Code of Maine Rules › 10 - DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES › 148 - OFFICE OF CHILD AND FAMILY SERVICES › Chapter 5 - PURCHASE OF SERVICE POLICY MANUAL › Section 148-5-I - INTRODUCTION

Current through 2024-29, July 17, 2024
A.The Department of Health and Human Services
				is designated by the Governor of the State of Maine as the state agency with
				primary responsibilities for the planning and administration of the Title XX
				Social Services Block Grant. The Office of Child and Family Services within the
				Department is statutorily assigned responsibility for this program.
Chapter 1473, Title 22 of the Maine Revised Statutes,
				  Sections 5308 through 5310 designates responsibilities to the Office for
				  federal and state funded social services, except those specified for the
				  elderly. This statute includes a mandate that the Office..."prepare, adopt, and
				  administer policies, priorities, procedures, rules, and regulations to govern
				  its affairs and the development and operation of programs and activities and to
				  define contractual terms, conditions of agreements, quality of performance
				  standards and such other rules as are necessary".
In the conduct of its mandate, the Office of Child and Family
				  Services has developed a service delivery system through which a wide range of
				  social serviced are provided by Department of Health and Human Services
				  regional direct service staff and through a variety of community-based social
				  service agencies. The social services delivered by Departmental regional office
				  staff are regulated by state personnel and program-specific laws and policies.
				  Services purchased from community agencies are governed by the policies
				  contained in this manual, and any subsequent policies and directives issued by
				  the Office of Child and Family Services.
B.
PURPOSE OF MANUAL
Under Title XX of the Social Security Act enacted in 1975,
				  State administration of the Title XX program was regulated through Chapter 45,
				  Part 228 of the Code of Federal Regulations. Passage of the 1981 Omnibus Budget
				  Reconciliation Act, which created the Title XX Social Services Block Grant,
				  repealed these regulations and replaced them with Chapter 45, Parts 16 and 96
				  of the Code of Federal Regulations. The new federal regulations contain few
				  specific standards of conduct to be used in the administration of Block Grant
				  funds.
The Maine Department of Health and Human Services chose to
				  retain the standards from the original Title XX program until such time as a
				  thorough analysis of the applicability of the standards was completed, and
				  State policies established to replace them. The guiding principle in the
				  analysis and subsequent policy development was to assure that sound, reasonable
				  management practices are used in the execution of the Department's
				  administrative responsibilities.
The Office of Child and Family Services has developed the
				  policies in this manual to ensure reasonable standards of conduct in the
				  purchase and administration of services supported by federal and state funds
				  under its jurisdiction.
The policies contained herein will govern all contracts,
				  administrative support and/or service-related grants for the purchase of
				  service from community agencies pursuant to federal and state statutes
				  including the Title XX Social Service Block Grant. All policies contained
				  herein apply to all Office of Child and Family Services contracts,
				  administrative support and/or service-related grants, unless otherwise
				  specifically-noted. A companion Purchase of Service Procedures Manual,
				  developed through work with provider organization representatives, will govern
				  the processes and methods used to operational these policies.
C.
STRUCTURE OF THE MANUAL
The format of this manual is designed to conform with the
				  State of Maine Administrative Procedure Act, 5 MRSA, §8001 - 11008, as
				  amended. Each distinct part of this manual will be found under a "Section",
				  further broken into "Subsections" and "page" under the APA referencing
				  procedure. All future substantive policy changes or revisions will be issued
				  only after a formal policy notice, in accord with the requirements of the
				  Administrative Procedure Act.
MANUAL UPDATE STANDARDS:
1. Formal revisions to this manual shall be
				transmitted from the Director of the Office of Child and Family Services to the
				Directors of provider organizations and other manual holders.
2. A cover memorandum explaining the
				revisions and detailed instructions, and the effective date of the revision
				shall be attached to each transmittal, and shall be numbered, dated, and in
				chronological order for future reference.
3. Revisions of the manual shall be published
				as often as necessary and clustered in groupings as applicable at periodic
				release times.
4. The issue date in
				the upper right hand corner of the pages shall not reflect the effective date
				of the policy change in all instances.