CAFCA BRIEF UPDATE

May 13, 2003

May 16^th CAFCA Annual Conference

It’s not too late to register for this Friday’s CAFCA conference, “Staying on Track.”  Registration and continental breakfast is 8:15-8:45 a.m., followed by keynote address from Christina Dalpiaz.  Sessions begin at 10:00.  Lunch and awards are 11:30-1:00, with afternoon sessions beginning at 1:00 and running through 4:15.  CAFCA members can attend for just $55.  Location is Regis University.  Call us if you have questions or need directions: 720 570-8402.

Due to the conference, THERE WILL BE NO GENERAL MEMBERSHIP MEETING IN MAY.  The June General membership meeting, scheduled for Friday, June 20^th, will feature Mary Simons demonstrating “How to Navigate and Get the Most from the CAFCA Web Page.”

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The 2003 Legislative Session came to a close at midnight on May 7^th.  The General Assembly spent 120 days trying to find ways to cut $1 billion from an already lean budget, sometimes using smoke and mirrors to do so.  A complete listing of CAFCA’s priority bills (those we monitored, supported or opposed, those that passed and those that failed) have been posted on the CAFCA web page at: www.cafca.net/  Bills listed below have already been signed by the Governor.  He has 30 days, rather than the ordinary 10 days, to sign late bills he receives.

Child Welfare Bills Signed by Governor Owens

2003 Legislative Session

HB 1037* Clarifying that workers in residential placements are mandatory reporters of child abuse.

HB 1081* Prohibiting certain conflict of interest situations in certification of foster care homes by counties and CPAs, allows counties to recover foster care payments when there is "misuse of funds," requires an appeal process when there are allegations of misuse of funds.

HB 1084* Adds registered dietitians as mandatory reporters of child abuse.

HB 1095 Abandoned baby legislation that requires firefighter or hospital staff to report abandoned baby to county dept of soc. svcs. and clarifies that parents who avail themselves of this option will not be added to the central registry for this reason alone; amended to prohibit sue of this fact in any future custody determination.

HB 1151* Defines the term “consortia” and allows CDHS to adopt rules to regulate “out-of-home placement provider consortia” that are formally organized to serve the placement needs of counties and mental health agencies.

HB 1169* Expands the definition of child abuse to include manufacturing controlled substances or possession of precursors in presence of child.

HB 1211* Repeals the Central Registry and replaces it with TRAILS effective January 2004.

HB 1286* Establishes an expedited procedure for parents who wish to voluntarily relinquish their parental rights to a child under the age of one year without a court hearing, if the parent is assisted by a CPA or county.  (This is a CAFCA bill.)

SB 023* For counties with EPP, requires courts to hear motion to terminate within 120 days if child is under 6 years old.  Prohibits granting delays without good cause.  Contains certain notice and due process rights.

SB 079  Changes genetic testing requirements for parentage determinations; amends UIFSA; makes some changes in child support guidelines; allows access by child support to D & N records; changes artificial insemination laws to refer to "assisted reproduction" and adds provisions for egg donors; amends Colorado Child Support Enforcement Act.

SB 083* Extends the sunset date of the Child Mental Health Treatment Act  (HB1116) to July 2004, pending passage of SB 282, which provides the funding.

SB 279 Enables Medical Services Board to limit services to Medicaid clients so long as services are sufficient in amount, duration and scope to achieve its purpose as required by federal law.

*Denotes bills on which CAFCA testified.

COMMITTEE REPORTS

ADOPTION, Virginia Appel (Adoption Alliance), Chair
Forms & Rules for HB 1286 – Voluntary Relinquishment
Virginia recapped the meeting with Daniel Gallagher and Cyndi Hauber of State Judicial on April 29th.   Cyndi asked that CAFCA submit their suggestions and modifications to the current forms for her review.  Daniel Gallagher was to contact several judges and magistrates to get their input on how this new law should be implemented and will ask about how to “train” the courts in its implementation.

On May 2nd committee members met with Dana Andrews of the State Licensing to discuss suggestions for how the regulations might be changed to address the new relinquishment process.  Dana was going to gather all feedback and respond with some potential rules and regulations modifications.
Committee members actually modifying the forms will make the changes and send them to CAFCA for distribution to the rest of the committee for further review.  The next Adoption Meeting is June 12th in Longmont!

FOSTER CARE, Megan Aldritt (Catholic Charities), Chair
The foster care committee has invited counties to a June luncheon to introduce CAFCA member CPAs and begin discussions about county needs.  Megan Aldritt has been CAFCA’s liaison to the CPA Network Legislative Committee during the 2003 session.  She will also be participating in the Foster Care Coordinator meetings conducted bimonthly by Mary Griffin.  The group also meets twice a year with the Foster Care/Adoption supervisors.

PUBLIC POLICY, Cyndi Dodds (NamaquaCenter), Chair
Pat Steadman urged CAFCA members to begin developing ideas for legislation during the 2004 session and begin working with bill sponsors over the summer.  He cautioned that CAFCA will likely need to take on further extension and alternative funding for HB 1116 services as SB 03-83 extended this program only through July 2004 and used tobacco settlement monies to fund services for FY2003-04.

Medicaid Audit & Rules
Dallas, Peg and Linda Siderius, CAFCA’s attorney, are scheduled to meet with Vivianne Chaumont, Director of the Medical Assistance (Medicaid) Unit at Health Care Policy & Financing, on May 15th to discuss the audits.  The draft rules for Medicaid standards and the recovery process have been sent to HCPF.  Further comment may be made only when the rules are proposed to the Medical Services Board, probably in July.

RTC Waiver Dead?
Dallas reviewed an e-mail sent by Judy Rodriguez on 5/5 that alludes to the demise of the RTC waiver in favor of transferring all RTC appropriations to the MHASAs.  She hopes to have more information about this proposal soon.

24-Hour Monitoring Team
The draft of the Core Standards will be sent to all CAFCA executive directors for review.  Michael will meet with interested CAFCA members on Thursday, June 12th, 2-4 p.m., CAFCA 1st floor large conference room to explain the new cross-agency monitoring process and answer questions.

Expedited Voluntary Relinquishment & Utah Foster Care Model
Adoption Committee members and CAFCA were successful in obtaining passage of HB 1286 to create an optional expedited voluntary relinquishment process.  The committee may also develop legislation to regulate the practice of adoption facilitators in Colorado during the 2004 session.  Wendy Plewe shared information about the Utah Foster Care Foundation, which recruits, trains and supports families to meet the needs of foster children.  This model has been cited by the Governor’s office as one worthy of replication.

Child Welfare Class Action Lawsuit
Several CAFCA members are working with the Rocky Mountain Children’s Law Center to identify child plaintiffs for a potential class action lawsuit against the state.  Eligible children must be involved in the child protective system in Adams, Denver or Arapahoe County and must be waiting for needed services, be in a unsafe environment, be in a placement that is either too restrictive or not intensive enough, or have suffered multiple moves.

The Public Policy Committee will not meet in June.  The next public policy committee meeting will be Tuesday, July 1^st noon-2: 00 p.m. at CAFCA.

CTS, Andrew Braun (Devereux Cleo Wallace), Chair
Children’s Treatment Services committee members have been attending meetings regarding the RTC Waiver, Medicaid audits from the perspective of the Program Integrity Unit, treatment rates, utilization rates and other pressing issues.   The CTS committee will not meet in May due to the CAFCA conference.  Next meeting will be Friday, June 20th, 10:30-noon, following the General Membership meeting.

MEMBERSHIP/COMMUNICATIONS, Derek Cortvriendt (Jefferson Hall), Chair
The Membership/Communications committee will begin meeting 7:30 a.m.-9:00-a.m. just prior to the General Membership meetings beginning June 20th.   Peg worked with the committee to develop a PowerPoint presentation about CAFCA’s activities and membership benefits in a format specifically designed for member agencies’ board members.  A hard copy of this presentation was sent to each CAFCA executive director and is available in electronic format.  Please contact Peg if you are interested in an electronic copy or you would like her to present this to your board.    The committee is seeking new members to assist with the annual membership meeting, expansion of member benefits, the 2004 legislative luncheon and other activities.

NEWS AND EVENTS

Edy Hughes of Colorado Boys Ranch announced that the Colorado Planned Giving Roundtable (CPGR) is hosting its 15^th annual Summer Symposium on Planned Giving, Thursday, August 21, 8:00 a.m. – 4:30 p.m., at the Inverness Hotel and Golf Club.  Sessions are provided for all experience levels: beginner, intermediate and advanced.  Cost is $155 for CPGR members, $195 for nonmembers, with scholarships available.  Registration forms are available from CAFCA.   Contact Edy for more information at (303) 691-6155.

Joanne Gallagher of Adoptions: Advocacy & Alternatives, recently attended a luncheon to celebrate National Child Abuse Prevention month.  Lt. Governor Jane Norton was the featured speaker and shared the targeted areas of focus during her first term.  These include chairing the Colorado Commission on Indian Affairs, supporting substantive health insurance reform, strengthening Colorado families through adoption, mentoring and volunteerism, and serving as Colorado’s delegate to the Aerospace States Association.  Prior to her election at Lt. Governor, Ms. Norton served as the Executive Director of the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment where she created the Office of Suicide Prevention in response to Colorado’s national rank of 10^th in suicides.

The National CASA Association (Court Appointed Special Advocates) seeks inspiring stories from youth age 13-20 for its “Someone There for Me” Contest.  NCASA invites former foster youth, who had a CASA volunteer advocate, to share their stories (1000 word limit) of how a CASA helped them when they were in foster care and how they in turn helped others in foster care.  Essays must be postmarked no later than May 31, 2003 and should be sent to: NCASA Essay Contest, 100 W. Harrison, North Tower, Suite 500, Seattle, WA 98119.  Each entry must be accompanied by a Permissions Information Form, which can be downloaded from: www.nationalcasa.org or is available from CAFCA.  Winners will be notified in August.  Winning essays accompanied by parent permission will be published in book form by NCASA.

“Between Teens” is a free workshop focusing on youth whose functioning is below most of their peers but above those youth diagnosed with a developmental disability.  Presenter Jane Berdie will identify the needs and human services that are available to assist these youth in the transition process.   Time: 8:30-4:30.  Dates & Locations: June 2, 2003 at Four Points Sheraton on S. Colorado Blvd., Denver; July 17, 2003 at the Holiday Inn on N. Elizabeth in Pueblo.  Register online at: www.ifduonline.org.

“Hidden Trauma, Tools for Success: A Collaborative Conference on Traumatic Brain Injury” is scheduled for September 20-21, 2003 at the Inverness Hotel Conference Center in Englewood, CO.  Featured speakers include: Dr. Greta Wilkenning and Dr. Jeanne Dise-Lewis of Children’s Hospital.  Early registration fee (by 6/15) is $175.  For more information contact Sharon Thorson at (303) 805-2502, or: thorfam@rmi.net.