Trauma – OCFS is presenting a series of 3 teleconferences on Trauma in 2008. The first, broadcast on 5/1/08, described the impact of trauma on healthy childhood and adolescent development. The second, scheduled for 6/25/08, addresses how caregivers in out-of-home settings can help to heal trauma. The third program, tentatively scheduled for 10/25/08, is targeted for clinicians treating young people who have experienced trauma.
FASD – Dr. Ira Chasnoff, from the Children’s Research Triangle in Chicago, is the featured speaker on our 8/22/08 teleconference on Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders.
Check with your Staff Development Coordinator to view live teleconferences and recordings of previously broadcast programs.
OCFS has implemented a federal Home and Community Based Services Waiver Program for children in foster care. This program, the first of its kind in the nation, provides specialized services to children with serious emotional disturbance, developmental disabilities, and medical fragility. Go to the B2H webpage for more information
SUNY Stony Brook, through a contract with OCFS' Bureau of Training, is delivering several one-day offerings in 2008 of "Psychotropic Medications and Their Use in the Treatment of Mental Health". This training is targeted for foster care and OCFS facility staff and administrators. It provides participants with basic knowledge about psychotropic medications and treatment applications so that they are able to support the child's treatment plan and advocate for the child's well-being on issues of mental health treatment. Contact your staff development coordinator to register.
Retroactive to January 1, 2005, all children in foster care are eligible for Medicaid if they are citizens or meet satisfactory immigration status. Youth adjudicated as juvenile delinquents and placed into the custody of the Office of Children and Family Services are also eligible for Medicaid. This eligibility is for both Title IV-E and Non Title IV-E children, regardless of income or resources. Categorical Medicaid Eligibility (pdf 17 kb)
New York State Medicaid-enrolled child (foster) care agencies should follow instructions in the Dear Child Care Agency Director letter. This will ensure that a New York State Medicaid-enrolled pharmacy will direct bill Medicaid, and not the child care agency, when filling prescriptions for products on the child (foster) care agency pharmacy carve-out list for Medicaid-eligible foster care youth placed with their agency.