DFCS/DEBS Common Cases Overview

Some parents receiving Voluntary Family Maintenance (VFM), Voluntary Family Reunification (VFR), Informal Supervision (IS), court-ordered Family Maintenance (FM), or court-ordered Family Reunification (FR) may be eligible to receive CalWORKs cash aid and/or CalWORKs Employment Services (CWES) to support activities in their child welfare plan.

The Department of Employment and Benefit Services (DEBS) collaborates with the Department of Family and Children's Services (DFCS) to coordinate the Child Welfare Services (CWS) case plan with the Welfare-to-Work (WTW) plan for “Common Cases” (i.e., families served by both DEBS and DFCS staff). This requires coordination and cooperation among staff from Benefits, CWES, and DFCS to increase the clients’ chances for success. This responsibility is assigned to one of the Partnership Associate Employment Counselors (AECs)/Employment Counselors (ECs), the DFCS-DEBS Social Services Benefits Specialist (SSBS) Liaison, and the DFCS Social Workers (SWs).

The Partnership

Parents who receive voluntary or court-ordered FM or FR may be eligible to receive CalWORKs cash aid and/or CWES supportive services to support FM or FR activities. The CWES AEC/EC and the DFCS SW form a partnership to collaborate and coordinate the CWS case plan with the WTW plan for Common Cases. This collaboration is referred to as the Partnership.

Referrals to the Partnership

Common DFCS/DEBS clients are referred to the Partnership by:

Emergency Response (ER) Clerical
DFCS SWs
DFCS-DEBS SSBS Liaison (who may receive notifications or inquiries from various sources: court staff, DFCS clients, DFCS staff)
CWES AECs/ECs
SSBSs
Results from a data match.

Common Case Criteria

Generally, a Common Case is defined as a case for a family served by both DFCS and DEBS that meets the following criteria:

The family is receiving voluntary or court-ordered FM or FR;
The family has a CalWORKs case open;
Is currently participating or chooses to participate in CWES;
Has remaining time on aid (TOA).

Note: Do not transfer the case to the Partnership AEC/EC when the client is (a) in an Exempt status, (b) in a Post-Aid Services (PAS) case status, or (c) the DFCS case will be closed within 30 days.

Requests for Special Case Review

There are instances in which the DFCS-DEBS SSBS Liaison or the Partnership AEC/EC has a need to contact the SSBS either in Intake or Continuing to resolve issues on behalf of the client who also receives DFCS services. Direct contact with the SSBS will be made by the DFCS-DEBS SSBS Liaison or the Partnership AEC/EC via phone call and/or email.

Examples of items for discussion may include, but are not limited to:

Review of cash assistance denial
Reasons for discontinuance
Sanction or penalty
Semi-Annual Report (SAR 7) related issues
Request to terminate Foster Care (FC)
Inter-County Transfer (ICT) issues
Household composition (new baby, two parents in home) related issues
Other issues.

Confidentiality

In accordance with Welfare & Institutions Section 10850, all client data, correspondence, soft or hard copies of documents, records, files, and communication are confidential and must be treated with utmost consideration in viewing and disposing of such documents. Client information necessary to determine or re-assess eligibility in public social service programs may be shared between departments within the Social Services Agency (SSA). Client information includes any client data, correspondence, communications, documents, and case file records in any form required to determine eligibility. Each department will treat the shared client information as confidential.

ExampleExample Child was removed from the client’s home. The Partnership AEC/EC, DFCS CalWORKs SSBS Liaison, and/or DFCS SW may inform the SSBS of this fact and disclose only the client information necessary to determine or re-assess eligibility for public social service programs.

Reminder: Access and disclosure of client information not necessary to determine eligibility for public social services programs is prohibited unless otherwise permitted by law.

Refer to DEBS-BP Handbook Chapter 9 Confidentiality & Personal Identifiable Information (PII) for more information.

CalFresh

The Consent to Release CalFresh Confidential Case Information (SCD 2577) must be utilized when a DFCS SW is assisting the client in obtaining eligibility information on a CalFresh case.

Refer to DEBS-BP Handbook DEBS & DFCS CalFresh Disclosure of Case Information for more information.