Frequently Asked Questions

Family First Prevention Services Act (FFPSA)

Q: Who enters costs for services provided by counties?

A: Counties are expected to input costs for services that they provide themselves (e.g. Motivational Interviewing). Probation will also enter cost information if Probation staff are responsible for providing the service.

Q: If we have a case specific expense, do we manually enter that?

A: No, counties will not be expected to do that. Case specific costs will be transmitted to CWS-CARES via an interface with CalSAWS.

Q: Does CEC data coming from CECRIS need to be child-specific?

A: CWS-CARES will receive DFA600 data from CECRIS in CWS-CARES V1. All of this data is aggregated and program code specific.

Q: Will CWS-CARES be directly posting expenses into the CEC or is it just able to read information after a claim has been submitted?

A: All data received from CECRIS will be read-only in CWS-CARES.

Q: Will the transfer of data from County Expense Claim Reporting Information System (CECRIS) into CWS-CARES be after the files are audited/approved by CDSS? Will CWS-CARES also receive revised CECRIS Claims?

A: CWS-CARES will receive both the unaudited and audited Original claims approved by the state as federal reporting requires both. CWS-CARES will also receive the approved Adjustment claims. The interface data exchange with CECRIS occurs on a monthly basis. This data will be sent once CECRIS has received all prior to audit claims for each county OR when all audited claims have been approved by CDSS (i.e., when all Original claims have been approved by CDSS, all approved Original claims for each county will be sent to CWS-CARES at once).

Q: Will county fiscal departments be flagged that a Family Well Being Plan is ending?

A: Yes, there will be functionality for county fiscal to be notified when a plan is about to end.

Q: Is the expectation for approving each Cost Tracking Template submitted by the provider that the worker is checking that the cost details of each transaction are accurate? Or is a more rigorous review expected?

A: Yes, counties will approve cost tracking information that a provider submits. One of the big reasons the Product Team introduced the approval process is to allow counties the opportunity to reject or correct an inaccurate cost that may have been entered by a provider.

Q: For the cost-tracking template, is that a set unit rate and how many units are being provided?

A: Unit rates will be county-specific based on the county-specific contracts. CDSS plans to issue additional guidance via an ACL regarding this.

Q: Where there is a breakdown of the 'IV-E eligible percentage' and service units, the county does not currently know which unit would fill this out at a given point in time. How will counties enter this data?

A: Units of service for FFPSA EBPs will be statewide. The expectation is that the provider of the service enters the Number of Units provided along with the coordinating Unit of Service. The provider will also document the cost of the service. This does not include administrative-related costs associated with the service. CDSS will be issuing guidance to assist counties in this process of units of service.

Q: What does the 'FOP' label on one of the records mean?

A: The 'FOP' followed by a series of numbers indicates the individual person record ID number for the child or person receiving services.