A contract to provide family-based safety services (FBSS) must accomplish the following:

 •  Provide the casework necessary to plan, deliver, and coordinate services.

    Required Approvals for Intensive Services: Because of safety considerations, all intensive services are used only with approval from:

 •  the supervisor or program director; and

 •  the regional child-safety specialist.

 • Provide the services listed below, either directly, through a subcontract, or through referral to other CPS contractors:

 •  Homemaker Services

 •  Evaluation and Treatment Services

 •  Basic Parent/Caregiver Training

 •  Child Day Care Services

 •  Early Childhood Intervention Services

 •  Concrete Services (see 8233 Concrete Services)

 •  Meet the same time frames and frequency of contact as specified in 3000 Family-Based Safety Services

 •  Plan and implement the distribution of brochures on Texas Health Steps.

 •  Plan and implement the distribution of information on the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP).

 •  Complete the risk assessment tool at key points during the decision-making process, including before the case is closed, when closure is being considered.

    A risk assessment may also be completed when requested by a supervisor because of a significant change in the level of risk.

    A change in the level of risk may include a change in:

 •  household composition;

 •  stressors affecting family functioning;

 •  living conditions; or

 •  information regarding one of the seven areas of concern, including significant new information.

Provider Participation in Staffing Meetings and Testimony

For cases that have been returned to CPS or reopened as the result of a new investigation, the FBSS provider must be available to:

 •  confer with CPS in staffings for case planning; and

 •  testify in court as necessary.

Provider Experience and Credentials

All individuals providing direct client services must:

 •  be appropriately licensed by the State of Texas; and

 •  have the minimum or preferred qualifications for casework staff:

 •  Minimum — A bachelor’s degree from an accredited college or university, directly supervised by a person meeting minimum qualifications for casework supervision; or

 •  Preferred — A bachelor’s degree in social work, or a bachelor’s degree with a major area of concentration in a behavioral science discipline with experience in social work or human services, one year of which was full-time experience working with multi-problem children and families or providing supervised child protective services ; and

 •  have the minimum or preferred qualifications for casework supervisors:

 •  Minimum — A bachelor’s degree from an accredited college or university and two years of full-time, supervised social work experience working with multi-problem families and children; or

 •  Preferred — A master’s degree in social work from an institution accredited by the Council on Social Work Education and three years of full-time, supervised experience in child protective services.

Experience in child protective services is extremely helpful in staff selection, performance, and retention.

Required Training for Contractor Staff

The contractor must ensure that the provider receives the following training:

 •  Orientation — The contractor must provide a basic job orientation within the first 30 days of employment; and

 •  Basic Job Training — The contractor must provide new workers and supervisors with basic job training within 30 days of their first day of employment. The contractor must provide each caseworker with a minimum of 20 hours of training before the caseworker works with clients. The contractor must provide 20 additional hours of training within the first 30 days of the hire date. All training must be documented in individual personnel files and be available for review by CPS contract staff. Contractor staff have access to any scheduled training for CPS staff on a space-available basis. The topics covered in the training must include CPS’s policies and procedures for:

 •  intake and investigation,

 •  risk assessment and service planning,

 •  family preservation values and beliefs,

 •  the legal basis for family-based safety services, reporting requirements, investigation requirements, and statutory definitions of abuse and neglect,

 •  an overview of the CPS program, including nomenclature and vernacular,

 •  an overview of family systems theories and interventions,

 •  casework process,

 •  cultural sensitivity,

 •  indicators of physical, emotional, and sexual abuse and neglect, and

 •  recognition of family strengths.