413-330-0920 Policy (1) The Department’s implementation of its strengths-and-needs-based system-of-care model for delivering client services has placed an increased emphasis on providing the child and the child’s primary care giver with the individualized services they need in a timely manner. The client's strengths and needs are collaboratively identified by the following parties: (a) The child, if appropriate; (b) The primary care giver; (c) Members in addition to the primary care giver; (d) Appropriate employees of the Department; (e) Other interested parties. (2) Services are designed to meet the child’s needs and reach the agreed-upon outcomes. (3) The SOC short-form contract helps the Department’s staff expedite the contracting. It is designed to: (a) Provide nonresidential services to meet the needs of a child. (b) Increase the resource pool of service contractors by allowing the use of both traditional and nontraditional contractors. (c) Provide more timely delivery of services by delegating approval authority for SOC short-form contracts to local Child Welfare program managers and supervisors. (4) An SOC short-form contract can be used when the following conditions are met: (a) The contractor is an independent contractor. (b) The services are: (A) Provided for a specific child, sibling group, or primary care giver. (B) Provided to help the caseworker, the child, and the child’s family reach mutually agreed-upon outcomes. (C) Nonresidential. (D) Limited to a maximum length of 12 months. The expectation is that the mutually agreed-upon outcomes will be reached within that time period. (E) Limited to a maximum dollar amount of $4,000. The expectation is that the mutually agreed-upon outcomes will be reached without spending more than that amount. (c) The contracted services do not include: (A) Services the recipient is eligible to receive that are available from another public agency or institution or from a private contractor under an existing contract; or (B) The same services or services similar to those being provided by Department staff. (d) Funds are available and authorized for the type of service and client to be served by the contract, and the cost is reasonable and commensurate with the cost of similar services. (5) The statement of work, in an SOC short-form contract, is written to describe the agreed-upon outcomes and the services to be provided. Outcomes must be specifically related to one or more of the following goals: (a) Safety — to prevent placement or re-entry into care and to ensure the child’s safety in the home. (b) Permanency — to prevent movement in care and to ensure stability in the living situation or facilitate permanency for a child for whom the plan is categorized as an "other planned permanent living arrangement." (c) Facilitate reunification — to facilitate the child’s return home and preserve continuity of family relationships and permanency for the child. (d) Permanency — to facilitate the child’s permanency plan of adoption or guardianship. (e) Well-being — to facilitate the child’s well-being by enhancing the family’s capacity to provide for its children’s needs. (f) Well-being — to facilitate the child’s well-being by ensuring the child receives adequate and appropriate services to meet medical, physical, mental health, social, emotional-development, or educational needs. (6) Contracted services must be provided by the contractor. The SOC short-form contract does not allow subcontracting. A traditional contractor may use an employee or volunteer to provide the contracted services. A nontraditional contractor must provide the services himself or herself and cannot use an employee or volunteer to provide the contracted services. (7) The Department may terminate an SOC short-form contract upon written notice to the contractor. (8) The printed contract cannot be altered. If the format is changed by anyone, regardless of the reason or circumstances, the contract cannot be executed and is void. (9) Within 24 hours after the contract is signed by both parties, the contract and cover sheet must be sent by facsimile to the Technical Assistance Unit. [ED. NOTE: Forms referenced are available from the agency.] Statutory/Other Authority: ORS 418.005 Statutes/Other Implemented: ORS 279.727 & 279.729 History: CWP 11-2004, f. & cert. ef. 6-1-04 CWP 50-2003(Temp), f. 12-31-03, cert. ef. 1-1-04 thru 6-28-04 SOSCF 5-2001, f. & cert. ef. 2-26-01 SOSCF 21-2000(Temp), f. & cert. ef. 8-31-00 thru 2-26-01