Hello Team,

Senate Bill 942 has moved its way through the legislature and very shortly will be signed by the Governor and become law. SB 942 requires that every CPS investigation conclude with a disposition of Founded, Unfounded, or Unable to Determine. This bill has an emergency clause, so once it’s signed it will go into effect immediately. In preparation, effective immediately all CPS investigations must be assigned as ‘non-DR’ and the Department will no longer assign reports of child abuse or neglect as Alternative Response (AR) in OR-Kids.

This law applies to families with current open Alternative Response CPS investigations. Please engage with these families as soon as possible to explain how these new requirements will impact their case. Specifically, that we are required to enter a disposition at the conclusion of the investigation, and that the disposition will be based solely on the facts of their case.

I understand and very much appreciate the work that has been done by our staff and community partners to establish a Differential Response program which allowed cases assigned as Alternative Response to be closed with a “no disposition” finding, and gave us the ability to offer paid services for a period of time following case closure to help keep children safely at home.

It is important to me that we don’t lose the good work that’s been done, and that we work together to strengthen our practice and improve child safety by embedding and strongly emphasizing the good pieces of Differential Response into the Oregon Safety Model. Recommendations on how to best do this will come from a work group led by Safety Manager, Stacey Ayers in the very near future, and will be informed partly by the final Differential Response evaluation (attached). We won’t make these changes alone. I am committed to an inclusive process which will include staff at many levels of the Department, tribal representation, and community partners.

In the meantime, in the counties currently practicing Differential Response (Linn, Benton, Lincoln, Clackamas, Coos, Curry, Jackson, Josephine, Klamath, Lake, Lane and Washington), please continue to work with your contracted service providers to offer families a Family Strengths and Needs Assessment (FSNA) and provide paid services as appropriate. Since these cases will be assigned as ‘non-DR’ in OR-Kids you will need to initiate an ‘admin reopen’ in OR-Kids when you receive the invoice for services (please see the attached guide). If you need someone in your branch other than the Office Manager to have access in OR-Kids to initiate the admin reopen function, please let me know.

Safety continues to be our number one priority. However, when circumstances safely allow:

  • We should always call ahead to schedule our visit with the family; and
  • Families should always be allowed to have a support person by their side during the interview.

Remember, family engagement is critical to successful outcomes.

Please direct any practice questions to your assigned CPS Consultants or Stacey Ayers .

Thank you for your commitment to children and families and your continued good work!

Laurie