Ohio Administrative Code|Rule 5101:2-5-38 | Payment of foster caregiver training stipends; reimbursement of training allowances to recommending agencies.

                                                
(A) As used in this rule, a training hour
		  means sixty consecutive minutes of instruction and may include a break of not
		  longer than five minutes per training hour when a training session is longer
		  than one training hour in duration.
(B) Stipend payments for foster caregivers shall be made pursuant
		  to the following:
(1)  Stipend payments
			 must be made to the foster caregiver within one hundred twenty calendar days of
			 the completion of the training event for continuing training or within one
			 hundred twenty calendar days after certification for pre-placement training.
			 Stipend payments may not be held or otherwise deferred pending reimbursement by
			 the Ohio department of job and family services (ODJFS). Stipend payments shall
			 be rendered for fractional hours in quarter hour increments. The stipend rate
			 paid by recommending agencies shall be calculated as follows:
(a) For preplacement training a lump sum payment shall be made in
				the amount of ten dollars per foster caregiver per training hour for all hours
				completed.
(b) For continuing training, ten dollars per foster caregiver per
				training hour successfully completed within a training session that is a
				minimum of one training hour in duration.
(c) Recommending agencies shall make stipend payments according
				to the following:
(i) For preplacement
				  training, the agency that certifies the caregiver shall record the preplacement
				  training in the statewide automated child welfare information system (SACWIS)
				  and shall be responsible for paying the stipend to the caregiver upon
				  certification.
(ii) For continuing
				  training, the caregiver's recommending agency shall be responsible for
				  paying all stipends to the caregiver and shall enter all of the training
				  sessions into SACWIS.
(2) A recommending agency is solely
			 responsible for any foster caregiver stipend payment due that exceeds the
			 amount reimbursable to the recommending agency. A recommending agency shall
			 defer the lump sum stipend payment for preplacement training until the foster
			 caregiver is certified. In these cases, a recommending agency's obligation
			 to remit deferred lump sum stipend payments for preplacement training begins
			 upon the caregiver's date of certification.
(3) A recommending agency
			 may decline to make a stipend payment to a foster caregiver:
(a) If the recommending agency determines that the foster
				caregiver has not successfully acquired the skills the training was designed to
				impart and as a result the agency required the foster caregiver to repeat the
				training in accordance with a corrective action plan.
(b) If the training was beyond the scope or the amount of
				training specified in the foster caregiver's individualized written needs
				assessment and continuing training plan.
(c) If the training the foster caregiver received was part of a
				program of self-directed study or otherwise not delivered in a conventional or
				traditional setting where the principal transfer of knowledge occurred through
				the physical presence of a trainer whose responsibility it was to impart
				instruction to the foster parent.
(C) ODJFS reimbursement of foster caregiver stipend payments to
		  recommending agencies.
(1) ODJFS will reimburse
			 recommending agencies for stipend payments made to foster caregivers pursuant
			 to paragraph (B) of this rule.
(2) For preplacement
			 training, ODJFS will reimburse lump sum stipend payments made by recommending
			 agencies as follows:
(a) The amount of ten dollars per foster caregiver per training
				hour for hours recorded by an agency in SACWIS. ODJFS will reimburse according
				to the following:
(i) For pre-adoptive
				  infant homes, twelve hours.
(ii) For a family foster
				  home, no less than twenty-four hours and no more than thirty-six
				  hours.
(iii) For a specialized
				  foster home, no less than twenty-four hours and no more than thirty-six
				  hours.
(b) For an existing family foster home that is receiving
				preplacement training to become a specialized foster home, the reimbursement
				will be made in the form of continuing training as specified in rule
				5101:2-5-25 of the Administrative Code.
(3) For continuing training, ODJFS will
			 reimburse stipend payments made by recommending agencies per the following
			 schedule of training hours:
(a) For a pre-adoptive infant home, not more than twenty-four
				training hours during each two-year certification period for each caregiver
				that is required to be trained.
(b) For a family foster home, not more than forty training hours
				during each two-year certification period for each caregiver that is required
				to be trained.
(c) For a specialized foster home, not more than sixty training
				hours during each two-year certification period for each caregiver that is
				required to be trained.
(4) For the purpose of determining if a
			 stipend reimbursement is owed to a recommending agency for continuing training,
			 ODJFS will count only training hours that are received during the two-year
			 period after the foster caregiver's date of certification, and for each
			 two-year period thereafter.
(5) ODJFS will not reimburse a
			 recommending agency for any stipend payment made by a recommending agency when
			 the training the foster caregiver received was part of a program of
			 self-directed study or otherwise not delivered in a conventional or traditional
			 setting where the principal transfer of knowledge occurred through the physical
			 presence of a trainer whose responsibility it was to impart instruction to the
			 foster parent. Subject to restrictions that may otherwise be imposed elsewhere
			 by this chapter, such non-traditional training may be counted by the
			 recommending agency as acceptable training hours in meeting the minimum number
			 of training hours necessary to statutorily qualify the foster caregiver to
			 obtain or maintain such foster caregiver's certification.
(6) ODJFS will not reimburse a
			 recommending agency for any stipend payment made for time consumed by a lunch
			 or dinner break that occurs during a training session.
(7) For the purpose of computing the
			 maximum number of preplacement and continuing training hours that will qualify
			 for stipend reimbursements, a foster caregiver's training history will
			 always be aggregated over the caregiver's entire service history and will
			 not be reset by the movement of the foster caregiver from the supervision of
			 one recommending agency to another.
(D)  ODJFS will pay a training allowance to each private
		  recommending agency to compensate that entity for its costs in providing,
		  securing or procuring training for foster caregivers through a preplacement
		  training program or continuing training program operated under rule 5101:2-5-40
		  of the Administrative Code. The allowance rate will be fifteen dollars per
		  foster caregiver per training hour successfully completed within a training
		  session.
(1) A private
			 recommending agency may enter a preplacement training session into SACWIS prior
			 to the certification of a foster caregiver in order to receive a training
			 allowance.
(2) If a private
			 recommending agency enters a continuing training session into SACWIS in order
			 to receive a training allowance, the agency must have paid a stipend to the
			 particpant for the same training session.
(3) ODJFS will consider a private
			 recommending agency to have experienced a cost if any of the following items
			 occur:
(a) The private recommending agency pays a trainer or another
				agency to conduct the training session.
(b) The private recommending agency uses its own staff to conduct
				the training session and act as trainer.
(c) The private recommending agency rents space and or equipment
				for the training session.
(d) The private recommending agency provides a box meal or
				catered meal for foster caregivers attending the training session. ODJFS will
				not consider the private recommending agency to have incurred a cost if only
				break refreshments are provided.
(e) The private recommending agency purchases a curriculum or
				program of instruction for use in the training session. ODJFS will not consider
				the private recommending agency to have experienced a cost for that curriculum
				or program of instruction when it is used in subsequent training sessions
				unless the payment of a licensing or royalty fee is required for each such
				use.
(4) ODJFS will not make an allowance
			 payment for training received or provided at no cost to the private
			 recommending agency. As used in this rule, "at no cost" means that
			 the private recommending agency incurred no out-of-pocket expense for the
			 training session. ODJFS will not consider a private recommending agency to have
			 incurred a cost when the private recommending agency:
(a) Uses its own facilities or equipment to host or conduct the
				training session.
(b) Makes copies of instructional materials that will be used in
				a training session.
(c) Mails training announcements to foster
				caregivers.
(d) Uses an uncompensated trainer.
(e) Enrolls a foster caregiver for training in a training session
				held under the auspices of a regional training center of the OCWTP where the
				regional training center does not require a fee from the private recommending
				agency for the caregiver to attend the training session.
(E)  The recommending agency shall register the foster
		  caregiver's training history in SACWIS. ODJFS will pay foster caregiver
		  stipends and private recommending agency allowances only when the recommending
		  agency fully and accurately completes and registers the foster caregiver's
		  training history in SACWIS.
(F) Recommending agencies shall not submit training registrations
		  for training received or rendered under the adoption assessor training
		  component of the OCWTP.
(G)  Submission of training registrations that do not accurately
		  reflect the training history of foster caregivers, or that are filed prior to
		  payment of earned stipends to foster caregivers, shall establish a rebuttable
		  presumption that the submitting recommending agency intentionally seeks a
		  training allowance or stipend payment to which it is not entitled.
(1) If the recommending
			 agency is a private entity, the rebuttable presumption may serve as a basis for
			 licensing enforcement proceedings against that private recommending
			 agency.
(2) If the recommending
			 agency is a public children services agency (PCSA), the rebuttable presumption
			 may serve as a basis for the imposition of any penalty permitted by section
			 5101.24 of the Revised Code.
(H) Each private recommending agency and PCSA shall register an
		  update to a foster caregiver's training history no later than thirty
		  calendar days from the date on which the private recommending agency or PCSA
		  renders a stipend payment to the foster caregiver. Failure to complete the
		  update in this time frame will result in the forfeiture of any stipend
		  reimbursement or allowance payment owed to the private recommending agency or
		  PCSA for the event.
(I) ODJFS will not issue allowance payments to PCSAs. OCWTP will
		  be responsible for providing foster caregiver training to foster caregivers
		  under the supervision of a PCSA.
(J)  All claims for allowance payments and stipend reimbursements
		  must be perfected within eighteen calendar months subsequent to the month in
		  which the training occurred. Claims made after that time frame will not be
		  honored.
(K) Any failure of an agency to pay a
		  stipend to a foster caregiver within the required timeframes of this rule shall
		  result in the forfeiture of any stipend reimbursement owed to the agency for
		  the event.


Last updated June 1, 2021 at 10:19 AM