Current through Register Vol. 46, No. 51, December 18, 2024
(a) The Family and Children's Services Plan shall include all services which shall be provided or contracted for through purchase of service agreements by the district on behalf of children and families during the period covered by the plan. The family and children's services which the district provides may include but are not limited to the following:(3) child protective services;(6) housing improvement services;(9) unmarried parent services;(10) family planning services;(11) health-related services;(12) home management services;(14) housekeeper/chore services; and(15) educational services.(b) Each plan must contain the following major elements:(1) Needs assessment. Child welfare service needs of families and children for whom the district is or may be responsible shall be determined on an annual basis. (i) The assessment shall be based on, but not limited to:(a) manner of current service delivery;(1) persons potentially requiring services and care; and(2) characteristics of persons currently receiving service and care;(b) data obtained through district's public participation process as required in section 429.3(b) of this Part; and(c) indicators of general social and economic conditions.(ii) Needs assessment shall include a numerical estimate of families and children requiring each such service provided in the district.(iii) Each social services district shall provide a narrative description of how the numerical estimates were derived, including use of historical, programmatic and fiscal trend information.(2) District goals and objectives for family and children's services.(i) Based on the needs assessments, each district must develop explicit goals and objectives which are intended to ensure that:(a) families are able to stay together and develop supportive relationships and maintain or achieve independence;(b) families with children in foster care are able to reunite and develop supportive relationships and maintain or achieve independence;(c) children whose families are unable to care adequately for them receive appropriate, stable, substitute care; and(d) children in foster care who are unable to return to their families are provided permanent homes or develop the capacity to live independently upon achieving adulthood.(ii) Goals and objectives must be established concerning foster care, child protective services, preventive services and adoption services. In addition, the district must develop goals and objectives concerning at least two other services among those for which needs assessment estimates have been made.(iii) Goals and objectives must be client-outcome-oriented and expressed in measurable quantifiable terms. Goals will cover a period of not less than one year and not more than three years. Objectives will cover the one-year period covered by the annual Family and Children's Services Plan.(3) Resource inventory. The existing capacity and utilization of resources in the district and surrounding area available or likely to become available to provide services and care must be set forth. (i) The listing of resources should include: (a) residential foster care facilities;(b) title XX and other purchase of services;(c) agencies with contractual or other agreements that provide services; and(d) district staff employed in family and children's services;(ii) For those services for which the district has established goals and objectives: (a) the names of all relevant service providers (excluding foster families and family day care) and some measure of their service capacity; and(b) level of utilization by the local districts, in terms of clients served.(4) Activities and resources required to achieve objectives. (i) For each service for which needs assessment is completed the district is required to identify projected program and fiscal requirements, including:(a) numbers of children and families to receive each service; and(b) estimated expenditures for each service and identification of expected reimbursement from all sources.(ii) The district is required to identify projected program and fiscal requirements for each service for which a needs assessment is completed. The district will describe the explicit activities which will be undertaken to meet objectives defined for the period covered by the plan. These may include the development of new resources, expanding existing resources or better utilizing available resources.(5)(i) Monitoring and evaluation of Family and Children's Services Plan. Local social services districts must contain in their plans an explanation of how the local districts will monitor and evaluate plan implementation. The department will periodically monitor and evaluate plan implementation. The department will periodically monitor and review local plan implementation and, where it finds substantive noncompliance with the plan, the department will withhold reimbursement for claims submitted for services that are not in compliance with the plan.(ii) The local social services district will be required, effective January 1, 1981, and in each succeeding year, to provide in the plan a status report on the achievement of previously described objectives, in a format determined by the department.(6) Public participation. (i) The local district must include in the plan a description of how the participation required pursuant to subdivision (b) of section 429.3 of this Part was achieved and the mechanism(s) utilized to acquire public comment in accordance with guidelines issued by the department.(ii) If the local district chooses in the development of the plan to utilize public hearings held in conjunction with the Child Protective Services Plan or Title XX Plan, a specific time period, which is specified in the plan, must be utilized solely for such plan and public notice must be made.N.Y. Comp. Codes R. & Regs. Tit. 18 § 429.4