Adoption and Safe Families Act eWiSACWIS Enhancement

New ASFA Page

The new ASFA exceptions page will allow a worker to document decisions related to ASFA compliance. If a child has been in placement (i.e. out of

his/her home) 15 of the most recent 22 months ASFA requires States to file for a Termination for Parental Rights (TPR). OR

Describe a compelling reason why a TPR has not been filed (i.e. the ASFA Exception)

Why was a separate ASFA Exception Page built?

Mainly to alleviate workers from having to create and document a Permanency Plan solely for the purpose of documenting ASFA exceptions.

State law requires the exception to be documented in the Permanency Plan. Therefore, this new page will be used as an addendum or amendment to the current Permanency Plan.

Consistent with the Permanency Plan functionality, completion of the page will require supervisory approval.

The Addendum does not need to be filed with the local circuit court.

ASFA and the Permanency Plan

ASFA related information will continue to display on the Permanency Plan template and Page.

The information entered on the new page will pre-fill into any subsequent Permanency Plans.

ASFA Tickler

The enhancement adds a tickler to remind workers to complete ASFA information.

The logic behind the ASFA tickler will be explained in excruciating detail later.

2 New ASFA Pages 1 New ASFA Template

Pages ASFA Exceptions Select (For Copy Over) Permanency Plan – ASFA Exceptions

Template Permanency Plan ASFA Addendum

ASFA Exceptions Select Page

This page is accessed by selecting:

1. Create >

2. Case Work >

3. Permanency Plan – ASFA Exceptions

What Copies?

The ASFA Exceptions Select pop-up page allows a worker to copy an existing child’s ASFA Exceptions to create ASFA Exceptions for the same child or another child in the same case.

The information from the selected ASFA Exceptions page will populate into the new child’s ASFA Exceptions page and can be changed.

But, I don’t want to copy.

If a user does not desire to copy from an existing ASFA record, selecting the Create button will take the user to a new, blank ASFA Exceptions page.

In our next screenshot example we’ve selected the Create button.

Perm Plan ASFA Exceptions – Page Overview

The Permanency Plan – ASFA Exceptions page allows workers to enter ASFA Exceptions for not filing TPR when a child has been out of home for 15 of the last 22 months.

The page is organized by the following two group boxes: General Information Reason why TPR is not being pursued at 15 of 22

months.

Perm Plan ASFA Exceptions – Page Overview (continued)

If the decision has been made not to TPR the child, the worker should access, complete and approve this page to define why the decision was made.

The Reasons why TPR is not being pursued at 15 of 22 months group box consists of four selectable options labeled as follows: Child is placed with a fit and willing relative Compelling Reason why termination of parental rights is not in

the child’s best interest Reasonable efforts to safely return the child to his or her

home have not been made Grounds for Involuntary TPR do not exist.

Perm Plan ASFA Exceptions – Page Overview (continued)

Each of the four checkboxes has a corresponding text field (expando) labeled “Provide Supporting Information,” which is expanded and enabled if its corresponding checkbox has been selected.

If the checkboxes are not selected, their corresponding text fields will remain collapsed and disabled.

The four checkboxes on this page default to ‘not checked’. At least one of the checkboxes must be checked in order to complete this work.

ASFA Exceptions on the Desktop

The ASFA Exceptions items will be displayed as follows: Name: ASFA Exceptions Date 1: date the page was createdDate 2: date the page was approved by a

supervisor (if the page has been approved)Name: name of the worker that created the

page

Perm Plan Page Modifications

Renamed tab name from ‘ASFA Review’ to ‘TPR / Adoption Status’ Remove the question: 'Has the child been out of his or her home 15 of

the most recent 22 months?' question. This question was also removed from Permanency Plan template and ASFA template along with the user entered date 15th month reached field. (The answer to this question will now be calculated by the system and a tickler will be generated.)

Remove the question: 'If Yes is selected for either question, answer the questions on this tab. If No is selected for both questions, go to the Placement tab.'

If 'yes' is selected for the question: 'Has the court made a finding that reasonable effort to prevent removal or safely return to home are not required’, the system will now automatically display the following informational pop-up message: A petition must be filed within 60 days of the Judicial Determination unless a TPR exception is documented.

Reword the statement: 'If no TPR was filed, complete the TPR Exception tab.' text to: 'If no referral to TPR was made, create the Permanency Plan ASFA Exceptions page.'

OLD

NEW

Perm Plan – TPR/Adoption Page Logic

If a date is prefilled in the 'Date TPR Filed' field, make the 'Date referred to District Attorney/Corporation Counsel' field required.

Remove the logic to enable/disable the Recommendation to TPR and Adoption Referral group boxes. These fields (minus the prefill fields) should be enabled until final approval.

NEW – Display Only

Perm Plan Processing

If an ASFA Exception record has been created for the child, the ASFA exceptions will prefill into the Perm Plan from the child’s most recently approved ASFA Exceptions page.

This will ensure that ASFA information will prefill into the Permanency Plan even if the ASFA Exceptions page was created after a pending Permanency Plan was created.

Perm Plan Processing (Continued)

The system will not prefill old ASFA information.

Example: If the child has returned home for 22 months (meaning – there is a 22 month consecutive time lapse between a placement discharge date and a new removal date) then the ASFA information created prior to this ’22 month time lapse’ will not prefill into the Permanency Plan.

In fact a new ASFA Exceptions record must be created to comply with the 15/22 month rule.

Permanency Plan – ASFA Addendum

View Addendum

Permanency Plan - OLD

Permanency Plan - NEW

ASFA Conversion

Generation of new ASFA page. Create ASFA Exception pages (based on data in

existing Perm Plan) but will not display them until ASFA Exception Select window is accessed. If selected, for copyover, the data will pre-fill into the newly created ASFA exceptions page and subsequent Perm Plan.

New ASFA ticklers will be generated for: Open cases where ASFA was not documented on

the existing Permanency Plan AND where a TPR has not been filed.

ASFA Tickler - Overview

Name: ASFA Exceptions Creation: Tickler is created (or recalculated) upon

creating, ending, or modifying (via Placement Correction) an Out of Home Placement.

Deletion: The tickler will be deleted when: Permanency Plan - ASFA Exceptions page is created and

approved OR TPR filed date is entered on the Legal Action page (for Legal

Actions of Request for TPR, TPR Petition Involuntary, and TPR Petition Voluntary) OR

Upon approval of the case closure (ASFA tickler will not prevent the worker from closing the case)

ASFA Tickler - Due Dates

Due Date: The last day of the 15th month when the child has reached the 15/22 month out of home.

Reminder Date: 30 Days before Due Date

First Escalation: 15 days before Due Date

Second Escalation: No second escalation.

If the child has more than one OHP in the most recent 22 months, the following logic will be used to calculate the child out of home 15/22 time period. Exclude placements which have the following Placement

Statuses: Kinship Care - Voluntary, AWOL/Runaway, and Trial Reunification

Exclude the following placement settings unless they follow a ‘valid’ placement within a placement episode: Adult Corrections, Detention, Reception Center – Detention, Youth Correctional Facility

N Detention N Secure Detention Y Foster Care Y Detention Y Secure Detention Y Foster Care

ASFA Tickler - 15/22 Calculation

ASFA Tickler – Calculation/Deletion

When a placement correction is made for the child, the ASFA timelines will be recalculated.

When a child’s placement is ended: If an ASFA tickler exists and the child’s placement is ended with

a discharge reason before the tickler’s due date, then the tickler will be deleted.

If an ASFA tickler exists and the child’s placement is ended with a discharge reason after the tickler’s due date, then the tickler will not be deleted and the worker will need to document the ASFA exception

The ASFA Exceptions Tickler timeline will be recalculated and regenerated at each placement change - even if the tickler was previously deleted through Tickler Management.

ASFA Tickler - Creation Exceptions

The ASFA tickler will not be generated for children where the current out of home placement is:

Kinship Care – Voluntary Adult Corrections Detention Reception Center – Detention Youth Correctional Facility

The ASFA tickler will not be generated for children in the following case types:

ICPC Adoption Adoption-ICAMA cases

This tickler reminder date and escalation date will be county customizable, however counties cannot change the rule for the due date calculation.

The ASFA Exceptions tickler can be created on a closed placement and open placement (in scenarios where the tickler is created via placement correction).

The ASFA tickler will be sent to the primary case worker of the case in which the child has an open placement.

More ASFA Tickler Logic

ASFA Documentation Cleanup

Details by County, Person, Days in OHPSpreadsheet distribution

Conclusion

Questions?