CAFCA BRIEF UPDATECAFCA BRIEF UPDATE
November 2003
Seventy-five members and guests attended
CAFCA’s annual meeting at Maggiano’s Little Italy. We thanked retiring board
members Virginia Appel, Derek Cortvriendt and Dallas Rychener for their service.
Following a delicious Italian meal, we heard from Barbara Drake, El Paso County
Director of Human Services, Nan Morehead, Community and Legislative Liaison at
the Denver Department of Human Services, and Brian Mattson, Deputy Director of
Human Services/Child Welfare for Jefferson County. Special thanks to the
following sponsors who made this event a success:
TURNING
POINT CENTER ▪ ARAPAHOE HOUSE ▪ THE BAWMANN GROUP CHILDREN’S ARK
▪ COMMUNITY LEARNING CENTER ▪DEVEREUX CLEO WALLACE CENTERS ▪
EXCELSIOR YOUTH CENTER ▪ FAMILY TREE, INC. ▪ MENDEZ STEADMAN &
ASSOCIATES ▪ MOUNT SAINT
VINCENT HOME ▪ NAMAQUA CENTER ▪ SAVIO HOUSE
REMINDER: NO CAFCA General Membership meeting this month due to the annual meeting, which was held Friday, November 14th. The next scheduled general membership meeting will be Friday, December 19th, 9:00-10:30, location TBA. The Children’s Treatment Services (CTS) Committee will meet Friday November 21 from 8:30-10:00 at CAFCA, 1120 Lincoln St., 2nd floor conference room. Next month CTS will return to its regular 10:30-noon time slot.
Congratulations to Virginia Appel, Executive Director of Adoption Alliance. Virginia has been appointed by Governor Bill Owens to serve on the Colorado Child Care Licensing Board for a term that runs through 2006. She has also been selected by Lt. Governor Jane Norton to serve on the Lt. Governor’s Commission on Adoption. Virginia is retiring from the CAFCA Board of Directors just in time to jump into these new responsibilities!
New Committee Chairpersons for 2004 include: Carol Lawson of Adoption Options, Adoption Committee and Jim Worthen, Namaqua Center, Membership & Communications. Andrew Braun of Devereux Cleo Wallace was selected by the CAFCA Board to fill the role of President to replace Dallas Rychener whose term would have expired December 2004. Stephanie Brown of Turning Point has volunteered to replace Andrew Braun as Chair of the Children’s Treatment Services (CTS) Committee and will complete his 2003-04 term.
Peg Long attended the Human Services Board hearing on November 7th at which rules regarding consortia regulation, sibling placements and foster respite care rules were adopted. The rules to replace the Child Abuse Registry, which was abolished effective January 1, 2004 by HB 03-1211, were tabled for one month due to objections to the due process provisions, which transferred the responsibility for appeals from the state to the counties. This will necessitate the adoption of emergency rules at the December board meeting.
CDHS is reviving interest and support for the development of specialized group homes and has started an advisory group. Persons interested in participating should contact Jean Abrams at: jean.abrams@state.co.us.
CAFCA members also working on completing drafts of Adoption and RTC White Papers similar to the 2002 Foster Care White Paper. The RTC White will include a section on facility schools.
Based on information shared at the CAFCA-sponsored employment workshop in October, residential programs may be in violation of Colorado Wage Order #22. A letter obtained from the Department of Labor in February 1998, referring to Wage Order #21, exempted 24-hour residential programs from being required to pay overtime to an employee who exceeded a 12-hour shift. No similar exemption was obtained when Wage Order # 22 was issued in August 1998. Peg sent the Department of Labor and Employment a letter requesting a similar exemption to Wage Order #22. The fiscal impact to facilities could be tremendous without a waiver. Mike McCardle, Director of the Department of Labor, responded verbally to Peg’s letter and indicated that the Department would issue a written exemption to the 12-hour shift overtime requirement for 24-hour facilities. The DOL is currently working on Wage Order 23 and plans to include exemption language in the wage order. Copies of the exemption letter, when received, will be sent to all CAFCA member Executive Directors.
Peg Long and Andrew Braun have attended the Child Welfare Leadership Advisory Group, which meets approximately every 4 months. The 25 or so participants, who include Marva Hammons, have divided into several workgroups. Peg will email information about each of the workgroups to CAFCA members and encourages any CAFCA member interested in a particular group to let her know. She will get information about the group to the member and to the coordinator for the group.
Public Policy
Committee
Fines for late audits are an issue being addressed with
CDHS. The CPA Network had considered legislation to cap these fines at $3500,
but is looking at resolution through rules. CAFCA members seem to favor an extension of time from the current 6
months to 9 months rather than to cap fines. Both organizations will be working with CDHS to reach a compromise.
The CAFCA position paper regarding the RTC Waiver and the HCPF proposal
to transfer the RTC program & funding to HCPF is nearly complete as is a
two-page executive summary that will be shared with CAFCA members. These may also be shared with member agencies’ board members to help
them understand the history of RTCs and the challenges they are currently
facing. Representative Al White may bring a bill to address the manner in which
HCPF conducts its audit and recovery functions.
Rep. Lauri Clapp is apparently working on a Loving Care
Home bill. The bill would likely involve the development of congregate settings,
like orphanages or group homes, for those children identified as unlikely to be
adopted and likely to emancipate from out-of-home care. Rep. Cheri Jahn will
likely sponsor a bill to clean up the contradictions and duplications in the
Children’s Code.
The next Committee meeting is Tuesday,
December 2nd, noon-2:00 p.m. at 1120 Lincoln St., 2nd
floor conference room.
CTS Committee
Proposed rules regarding the HCPF
audit and recovery process will be presented to the Medical Services Board
on Friday, December 12th. CAFCA
RTCs are encouraged to testify against the recovery of the full daily rate when
a single treatment plan service is undocumented.
Peg will be testifying and will work with Fofi Mendez to apprise the
Medical Services Board members individually of the punitive nature of this
methodology. Providers are reminded
that they should keep track of monies owed them but not paid by Medicaid in the
event they are able to submit a counterclaim to any audit recovery demands.
CAFCA hosted a November 5th half-day discussion forum on facility schools and the work of the Eligible Facility Schools Task Force, which was created by HB 02-1246 and on which Peg Long has been participating for the past year. The forum was well attended by facility school education directors, as well as several executive directors and CFOs. Two topics emerged as priorities: excess costs issues and the development of rules to support maintaining what is positive about education in facilities. Education directors signed up to participate on one or both workgroups and will be meeting to identify tasks and begin their work.
The November CTS meeting will be 8:30–10:00 this Friday, November 21st,at 1120 Lincoln St., 2nd floor conference room. This time if for November only. The December meeting will follow the General Membership meeting and will be December 19th, 10:30-12:00 noon. Location is to be determined.
Adoption
CAFCA will seek amendments to
clarify the notice and 4-day requirement in the voluntary relinquishment bill
passed in 2003. The group is also
studying the pros and cons of establishing a Putative Father Registry in
Colorado and is working with an external group that includes the potential
sponsor for a PFR bill. The issue
of out-of-state adoption facilitators continues. The committee is looking at rules revision as well as possible
legislation.
Foster Care
The Committee is working with
the CPA Network and Sharen Ford of CDHS on issues regarding payment for foster
families when foster children transition to adoption status. The preferred model
is to pay foster parents until the adoption is finalized. Sharen will be researching other models and will share this
information. If no resolution is
achieved, CAFCA will support the Network’s move to propose legislation to
address this issue.
CAFCA members continue to host bimonthly provider-county luncheons to promote communication and cooperation. The next committee meeting is Tuesday, December 2nd, 10:30-noon at 1120 Lincoln St., 2nd floor conference room, immediately preceding the CAFCA Public Policy Committee meeting.
November 20 (Colorado
Springs) & November 21 (Denver), 2003
Maple Star presents two
half-day workshops on “The Shape of a Child’s World: How Attachment, Family
Process and Trauma Affect a Child’s View of Caregivers,” presented by Brad
Bryant. Brad is the executive director of Virginia’s oldest therapeutic foster
care agency, People Places, Inc. and has developed training curriculum for
therapeutic foster parents. Cost:
$25 per person. Contact by location desired: Colorado Springs: 719-635-6080;
Denver: 303-433-1975.
JVA Consulting Fall Workshop
Series
November 19th
– Fundraising Strategies to Keep the Money Coming
$39 per person
Contact Sarah Ellery @
303-477-4896
January 9, 2004, 8:30-noon
Dollars & Democracy –
Budget Advocacy in Colorado
Presented by the Colorado Fiscal Policy
Institute. Location: Colorado History Museum, 1300 Broadway. Denver. Save the
date! Contact Kathy White, CFPI, at 303-573-5669, x 303 or: ccenter@cclponline
for more information.