Adult Protective Services C.A.R.E Program In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS) Child Protective Services Adoption Services and Foster Parent Services

1. HMS 16
WEEK 4
7/17/14

2. Adult Services
• Each county offers Adult Services to help older adults (65) and dependent
adults (18-64), when unable to meet their own needs, or are victims of
abuse, neglect or exploitation.
• Focus is to promote safety, well-being and independence for elder and
dependent adults through accurate and timely assessments and linkage to
services
• Services could include:
• Adult Protective Services
• Health Promotion
• Legal Assistance
• Nutrition
• Care Transitions Intervention
• Grandparents Raising Grandchildren
• 911 Senior Emergency Cellular Phone Program
• Transportation
• Senior Employment & Helplink
Agencies:
Law Enforcement
Mental Health
Office on Aging
Public Guardian
Community Based Organization
Volunteer

3. Adult Protective Services
(APS)
• Legal Description: Mandated by the State, APS is defined by the Welfare
and Institutions Code 15010.10 as the agency that provides preventive and
remedial activities performed on behalf of elders and dependent adults who
are unable to protect their own interests, harmed or threatened with harm,
caused physical or mental injury due to the action or inaction of another
person or their own action as a result of ignorance, illiteracy, incompetence,
mental limitation, substance abuse or poor health, lacking in adequate food,
shelter or clothing, exploited of their income and resources, or deprived of
entitlement due them.

4. APS
• Once report is filed:
• APS Social Workers make face-to-face contact with the abused,
neglected or exploited person to investigate and assess the situation.
• Case plan is developed
• Working with other agencies: local senior center, law enforcement, the
Alzheimer’s Association or Dept. of Consumer Affairs, coordinating with
Dept. of Mental Health or the District Attorney.
• VIDEO: APS & Elder and Dependent Adult Abuse:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCFIsSS2wkc

5. Mandated Reporters
• Certain organizations and individuals having full or intermittent
responsibility for the care or custody of an elder or dependent adult are
bound by law to report suspected incidents of elder and dependent adult
abuse.
• APS receives cases from the following “mandatory reporters", along with
individuals who are not mandated-family members, friends, neighbors and
concerned citizens.
• Care custodians
• Health practitioners
• Clergy members
• Employees of county APS agencies
• Law enforcements agencies (police, fire, humane societies & animal
control, environmental health and building code enforcement)
• Employees of financial institutions

6. C.A.R.E
• Curtailing Abuse Related to the Elderly
• Provides services to victims of elder abuse and consumer crime
• Focuses on investigating incidents of consumer fraud against elders (65+)
or dependent adults (18-64) and assist people in resolving the situation and
protecting themselves.
• Coordinate the Multi-Disciplinary Elder Abuse Teams which bring together
professionals who investigate suspected abuse and provide services to
elders and dependent adults.

7. Benefiting from CARE
• All citizens of abuse and consumer fraud benefits from the CARE program.
• Early intervention and/or recovery of funds saves taxpayer dollars as elders
as able to stay in their own homes and off various public assistance
programs.
• Consumer Fraud Victim Advocacy is part of a specialized unit in the Adult
Services.
• Can assist clients with:
• Sorting through documents
• Contact resources
• Help write letters
• Assist with filing forms
• Provide general support through stressful times
• Goals of advocacy is to guard or regain the elders’ assets, preserve
their dignity, protect their privacy as well as provide support and
assistance through the process.

8. In Home Supportive Services
[IHSS]
• A home care program that helps elders, dependent adults and minors live
safely in their own homes or other non-institutional settings.
• Eligibility:
• Applicants who meet Medi-Cal eligibility requirements in CA.
• Elders, dependent adults and minors whose disability is expected to
continue longer than 12 months
• Elders, dependent adults and minors whose physician or a medical
professional has determined that they are unable to remain safely in
their own home without IHSS.

9. IHSS
• Available Services:
• Meal preparation
• Cleaning up
• Food shopping
• Bathing
• Dressing
• Personal care
• House cleaning
• Assistance with medications
• Paramedical assistance

10. IHSS Public Authority
• Assist In-Home Supportive Services to live high quality lives in their own
homes.
• IHSS PA accomplish this by recruiting, screening and training home
care providers who are available to assist our IHSS consumers in their
own homes.
• By establish a registry, PA can screen and train home care providers and
match them with IHSS consumers who need assistance.
• VIDEO:
• IHSS Orientation Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8JXZglLawjA

11. Child Protective Services (CPS)
● Child protective services is typically used to refer to
the state system, department or agency
responsible for the investigation of allegations of
abuse or neglect, the protection of children at risk
of abuse or neglect, service delivery and the
placement of children who have been maltreated
● Video
o Child Abuse
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xiFnR73kUUE&feature=fvw

12. CPS
● Basic thoughts for CPS:
● A safe and permanent home and family is the best place for children to
grow up.
● Most parents want to be good parents and, when adequately supported,
they have the strength and capacity to care for their children and keep
them safe.
● Families who need assistance from CPS agencies are diverse in terms of
structure, culture, race, religion, economic status, beliefs, values, and
lifestyles.
● CPS agencies are held accountable for achieving outcomes of child safety,
permanence, and family well-being.

13. ● CPS efforts are most likely to succeed when clients are involved and
actively participate in the process.
● When parents cannot or will not fulfill their responsibilities to protect
their children, CPS has the right and obligation to intervene directly
on the children's behalf.
● When children are placed in out of home care because their safety
cannot be assured, CPS should develop a permanency plan as soon
as possible.
● To best protect a child's overall well-being, agencies want to assure
that children move to permanency as quickly as possible.

14. What should be reported to cps?
● Child abuse and neglect comes in many forms and
can be an act or an omission that harms a child.
o Sexual Abuse, Neglect (severe and general), Physical
Abuse (willful harming or endangering of a child and
unlawful corporal punishment or injury), Emotional
Abuse, Abuse or Neglect in out of home care, and
Maternal Substance Abuse.
● The risk to children when Domestic Violence is
occurring in the home is also included in the
Neglect category.

15. Who should report allegations of abuse or
neglect?
● The Children's Services Division encourages everyone to report
suspected child abuse and neglect.
● Some professions are mandated by law to report suspected child abuse
and neglect by virtue of their positions. Mandated reporters are those
individuals who in the course of their work come into contact with families
and children. Reporters:
o Anyone whose duties require direct contact and supervision of
children.
o Medical, Dental and Hospital Personnel including: physicians,
surgeons, dentists, residents, interns, podiatrists, chiropractors,
licensed nurses, dental hygienists, optometrists, medical examiners,
coroners, emergency medical technicians and paramedics.
o Mental health professionals and counselors including: psychiatrists,
psychologists, licensed and unlicensed marriage, family and child
counselors and trainees and psychological assistants.

16. ● School officials and educators including: public, classified or private teachers,
instructional aides or teacher’s assistants, administrative officers, supervisors of
child welfare and attendance, administrators or employees of a county office of
education or the California Department of Education and school police.
● Law enforcement personnel including: any employee of any police department,
county sheriff’s department, and county probation department. This includes
probation officers, parole officers, police officers, peace officers and custodial
officers.
● Social service personnel including: public assistance workers, social workers,
clinical social workers, child visitation monitors and county welfare employees.
● Clergy including: priests, ministers, rabbis, religious practitioners, or similar
functionary of a church, temple or recognized denomination or organization.
● Day camp or child care providers including: public or private: administrators,
licensees and employees of any youth center, youth recreational program, youth
organization, licensed community care or child day care facility.
● Commercial film and photographic print processors including: all employees who

17. ● School officials and educators including: public, classified or private teachers,
instructional aides or teacher’s assistants, administrative officers, supervisors of
child welfare and attendance, administrators or employees of a county office of
education or the California Department of Education and school police.
● Law enforcement personnel including: any employee of any police department,
county sheriff’s department, and county probation department. This includes
probation officers, parole officers, police officers, peace officers and custodial
officers.
● Social service personnel including: public assistance workers, social workers,
clinical social workers, child visitation monitors and county welfare employees.
● Clergy including: priests, ministers, rabbis, religious practitioners, or similar
functionary of a church, temple or recognized denomination or organization.
● Day camp or child care providers including: public or private: administrators,
licensees and employees of any youth center, youth recreational program, youth
organization, licensed community care or child day care facility.
● Commercial film and photographic print processors including: all employees who

18. Adoption, What is it?
● A legal process, which permanently gives
parental rights to adoptive parents.
● Adoption means taking a child into your home
as a permanent family member.
NOTE: It means caring for and guiding children through their growing
years and giving them the love and understanding they need to develop
their full potential.

19. Who Can adopt?
● Many adoptive parents are single, married, or
reside with a domestic partner.
● Per state law, you must also must be 10 years
older than the child you are adopting.

20. What is required to adopt?
● To adopt a child from the Department of Public Social Services in
Riverside County, you must:
o Be able to provide a safe, stable, and nurturing environment for
a child.
o Be an adult and a resident of Riverside County.
o Have sufficient income to meet your own expenses.
o Submit to criminal records clearances, including the California
Department of Justice and FBI livescan (fingerprints), and the
Child Abuse Central Index Check.
o Be licensed by Community Care Licensing (CCL).
o Attend Resource Family Training and Assessment classes and
submit to the Home Study Process to become placement
ready.

21. Adoption services
● Adoption takes a variety of forms in Ca.
o Licensed adoption agencies may place children in
homes approved for adoptive placement; parents may
place children directly with persons of their choice;
families may adopt certain foreign-born children;
stepparents may adopt the children of their spouses;
and an adult may adopt another adult younger than he
or she.
● The California Kids Connection program was
developed as California’s registry of children
waiting to be adopted and of families wanting to
adopt.
● http://www.cakidsconnection.com

22. Adoptions Assistance Program
● The Adoption Assistance Program (AAP) provides financial and
medical assistance to families for children adopted from foster
agency who have special needs.
NOTE:If a child is determined eligible for AAP he/she is also eligible to full
scope Medi-Cal benefits.
● Eligibility to AAP payments is determined by the adoptions Social
Service Worker (SSW).
● AAP benefits may continue until the child reaches age 18, or age
21 if the child has a mental or physical condition which, upon social
worker determination, warrants the continuation of assistance.
● Reassessment
● Eligibility to AAP payments is reassessed at least once every two
years.

23. Foster Parents
● Foster parents provide a supportive and stable family for children who
cannot live with their birth parents until family problems are resolved.
● The primary goal of foster care is to provide a safe and loving home until
children are able to reunify with their parents.

24. Who are the children?
● Thousands of children in California's foster care system require temporary
out-of-home care because of parental neglect, abuse or exploitation. The
largest percentages are African American and Latino children. Some stay
in foster care for weeks; some for years. The children are of all ages and
varying needs.

25. How to become a Foster
Parent
● Your home must be licensed by Community Care Licensing (CCL), a
division of the California State Department of Social Services.
NOTE: State law mandates certain personal safety requirements. This
worker will evaluate the living environment as part of the licensing process.
You will also be visited by a county social worker to meet you and your
family members to determine the most appropriate type of foster
child/children to be placed in your home.
● After you apply, a licensing worker from CCL will visit your home.
● Foster parents work closely with social workers to determine the type of
foster child most appropriate for their home.
● Thirty three hours of pre-service training is required, covering several
topics such as how to discipline in a positive way and how to help foster
children express emotions related to separation from their families.
● A social worker will visit periodically and support services are available
when problems arise.

26. ● A foster care application must be submitted in order for the child’s eligibility
to be determined.
● The person/agency responsible for submitting the application varies
depending upon the placement authority. When an application is
submitted, a foster care eligibility case is opened and the application is
assigned to a Foster Care Eligibility Technician (FC ET), who determines
the child’s eligibility. If the child is eligible, an FC ET “maintains” the foster
care case until eligibility terminates.

27. Foster Care Benefits
Foster Care benefits are financial (cash) and medical assistance benefits
provided for children who meet certain eligibility criteria.
A child may be eligible to Foster Care benefits if he or she is under one of the
following placement authorities:
● a dependent of the Juvenile Court under Welfare and Institutions Code
(WIC) 300
● a ward of the Juvenile Court under the care and control of Juvenile
Probation (WIC 600)
● a ward of a non-related legal guardian who was appointed for the child by
a California Court
● a child placed through a voluntary placement agreement authorized by the
Department of Social Services
● a child who has been relinquished to the Department of Public Social
Services for adoption

28. ● žFoster Care payment rates are established by the State of California and
County Board of Supervisors and vary with the type and location of the
child’s placement, the age of the child, any specialized care which may be
authorized for the child, and/or any special needs the child may have.
● žFoster children can receive foster care cash assistance through the
Temporary Assistance to Needy Families-Foster Care (TANF/(AFDC)-FC)
program. The TANF-FC program is administered under two sub-programs:
● State TANF-FC, which uses a blend of State and County funds, and
● Federal TANF-FC, which uses a blend of Federal, State and County funds.
● Foster care payments are not income to the foster parent. Payments are
intended to help cover the costs of the child’s food, on-going clothing and
personal needs, transportation, entertainment, shelter needs and
supervision/parenting needs.

29. ● žTo be eligible for foster care payments a child must be placed with one of
the following eligible facilities:
● A licensed non-related foster home—this can be a foster family home, a
Foster Family Agency or a Group Home. Foster homes are licensed
through the Community Care Licensing (CCL) division of the California
Department of Social Services (CDSS) or by an individual county or state.
● The approved home of a relative: payable only if the child is eligible to
Federal Foster Care funding.
● The approved home of a former relative
● The approved home of a Non-relative Extended Family Member
(NREFM)
● A non-related legal guardian

30. Eligibility
Federal Eligibility
● If the child is placed with a relative , the only available Foster Care funding
source is Federal AFDC-FC.
● If the child does not qualify for Federal AFCD-FC, the FC ET refers the
child to the California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids
(CalWORKs) program.
● žState (non-federal) Eligibility
● If the child is placed with a non-relative (or a relative specified under
ICWA) , Federal or State AFDC-FC funding may be used.

31. ● žProperty and Income Limits
● To be eligible for Federal or State AFDC-FC foster care payments a child
must meet the following property and income limits:
● Property: A child may not have more than $10,000 in combined, countable
value of cash and property (both real and personal). This includes real
estate, cars, bank accounts, savings accounts, savings bonds, etc.
● Income: A child may not have countable income, from any source, which
exceeds the foster care rate.