CODES/REFERENCES 

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REQUIREMENTS 

Georgia’s Statewide Automated Child Welfare Information System, also known as Georgia SHINES, is the official comprehensive case management and data collection system for the Georgia Division of Family and Children Services (DFCS). It serves as the legal case record of the State of Georgia’s involvement with families and serves a crucial role in informing decision making and supporting caseworkers’ interactions with children, youth and families. The data collected in Georgia SHINES is used to enhance program efficiency and improve outcomes for families served while also for federal and state reporting requirements. Additionally, Georgia SHINES facilitates information sharing with other agencies that serve families which enhances cross system collaboration and coordination of services. 

DFCS staff shall record all case activities and payments in Georgia SHINES, including but not limited to the following:

1. Child Protective Services (Intake, Investigations, Family Support Services, and Family Preservation Services) 

2. Foster Care Services 

3. Adoption and other Permanency Services 

4. Resource Development 

5. Fiscal Support Services

DFCS staff shall document all activities (casework services) performed in support of the services provided to or on behalf of an individual or family unit in the appropriate case and stage, within a maximum of 72 hours of occurrence. It is best practice to document events on a case as soon as possible to ensure all available information on a child and family is readily available. 

EXCEPTION: Intake reports must be documented immediately upon the receipt of the intake information. 

DFCS staff shall upload all information received from service providers, stakeholders and community partners, informal supports, etc. into the appropriate case stage in Georgia SHINES External Documentation within a maximum of 72 hours of receipt. Information includes but is not limited to the following:

1. Court orders 

2. Medical and mental health reports 

3. Educational reports 

4. Photographs 

5. Service provider reports

PROCEDURES 

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PRACTICE GUIDANCE

The Georgia SHINES case management system documents progress toward outcome achievement and serves as the foundation of decisions regarding child safety, permanency and wellbeing. It is also a vital resource for the agency in providing continuity of services to children and families and as serves as a resource when court action is needed on a case. Georgia SHINES also serves as an administrative tool used to provide information to state and county administrators. Some information retained in Georgia SHINES may also be seen by auditors, the legal community and, in some instances, the media. Therefore case records must contain factual information collected, assessed and accurately documented by DFCS staff. In addition, information must be entered in a timely manner in order to maintain the integrity of the information, and to ensure information is available to assist in decision making regarding a case.

Primary Client 

The Georgia SHINES system will automatically populate the primary client for services, based on the client relationship selected.

1. For Child Protective Services (CPS) stages, the primary client will be the primary caretaker and the relationship displayed in the person tab will be Primary Caretaker (PK). 

2. For the Foster Care Family (FCF) stage, the client relationship will be displayed as “self.” 

3. For the Foster Care Child (FCC) stage, the primary client will be the child in care and the relationship reported in the person tab will be “self.” 

4. For the Adoption (ADO) stage, the primary client will be the child free for adoption and the relationship reported in the person tab will be “self.” 

5. For the Foster Adoption (FAD) stage, the primary client will be the foster/adoptive resource and the relationship reported in the home information tab will be the name of the foster/adoptive parents or the name of the Child Placing Agency (CPA) resource.

FORMS AND TOOLS 

N/A