Group Home (GH) and Short-Term Residential Treatment Program (STRTP) Rates

Under the Continuum of Care Reform (CCR), most group homes have transitioned into STRTPs. For purposes of this section, the term STRTP will be used for both GHs and STRTPs. Foster Care rates for STRTPs located in California are set by the California Department of Social Services (CDSS). These facilities must be organized and operated on a nonprofit status to be eligible for AFDC-FC funding.

The rate for each facility is maintained in the CalSAWS Resource Data Bank (RDB). STRTPs receive one basic rate instead of rates based on level classification. The CDSS Rates Bureau manages all aspects of rate setting, rate reviews, and operator appeals. Refer to “Santa Clara County Foster Care Rates Chart” SCD 2405 for current rates and Charts Handbook Chapter 3 for historical rates.

The Foster Care Management Analyst is responsible for verifying GH/STRTP rates and the non-profit status of out-of-state placements.
There are no required documents for the annual California Necessities Index (CNI).

Note: Adoption Assistance Program (AAP) children and youth may be placed in a GH/STRTP upon approval of the Adoptions Social Worker (SW). Kinship-Guardianship Assistance Program (Kin-GAP) children and youth are not eligible for GH/STRTP.

Families First Prevention Services Act (FFPSA) Part IV

ACLs 21-113, 21-114, 21-139, 22-13, ACINs I-02-22, I-84-21, AB 163
FFPSA aims to ensure that children and non-minor dependents (NMDs) are placed in the least restrictive, most family-like setting appropriate for their individual needs. While some youth may need the services of a residential treatment program, these placements should be short-term with a case plan to return the youth to a family-like placement. As a result, effective October 1, 2021, new requirements for residential placements have been implemented including the elimination of federal financial participation (FFP) after two weeks of placement unless the facility meets the new requirements. These requirements apply for both federal and state-eligible placements.
FFPSA also requires counties to track all federally eligible youth placed in STRPs for fiscal claiming purposes. While state-eligible cases do not need to be tracked, they must meet the new requirements.

FFPSA also requires counties to track all federally eligible youth placed in STRPs for fiscal claiming purposes. While state-eligible cases do not need to be tracked, they must meet the new requirements.

Definitions

Qualified Residential Treatment Program (QRTP) and STRTP
Under FFPSA, a QRTP is a residential facility that meets FFPSA requirements and has received CDSS accreditation. Instead of using the term “QRTP,” California will continue to use the term STRTP for residential facilities. For purposes of FFPSA, STRTP is now used as a more generic term to refer to residential facilities such as STRTPs, GHs, and vendorized Regional Center Community Treatment Facilities (CTFs). STRTP facilities do not include resource-family homes, other home-based placements, or Small Family Homes.

Exception: All new placements into a vendorized CTF, on and after October 1, 2021, whether federally or state-eligible, must be tracked with the “Non-STRTP Res Fac No FFP” case flag in CalSAWS. Until further notice is received, CTF placements may be made and paid without the facility meeting the new FFPSA requirements.

Qualified Individual (QI)
The QI is a licensed mental health professional who will conduct an assessment to determine a child/NMD’s behavioral health needs and determine if a STRTP is a suitable placement.

New Requirements

The requirements listed below apply to both federal and state-funded placements, children and non-minor dependents (NMDs), and voluntary cases. However, CalSAWS tracking is not required for state-eligible cases because federal funding is not used. Workers will not change the aid code for any case. Payments will continue under the case aid code.

Effective October 1, 2021, for all new or change of placement made into a STRTP on or after October 1, 2021:

The facility must meet the requirements of a Qualified Residential Treatment Program (QRTP) and obtain CDSS accreditation. FFPSA limits federal funding after two weeks if the facility does not have accreditation. Workers must validate accreditation by checking the EW Tools Folder/Resource/GroupHome/Year/GHSTRTP or the STRTP Tracking folder within the ‘year’ folder. CDSS has also posted this information on their website Foster Care Rate Setting.

Note: “Provisionally Approved” accreditation is acceptable as meeting the accreditation requirement.

Each youth must have an assessment made by a Qualified Individual (QI) to determine that an STRTP placement is appropriate. The assessment must be made within thirty (30) days of the placement. If the assessment is not completed within 30 days, there is no FFP. If the assessment does not support a QRTP placement, then FFP may only be claimed for the amount of time it takes to transition a child to another placement (limited to 30 days from the assessment date).

Must have court approval of the placement within sixty (60) days of the placement. If the court disapproves the placement, then FFP may only be claimed for the amount of time it takes to transition the child to another placement (limited to 30 days from the court disapproval date).

Note: After the initial placement is approved, there are additional requirements for subsequent court status review of STRTP placements to determine the continued necessity for and appropriateness of placement. For example, for a placement that lasts longer than six months, a subsequent court approval must be made during the status review hearing. This approval does not impact funding however, workers should scan the document to Imaging and enter a Journal detailing the date the document was received.

Documentation for Placement

In addition to a complete SOC 158A, the following documents must be obtained from the Social Worker (SW) or Probation Officer (P/O):

QI Assessment
JV-239 “Order on placement in STRTP or CTF”

The “STRTP Referral Form” (SCZ60) will be sent to FCE as a courtesy, and not a requirement, to indicate that the QI assessment process has begun.

Reminder: All documents must be scanned to Imaging and a detailed Journal must be entered describing the date and type of documentation received.

CalSAWS and STRTP Tracking

Refer to Chewable Byte 2024-98 for directions on how to set a case alert.

With Release 24.03, CalSAWS implemented the functionality necessary to track federally-eligible STRTP placements. When the Placement Type is one of the following: STRTP, or Regional Center Vendorized GH or CTF, a new dynamic section titled QRTP Determination on the Child Placement Detail page will display. This section will track the Accreditation, QI Assessment, and Court Approval values and dates.

Neither the worker nor CalSAWS will change the case’s aid code (for example, from federal to state) if a placement does not meet the new requirements. Workers will continue to issue payment under the youth’s aid code while Financial Management Services (FMS) makes claiming changes based on the CalSAWS entries.

Adding Updates in CalSAWS

There may be instances where a worker must update previous information entered in the QRTP Determination section. It is important to add these updates as they may affect fiscal claiming.
For example: A facility does not meet the accreditation requirement at placement so the worker enters “No” in the Accredited (Y/N) field in the QRTP Determination section. Weeks later, the worker is informed that the facility has obtained accreditation. Now, the worker goes back to the Child Placement Detail page, scrolls down to the QRTP Determination section, and enters “Yes” in the Accredited (Y/N) field . The worker will need to rerun EDBC and accept the new results so that data is tracked.

Regional Center Vendorized GHs and CTFs
All new placements and changes of placements into a Regional Center Vendorized facility made after October 1, 2021, either federally or state-eligible, must also be tracked by workers in CalSAWS by adding the case flag “Non-STRTP Res No FFP” in CalSAWS. Currently, these placement types do not meet QRTP requirements so workers will not receive any QRTP documentation. Therefore, workers will continue to process these cases as per existing procedures.

FFPSA STRTP Workflow

Refer to FFPSA and STRTP in the Intake and Continuing Benefits Processing handbook chapter.