Tracking# 2010-00107
FA/P 4/9/10, eff. 6/1/10

I:/09123001.rtf
[I:/09123001.doc]

(12 CCR 2509-1)

[Instructions: insert before line 1585539.]
Revision of Sections 7.001.46, 7.001.6, and 7.202.62 were final adoption following publication at the 4/9/2010 State Board rule-making session, with an effective date of 6/1/2010 (Rule-making# 09-12-30-1). Statement of Basis and Purpose and specific statutory authority for these revisions were incorporated by reference into the rule. These materials are available for review by the public during normal working hours at the Colorado Department of Human Services, Division of Boards and Commissions, State Board Administration.

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[Instructions: replace lines 1585562 through 1585563.]
7.001.46  Without Regard to Income [Rev. eff. 6/1/10]
The Without Regard to Income entitlement shall be the default funding stream when a case is opened in the statewide automated system. 

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[Instructions: replace lines 1035942 through 1035965.]
7.001.6  CASE CONTACT REQUIREMENTS [Rev. eff. 6/1/10]
The primary purposes for case contacts shall be to assure child safety and well-being and move the case toward achieving identified treatment goals regardless of the reason the case is open. For Program Areas 4, 5, and 6, and in cases in which children and youth remain in the home or are placed out of the home, the county department shall have face-to-face and telephone contact with the children and youth, parents, and relevant collateral contacts as often as needed to assure the safety, permanency and well-being of the children (see Section 7.202.62, F). 
Case contacts shall be documented in the statewide automated system. Minimum contact requirements are as follows: 
A.  Program Areas 4, 5, and 6 In-Home Services
The county department shall have at least monthly face-to-face contact with the child or youth. The county department shall have at least monthly face-to-face or telephone contact with the parent, parent surrogate or guardian, with face-to-face contact occurring at least every other month.
B.  Program Areas 4, 5, and 6 Out-of-Home Placement Services Concerning Children and Youth in Colorado 
The primary caseworker, that caseworker’s supervisor, or the designated visitation caseworker for each child or youth in out-of-home placement for whom the county department has responsibility shall have face-to-face contact with that child or youth at least once every calendar month. 
The “designated visitation caseworker” is an individual assigned responsibility for visiting the child or youth. The visitation caseworker may be a caseworker employed by the county department or another county department; a caseworker or contract caseworker in another state; or, a professional within the state who meets the qualifications listed at Section 7.000.6, M through O, and training listed at Section 7.000.61. 
The name and role of the visitation caseworker assigned responsibility for visiting the child or youth shall be recorded in the assigned screen of the statewide automated data system and shall be updated if there is a change in the visitation caseworker. There shall be only one designated visitation caseworker for a child or youth at any one time. 
Contact shall occur at a minimum of two face-to-face visits with the child or youth during the first thirty (30) days following the out-of-home placement, at least one of which shall be in the out-of-home placement, and a minimum of monthly face-to-face contact with the child or youth after the first month. A portion of every face-to-face contact shall occur out of the presence of the provider for the child or youth. No less than every other month, contact shall occur in the out-of-home placement where the child or youth resides and shall include visual assessment of where the child or youth sleeps. 
The majority of monthly face-to-face contacts in a year shall occur in the child or youth’s out-of-home placement. For children and youth in out-of-home placement, this is their place of residence. The child or youth shall be visited in his/her out-of-home placement during the first thirty (30) days of out-of-home placement and at least every other month while in out-of-home placement. 
These requirements apply to children and youth for each month in which they spend more than half of the days of the month in out-of-home placement. 
Children and youth designated as runaways who are in the county department’s custody are included in the population of children and youth for whom the case contact requirements apply. 
The caseworker who visits the child or youth shall have working knowledge of the case, including having conducted a recent review of contacts information in the statewide automated system prior to making a visit. The caseworker completing the visit shall record all contacts in the statewide automated system. 
The designated visitation caseworker shall not have specific supervision responsibilities for the private placement facility where the child or youth is placed, nor shall the visitation caseworker be an employee of the placement facility where the child or youth is placed. 
C.  Program Ares 4, 5, and 6 Out-of-Home Placement Services Out of Colorado Concerning Children and Youth
The primary caseworker, that caseworker’s supervisor, or the designated visitation caseworker or that caseworker’s supervisor, for each child or youth in out-of-home placement out of Colorado shall have face-to-face contact with that child or youth at least once every calendar month. 
For cases governed by the Interstate Compact on the Placement of Children (ICPC), the assigned or contracted caseworker in the state where the child or youth is placed may be the designated visitation caseworker. The Colorado caseworker assigned to the case shall document the designated visitation caseworker’s visits in the statewide automated system if there is documentation in the case file from the designated visitation caseworker that describes the date, place and content of the visit with the child or youth for cases governed by ICPC. If there is an out-of-state designated visitation caseworker, that person shall use other means than review of the statewide automated system to assure that he or she has current working knowledge of the case at the time visits are made to the child or youth. A written report on the contact shall be requested by the custodial agency.
D.  Program Area 5 Out-of-Home Placement Concerning Parents
While a child or youth remains in out-of-home placement, the county department shall have at least monthly contact with the parent, parent surrogate or guardian, with face-to-face contact occurring at least every other month. Such contacts shall occur until a motion for termination of parental rights is filed, or until “Return Home” is no longer the primary permanency goal. 
E.  Program Areas 4 and 6 Out-of-Home Services
While a child or youth remains in out-of-home placement, the county department shall have at least monthly face-to-face or telephone contact with the parent, parent surrogate or guardian. Such contacts shall occur until a motion for termination of parental rights is filed, or until “Return Home” is no longer the primary permanency goal. 
F.  Finalized Subsidized Adoption Services
Contact shall occur every three years through face-to-face, telephone, or mail.
G.  Other Groups
For children or youth who are eligible for Home and Community Based Services or Home Health Care services, the contact requirements are a minimum of one face-to-face or telephone contact with the child or youth and family every six months. At least one of the contacts annually must be face-to-face.
H.  Contact Exceptions
If direct contact is impossible due to the child’s location, the following information shall be documented in the statewide automated system indicating: 
1.  The case circumstances, including why the direct contact is not possible.
2.  How contact shall occur.
3.  How the county department shall monitor progress.

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(12 CCR 2509-3)

[Instructions: replace lines 1208002 through 1035199.]
7.202.61  Child Protection Teams
A county department of social services receiving fifty (50) or more reports of child abuse and neglect per year shall have a multi-disciplinary child protection team in accordance with Sections 19-1-103(22) and 19-3-308(6), C.R.S. 
7.202.62  Provision of Ongoing Child Protection Services (CPS) [Rev. eff. 6/1/10]
A.  If a safety plan exists, the assigned caseworker and supervisor shall review it as the first step in ongoing services planning.   Eff  09/01/2007
B.  Ongoing child protection services shall be based on the safety and risk issues identified in the safety assessment and plan, risk assessment, North Carolina Family Assessment Scale (NCFAS)/North Carolina Family Assessment Scale-Reunification (NCFAS-R), and in the family social history and assessment summary in the Family Services Plan. Services shall be provided to protect the child(ren) or youth from further abuse or neglect through building parental capabilities and increasing parental involvement. This shall be accomplished in a manner that preserves the family when this can safely be done. When the family from whom the child(ren) or youth were removed cannot safely be preserved, services shall be provided that preserve the child(ren)'s or youth’s continuity within the extended family and/or home community when feasible. When the child(ren) or youth cannot safely return to the family from whom they were removed, services shall be provided to achieve an alternative permanent plan that provides for a child(ren)'s or youth’s safety and well-being in a timely manner. 
C.  At the point of case transfer, county departments shall assure that pertinent information regarding child safety, permanency, and well-being are translated to the new assigned caseworker. This shall be accomplished through any of the following methods, in a descending order of preference, based on the nature of the case and the workload ability of the county department:   Eff  09/01/2007
1.  Decision-making meeting involving caseworkers and/or supervisors, family and community providers.   Eff  09/01/2007
2.  Staffing between caseworkers and/or supervisors.   Eff  09/01/2007
3.  Written transfer summary.   Eff  09/01/2007
D.  The county department shall complete the safety assessment consistent with requirements outlined in Section 7.202.53.   Eff  09/01/2007
E.  The county department shall complete the Colorado Family Risk Assessment prior to case closure on all Program Area 5 cases for which remaining at home or reunification was the permanency goal identified in the statewide automated system. The Colorado Family Risk Assessment shall be documented in the statewide automated system and address the following factors: 
1.  Prior investigations; 
2.  Household has previously received child protective services; 
3.  Number of children or youth in the household; 
4.  Age of youngest child in the household; 
5.  New CPS substantiated or inconclusive investigation since the initial risk assessment; 
6.  Either caregiver has a current substance use problem; 
7.  Disruptive/volatile adult relationships in the household; 
8.  Caregiver’s ability to provide physical care/supervision to children or youth; 
9.  Primary caregiver’s use of treatment/training programs; and, 
10.  Secondary caregiver’s use of treatment/training programs. 
All of the information from the risk assessment and risk reassessment shall be used to assess the degree to which parental capacities have been enhanced, risks reduced, and links to the community have been established in order to support case closure. The NCFAS/NCFAS-R shall be used to measure the degree of change in the identified risk areas. 
F.  Monthly Contact 
The primary purpose for case contacts shall be to assure child safety and well-being and move the case toward achieving identified treatment goals. Documentation in the statewide automated system of at least one monthly contact shall summarize progress toward these goals. In child protection cases in which the children or youth remain in the home and in child protection cases in which the children or youth are placed out of the home, the county department shall have face-to-face and telephone contact with the children or youth and parents and relevant collateral contacts as often as needed (while meeting the minimum expectations below) to reasonably attempt to assure the safety, permanency and well-being of the children. 
1.  A face-to-face contact with a parent, or the guardian to whom the child or youth shall return, or with a child or youth is defined as an in-person contact for the purpose of observation, conversation, intervention or interview about substantive case issues, such as safety, risk and needs assessment, safety and treatment planning that may help to reduce future risk of abuse and neglect, service agreement development and/or progress.
2.  The primary purposes for county department contacts with parents are to assess the parent(s)’ ability to provide safety for the child or youth and make progress toward treatment plan goals.  When a child protection case remains open with the county department, the county department shall maintain sufficient contact with parents or the guardian with whom the child or youth resides, or to whom the child or youth shall return, to lead to timely resolution of child safety issues and to move the case toward timely resolution of treatment plan goals.  Such contact shall occur at least monthly and at least every other month there shall be face-to-face contact.  Such contacts shall occur with parents at least until a motion for termination of parental rights is filed, in cases in which the child is not living in the home or in which it is no longer planned that the child will return home.
3.  The primary purpose for child or youth contacts is to assure the child’s safety and well-being regardless of the reason the case is open with the county department. For in-home cases, the county department shall have at least monthly face-to-face contact with children or youth participating as a child in the case.
4.  For  the frequency of contact of children and youth in out-of-home placement, see Section 7.001.6, B (12 CCR 2509-1).
5.  For all other types of contacts, the purpose of the contacts shall be determined by the stage of the case, by the level of safety, risk and needs of the case, and according to whether or not the county department representative is the primary service provider.  In cases in which there are individuals and/or someone from another or other agencies who has/have the primary therapeutic relationship with the parent and/or the child or youth, these parties may be designated by the county department to fulfill additional contacts beyond the minimum contacts described above when additional contacts are needed to reasonably assure the safety, permanency and well-being of the child(ren) or youth in the case.
6.  All case contacts with parents and child(ren) or youth by the county department shall be recorded in the statewide automated system case file, and shall reflect how the purpose of the visit was accomplished.
7.  In exceptional situations, if the minimum case contacts are not able to be provided by the county in any given month, those reasons shall be documented by the county in the case file.
8.  If direct contact is impossible due to the child’s location, the following information shall be documented in the statewide automated system indicating: 
a.  The case circumstances, including why the direct contact is not possible.
b.  How the contact shall occur.
c.  How the county department shall monitor progress.
9.  All case contacts by parties designated by the county department, beyond the minimum contacts described above, to provide assessment, treatment and/or monitoring of the parents and children or youth, shall be recorded in the case file. The county department shall have the responsibility to determine that such needed contacts have occurred.
G.  The county department shall provide courtesy supervision services when requested by another county or state when there is court jurisdiction and such services must continue in order to protect the child or youth. In cases where there is no court jurisdiction, the receiving county shall conduct an assessment to determine if services are needed in order to protect the child or youth.  Services shall be provided if indicated. Other services include: 
1.  The requirement to utilize Interstate Compact on the Placement of Children (ICPC) procedures to obtain courtesy supervision shall not be used by a county to deny a request from another state to provide assessment of a child’s safety.
2.  When there is court jurisdiction, ICPC procedures shall be followed by the sending state in order to obtain courtesy supervision of a case in Colorado.
3.  The contacts requirements in Section 7.202.62, F, shall apply to cases being provided courtesy supervision when there is court jurisdiction and also for voluntary cases for which it is determined that services are indicated.
H.  If a child protection service client for whom services are still needed moves to another county or state, the county or state of current residence should be notified within ten days and provided with written appropriate, relevant information. Change in venue procedures as outlined in Section 7.304.4 (12 CCR 2509-4), shall be followed. If there is no court order for services, the receiving county shall provide outreach and assessment services up to sixty (60) calendar days. If during the sixty calendar days period it is determined that further services are not indicated or the family is unwilling to accept services, the receiving county shall close the case.
I.  All Program Area 5 cases shall remain in that program area as long as the child or youth is at risk for abuse/neglect and the case plan is to reunify the family. Cases on appeal for termination of parent-child legal relationship shall remain in Program Area 5 until the termination is finalized.