NewsletterFinal Peer
Review: The DCF/CBC Peer Review Team, which includes members
of our Community Alliance, completed the final review on October
7th. The team gave high remarks to UFF and DCF staff for their
collaborative efforts in moving towards Community-Based Care. The
team noted five issues that must be completed prior to the
transition. The five areas were primarily related to financial and
risk management issues that are in progress and on track for
completion prior to the execution of the services contract. Don
Policella, the Peer Review Team Coordinator, commended both sides
for the tremendous amount of work that was completed since the
initial peer review. Policella recognized the collaboration in such
areas as human resources and quality assurance. He also recognized
UFF for its innovative web-based technology developed during the
startup process.
Martin
County Transition: The Martin County service workers have
been working diligently to prepare their files for transfer to UFF.
Over the past month, they have been reviewing files for quality,
identifying any information that needs to be updated and tabbing
items for transfer into the new case file. A team of people
including staff from UFF, DCF, and the case management agencies
began reviewing the existing files with the DCF family services
counselors. The hard work that has gone into the file preparation by
existing DCF workers this past month has really paid off. Our
appreciation goes out to all of the staff in Martin County and
especially to Todd Trumpore who has "led the charge" with this
project. We will be taking "lessons learned" from this review to the
other counties to continue to streamline this process.
Intake, Placement, and Utilization
Management: UFF will 'go live' with centralized intake and
placement services on October 20th. This will be a shift from
individual county-based placement to a centralized placement process
for all counties within the district.
Intake & placement
specialists will be utilizing a specialized questionnaire when
fielding a placement request. This tool will assist them in choosing
the most appropriate placement for the child(ren). Gathering key
information immediately has been clinically and practically proven
by other lead agencies to improve the placement outcomes.
UFF will work with Hibiscus Children's Center (HCC) to
identify appropriate placements for children. HCC is responsible for
the recruitment, training, licensing and support of our foster
families. The UFF Intake, Placement and Utilization staff will work
closely with HCC staff and our foster families to maximize positive
outcomes for the children living in substitute care.
The UFF
staff that will have the primary responsibility for managing
placement requests are our two intake & placement specialists.
Cheryl Clark and Trudy Perrson, currently completing the Child
Welfare Certification training, joined UFF in August. Both Cheryl
and Trudy possess bachelor's degrees in Human Services. Cheryl's
experiential background includes admissions assessment work in
inpatient mental health care. Trudy's professional experience
includes work in a specialized group home for teenagers.
UFF
has also hired two Utilization Management Specialists, Pearl Allton
and Yvonne Escobar. Pearl comes to us with a long tenure from the
DCF and brings with her a wealth of information regarding DCF
program operations. Yvonne comes to us from the Juvenile Justice
arena where she performed assessments and evaluations of children in
the delinquency system. Pearl and Yvonne's responsibilities include
service utilization management and review.
Dependency Court Improvement Project:
The Dependency Court Improvement Project (DCIP) meeting is
today. The information for the meeting is as follows:
Date:
Friday, October 10, 2003
Location: St. Lucie County Courthouse
1st Floor Jury Room
Time: 3:00 pm - 5:00 pm |
