a relative/non-relative placement provider to the worker (initially the CPI) creating the relative/non-relative placement provider record. Once the CPI ESI's the case, CPI's assignment will end and the services worker will have primary assignment to the provider record. The Role for a licensing assignment with this responsibility is "Primary". Provider Approval - This value is used to identify the assignment to the DCF licensing specialist responsible for the approval of the license. The Role for a licensing assignment with this responsibility is "Secondary"

Date: 21-Jun-07

Reference/Resource: DCF

If two providers are identified as duplicates and one is a person provider and the other an organization, FSFN does not allow these providers to be merged. Are there any other options to handle these duplicate providers?

Answer: Person Providers and Organization Providers can be linked as duplicates. How-to directions are below.

Provider that you want to link to "merge" (remove) must be assigned to you
Access the provider from your desktop
Change the "Type" of the provider to "Duplicate" from the drop-down list. This will create an active blue "Search" link in the upper right hand corner.
Search for the keep Provider to link to. Search by name or provider id
Click "Save"
You will receive a notification message and also may be prompted to complete required fields if they are blank such as: Lcns. Type; Lcns. Agency; Primary Language; Marital Status
Provider will then have a new icon on the desktop

Date: 10-Dec-08

Reference/Resource: DCF

Marital Status in Person Management and in Person Provider have different reference values in the drop down box. If a person is a widow or divorced how do I document that when that same person becomes a relative or an adoption provider for the child?

Answer: A widowed or divorced person would be documented in the Provider record as a single male or female. While in Person Management it is possible that a person's marital status may be undetermined (at least initially), there should not be a circumstance in which a person approved as Provider has a marital status that is undetermined.

Date: 9-Apr-09

Reference/Resource: DCF

Will FSFN allow for documentation of complaints involving licensed providers? The question is in reference to licensed foster homes complaints which may involve allegations such as inappropriate discipline practices, supervision concerns, etc.

Answer: Allegations such as these are documented in the intake/special conditions foster care module. Additionally, abuse reports are an annual requirement for relicensure. Any such activities, including law enforcement involvement of any household member, during the licensing year should be documented in the relicensing summary portion of the homestudy.

Date: 17-Apr-09

Reference/Resource: DCF

What is directive for entering "Other Members" into the provider records to track capacity, the "Over 5 Rule" and the "2 Children under 36 Months Rule"? What is the timeframe for completing?

Answer: Documenting household members in a licensed or approved placement is required by Florida Administrative Code and is key to child safety. FSFN provides the functionality to document this information on the "Member" Tab on the Person Provider page. "Home Members" and "Children in Placement" are documented on the "Member Tab".

Date: 19-Aug-09

Reference/Resource: DCF

Should a license be entered for providers who are licensed by non Family Safety be in FSFN? (Examples: DJJ, AHCA)

Answer: There should not be a license created in FSFN for providers not licensed by DCF. The validity of the license should be verified prior to initial placement of the child. Once the license is verified, that information should be entered into FSFN in a way that allows for payment of the provider (in needed) and the tracking of placement for the child. We should not be the keepers/monitors of these providers. Other jurisdiction IVE is correct.

Answer: This report is designed according to the law ss.39.301(9)(b)5., F.S. -Based on the information obtained from available sources, complete the risk assessment instrument within 48 hours after the initial contact and, if needed, develop a case plan.

Chapter 65C-29.003(6), F.A.C. states: Based on the information obtained from available sources, the child protective investigator shall submit the automated assessment tool within forty-eight hours from the time the first child victim is seen and, if needed, develop a safety plan. The report is reading correctly as designed.

Date: 11-Dec-07

Reference/Resource: DCF

In some cases, even though the father is Unknown, we are getting an AFCARS error for DOB. What is the need for a DOB on an Unknown individual?

Answer: When the father or mother is unknown, obviously you can't correct the error. The reports will continue to "want" this data element. We have requested that the error message be updated to reflect that "If known" link to the father or mother. We understand that some of these errors will continuously remain on the report because the individual is unknown - which is acceptable to leave blank if unknown.

How should errors in Out of Home Placement post approval be handled (since work is frozen)?

Answer: Out of home placements entered in error can be end dated. Select the "Placement End Reason" of "Placement made in Error". These placements will not be counted as a change in placement.

Date: 7-Mar-07

Reference/Resource: DCF

When we reopen a case in FSFN, what legal status would we use? Would we enter the previous legal status of adjudicated dependent but make the begin date the case reopening date or would we make the begin date the original adjudication date?

Answer: Some legal statuses do not "end", for example, "Adjudicated Dependent". The response varies based on whether the closed services legal status was one of those that is never end dated and the status for the re-opened case is different and/or is one that can occur concurrent to an active status.

Date: 21-Jun-07

Reference/Resource: DCF

A child is in an out of home placement but is going on an extended visit. Do we end the placement and enter the extended visit placement as the out of home placement or do we leave the placement and put a note in stating where the child is located? Would there be a difference if the placement is under 30 days or over 30 days?

Answer: Temporary absences are now documented through the child's living arrangement or placement, as applicable. To document an extended visit during a placement event, end the placement and create a new placement type of "Extended Visit" (for now, the system will require you to select a Placement Setting Type, select "Trial Home Visit" - this is a temporary workaround). Go to the Person screens and update the child's location during the extended visit (this way we will know the actual location at any given point in time). Good practice will require that you enter a chrono note documenting information on the extended visit. For reporting purposes, the system will read the length of time for certain types of "placements" that are associated with "temporary absences" and exclude them from both the AFCARS report and the Placement Stability reports.

Date: 21-Jun-07

Reference/Resource: DCF

When a CBC accepts the case for ongoing services - if a case has both a child who has been removed and a child that remains in the home what case type (Basic tab case) do we assign the case? Our choices are "Out of Home - Court Ordered" and "In Home - Court Ordered"?

Answer: Best practice is to use the higher level (of involvement) type "Out-of-Home – Court Ordered".

Date: 21-Jun-07

Reference/Resource: DCF

Would this be the correct Case worker assignment values for the following requests? Courtesy Supervision (in state)-Type: Courtesy (Out of Town Inquiry) Responsibility: Case Management / SupervisionRole: Courtesy Homestudy (in state) -Type: Courtesy (Out of Town Inquiry) Responsibility: Homestudy Role: Secondary Case Plan Assistance (in state) -Type: Courtesy (Out of Town Inquiry) Responsibility: Case Management / Supervision Role: Secondary

Answer: Yes to all selections. Another option would be: for the assignment of a case to another services worker particularly when that assignment is specific to an adult/child in the case, is to make the assignment at the participant level.

For example, in a courtesy supervision case, when only one of three siblings is receiving courtesy supervision: Change your desktop view to PARTICIPANTS ONLY. Click on the ACTIONS hyperlink next to the child's name. This brings up the SELECT ACTION pop-up box. Select ASSIGNMENT. Proceed with the same assignment process as you would with a case. This allows you to specify who is actually responsible for the particular case participant.

Date: 21-Jun-07

Reference/Resource: DCF

Single parent private adoption. Child is now TPR'd from the adoptive single mother. What information should be entered regarding the father's TPR?

Answer: While the Father's TPR Date field is red, it is not required information. To document the adoptive mother's TPR, ensure that the removal information in the Placement Screens reflect that the Caregiver Removed From Structure reflects single parent. When you go to the Child Interim Information Page, Legal Status Tab, enter only the TPR date for the adoptive mother. Leave the father's blank. The father's TPR date information would apply only if there was an adoptive father.

Date: 21-Jun-07

Reference/Resource: DCF

In FSFN, what is "TPR Granted (All)"?

Answer: This means that the TPR has been obtained by all parties – mother, legal father, biological father, etc., therefore, the (All) qualifier.

Date: 17-Dec-07

Reference/Resource: DCF

An ESI staffing occurs on a Monday, the staffing packet is received by Data Services the following day (Tuesday) and the case manager is assigned the day after that (Wednesday). Since FSFN populates the date and time of assignments, is this discrepancy between staffing date and assignment date an issue? In other words, should the case manager be assigned in FSFN on the day of the staffing (Monday)? Is there a required timeframe when a case manager has to be assigned as primary for an ESI?

Answer: There is no discrepancy issue – whoever staffed the ESI was "primary" at that point and it's okay that the case manager was assigned after the ESI staffing took place. In any event, one would not want to purposely input an erroneous case manager assignment date.

Date Answered: June 18, 2010

Reference/Resource: DCF Family Safety Program Office

Will the new "Services" tab replace the "Service Referral" window? If not, is there any connection between the two?

Answer: There is no connection between these two pages in the system. The Service Referral is an intake that is utilized to reopen a Case for ongoing services. The "Services" page is a piece of work within a case that s utilized to authorize an ongoing service (ie. Adoption Subsidy, IL, Counseling, etc) for the child.

Answer: A TANF determination is valid for one year from the "Effective From Date"of the TANF determination unless "Effective To Date" is specified differently. A TANF determination will need to be completed prior to the annual determination if the child returns home, is placed in a non relative placement, or if the child is placed in licensed care. Status changes and annual determination of a TANF determination will be listed on the "TANF Determinations Due Report" that is accessed through the FSFN reporting subsystem. A TANF determination can be completed for a change in relative (unpaid) placement but is not required.

TANF records are created one per Removal Episode when a child is placed in an unpaid out-of-home placement. If a child moves to another unpaid placement within the same Removal Episode, another TANF form is not created by the system, nor is a new TANF form generated when an unpaid placement is ended.

Date: 4-Jun-09

Reference/Resource: DCF

How do we do a TANF determination on a TPR'ed child residing in a pre-adoptive (adoption not finalized yet) home?

Answer: The child is still in an open removal episode in out-of-home care until the adoption is finalized; the removal episode is discharged; the placement ended, and the case closed to services. This is an institutional investigation. For TANF purposes, the pre-adoptive parents are the child's caregivers and the child is considered a "family or household of one". The prospective adoptive family is not responsible for the income for the child, we are.

Below is directly from the TANF training PowerPoint: Institutional Investigations

Complete a TANF form and conduct eligibility for each alleged child victim
Consider each child as "family or household of one" – only one child on the form

Date: 29-Jul-09

Reference/Resource: DCF

When we have to complete an extra TANF determination from Casework and FSFN only allows us to select one child as "Applies To", which child are we including on that TANF? Are we going to then complete one TANF for each child or just include them as a family unit, but not apply the determination to the other children? Examples are Institutional Investigation cases, Child on Child cases, and multiple family households.

Answer: The "Include" checkboxes should be checked for any member of the Household/Economic Unit. The number of members checked will determine the number of members in the household. The "Applies To" box indicates to whom this eligibility determination applies.

Answer: Only the one form created through investigation will be approved upon closure of the investigation. The forms created through Create Casework must be approved within five days of completion. The TANF created through Casework should be able to be created by either the PI or the Case Worker. It does not need to be done by a Supervisor, though it could be. The Casework TANF Approval process always goes to the logged on worker's supervisor, unless the logged on worker is a supervisor or acting supervisor. Only the TANF created through the investigation goes through approval at the time of investigation. All others, those created through casework, go to that worker's supervisor for approval.

Date: 18-Jun-09

Reference/Resource: DCF