October 2021

Facility Intervention Team Staffings (FITS) are multidisciplinary meetings between CCR and DFPS to discuss licensed operations that serve children and youth in DFPS conservatorship.

The following are the FITS meeting subtypes for operations on HM:

  1. Initial FITS Coordination Meeting;
  2. HM Plan Development Meeting;
  3. HM Plan Approval Meeting;
  4. Ongoing FITS Meetings;
  5. Quarterly Plan Evaluation Meetings;
  6. Annual HM Plan Evaluation Meeting; and
  7. Final HM Review Meeting.

11210 Initial FITS Coordination Meeting

October 2021

Procedure

Within five days of identifying an operation for Heightened Monitoring (HM), the lead HM program specialist schedules an initial FITS coordination meeting with the HM directors and applicable HM staff made up of staff from, at least, CCR, DFPS CCI, DFPS Contracts, and CPS to discuss the operation. During the initial FITS coordination meeting, the attendees:

  • review for the most recent five-year period all:
    • trends identified as a result of the retrospective analysis conducted by Data and Systems Improvement (DSI);
    • monitoring plans or corrective actions imposed by DFPS;
    • enforcement actions imposed by HHSC; and
    • risk analyses conducted by HHSC or DFPS.
  • assign the members of the HM development team; and
  • establish due dates for HM plan materials.

No later than the business day after the initial FITS coordination meeting, CCR HM staff notify, develop, send and document the notification that the operation is on HM according to 11112 Notifying the Operation and CCR Staff of Heightened Monitoring.

11211 Tasks of Initial FITS Coordination Meeting

October 2021

Procedure

Tasks associated with the initial FITS coordination meeting are as follows:

  1. Review of requirements for operation analysis;
  2. Establish HM plan due date;
  3. Begin weekly unannounced visits/inspections; and
  4. Send notifications to agency/commission staff as follows:
    1. CCR state office staff notify CCR inspectors and supervisors of HM status;
    2. DFPS CPS state office staff notify caseworkers, placement staff, regional leadership and the SSCC, if applicable, of HM status and placement approval requirements;
    3. DFPS HM CCI state office staff notify the CCI director and program administrators; and
    4. DFPS HM Contracts notifies the director for DFPS RCC.

11212 Heightened Monitoring Safety Plan

October 2021

Procedure

If the HM team identifies events that implicate an ongoing concern for the health and safety of children, the HM development team will develop a safety plan and DFPS will temporarily suspend placements until all concerns for children’s health and safety have been addressed.

The lead HM program specialist documents the safety plan by:

  • documenting the safety plan in a HM Plan Update that is provided to the operation; and
  • entering a Chronology in CLASS (type Heightened Monitoring).

11230 Quarterly Heightened Monitoring Plan Review Meetings

October 2021

Each quarter, the HM development team holds Quarterly HM Plan Review meetings to evaluate each operation on Heightened Monitoring. During each meeting, the HM team:

  • Reviews overall compliance with the HM plan tasks;
  • Assesses compliance data, including any new deficiencies; and
  • Evaluates if tasks have been completed, need to be modified or if additional tasks need to be added.

After the meeting, the lead HM director or manager meets with the operation as outlined in 11232 Presenting the HM Quarterly Review Report with the Operation.

By the end of the next business day, each program specialist assigned to the operation enters its program’s information from the quarterly meeting into the Quarterly HM Plan review FITS meeting in the operation’s HM episode in CLASS.  

11231 HM Plan Quarterly Review Report

October 2021

Procedure

Prior to the Quarterly HM Plan Review meeting, the HM development team drafts an HM Plan Quarterly Review report.

The HM development team presents for review and approval the draft HM Plan Quarterly Review report to the HM directors at the Quarterly HM Plan Evaluation meeting.

During the meeting, the HM directors and HM development team review and discuss the compliance status report and any modifications that need to be made to the plan.

Within seven days of the quarterly HM plan meeting:

  • the HM directors approve the HM quarterly review report; and
  • the lead HM program specialist finalizes the HM Quarterly Review report.

11232 Presenting the HM Quarterly Review Report with the Operation

October 2021

After the HM directors approve the HM Plan Quarterly Review report, the lead HM director or manager meets with the operation within seven days after approval to:

  • Review the operation’s status on HM; and
  • Present the HM Plan Quarterly Review report.

The lead HM program specialist files a copy of the report on the DFPS HM SharePoint site.

11240 Annual Heightened Monitoring Plan Review

October 2021

Procedure

After an operation has been on Heightened Monitoring for at least one year, the HM development team holds a review meeting to:

  • Assess the operation’s overall progress; and
  • Determine if the operation has met the criteria to move to HM Post Plan-Monitoring.

The criteria for moving from an HM Plan in Effect to HM Post-Plan Monitoring is successful completion the requirements of their HM plan.

11250 Final Heightened Monitoring Review Meeting

October 2021

Procedure

During the final HM review meeting, the HM development team completes a comprehensive review of the operation’s performance while on HM and during Post Plan Monitoring to determine if the operation:

  • has reduced risk to children; and
  • increased quality of care to successfully operate without Heightened Monitoring from HHSC and DFPS.