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Family Advocacy Centers

Web Site Address: https://fac.dcfs.illinois.gov

Welcome to the FAC Procedural Manual

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Entering data into the FAC Data Base is a requirement of your contract. It is very important that you enter information correctly and timely. You are expected to update information on a weekly basis. The Data serves as a measure of the work you are doing; if information is missing then your agency does not get credit for doing the work and we do not have an accurate measure of the services being provided. The information in the data base is a major part of the monitoring we do and is used to determine if you are meeting your program plan requirements. Cases must be entered into the data base when you receive the referral or at the point of intake for walk-ins and community who are not referred from DCFS/POS or another community agency. This is so we can capture all your efforts even if the client declines services or is referred to another agency. Referrals must be entered on a weekly basis.

Registration: You must register into the system before you can use the data base. After you register you need to notify your FAC monitor so that you can be assigned to your agency page. Below is a link to register. If you change your email you need to notify your monitor. Supervisors and Program Managers need to notify the monitor immediately when an employee leaves the agency. This is to ensure confidentiality of the data and information on the clients we serve. Everyone who registered for the data base must have a cleared background check on file.

https://accountmanagement.dcfs.illinois.gov/Register.aspx

Register your email address and submit. You will then receive an email with a link to change the password. The password step completes the registration process. Next, email your FAC monitor so they may grant you access to your FAC page. Some tips: Each agency is required to enter case notes into the data base. The written DCFS intake form and quarterly reports are now obsolete and have been replaced by the data base. Monthly progress reports are to be completed for every client entered whether or not they are DCFS/POS or community clients. This takes less than five minutes. Forms with original signatures should still be maintained in the physical case file as well as any letters, reports, etc. In the case of group files, attendance should be noted in the data base as this counts as services hours. Hours will continue to be entered in quarter hours at this time. If a group is two hours long then you should enter the complete two hours for each person in the group.

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If more than one person in a household is receiving services there should only be one case. A section has been added to enter the names of all the household members. Enter the name of the person receiving the services in the service/case note section, not the name of the advocate. If entering the DCFS case ID doesn’t generate an automatic population of the caseworker’s name and other information you needn’t be concerned, there are still a few glitches that we are working out. Whether or not the case is a DCFS or Community case is captured in the Referral Source section. If this changes during the life of the case you need to change this section as well. If you hover your mouse cursor over any drop down field category the description will be listed in a pop up window for you to reference and help you select the proper category. The FAC Homepage is the News page; The News page will list any Updates, Tips, Current Issues and other FAC related articles.

Note: Administrators will have the ability to Add, Update or Inactive News articles in the

Maintenance News page. Article suggestions can be submitted to your FAC monitor.

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Menu Bar In the top menu bar Staff can view their FAC clients via the Clients button.

Clients: the FAC Clients are assigned to an Agency; your Agency name will show in the Agency field

The Agency drop down menu allows Staff to choose an Agency; (for staff members who work for more than one Agency or site).

Clients screen example

You can export your case list.

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The Clients search box allows Users to search the clients list

Clients are shown in the grid. Staff can Add, Update and delete Clients, Add, Update and Delete Cases from the Clients screen. (Note: Adding the Client without adding a Case and Referral Source does not count the Client in the total for the Case Distribution Report.)

Add New Client button is used to add clients only not to update services.

Update Client button is used to add any additional information that wasn’t entered on the initial entry of the Client. The client is not counted until this step is completed.

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Expand the Client to see the Add Case button, Edit Case and Delete Case buttons. At this time only FAC Monitors and Administrators can delete a case.

TO open the Case, complete all the initial required fields and click Save. Once the Case is saved you can proceed to enter data in the Services, Members and Progress sections. (Note you will not see the Services, Members and Progress sections until the Case (Referral) is saved and entered into the distribution count.)

Required fields are indicated with the icon, all required fields must be completed in order to Save the Case

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Referral Source There are only two types of Referral Sources DCFS/POS and Community

For DCFS/POS there are 7 types of Sources

For Community Referrals there are 8 types, the last is Walk-In/Other which is not shown.

The type can be changed when the client‘s status changes or you find out later that your client is involved with DCFS. If the client’s status actually changes from one or the other the best option is to open a new referral when this happens. The latest referral is always on top. It is important to keep this section updated at all times.

If you enter a DCFS case ID the caseworker information should populate but this doesn’t always happen for various reasons and there is no need to be concerned about it. Please confirm that you receive the Save complete dialog box after saving the Case, if you do not receive this confirmation please check the Case to insure all required fields have been completed.

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Case The case # field is manually generated by FAC Agencies and is unique to the agency

The waitlisted date is utilized for Clients unable to be serviced at the time of Case entry If possible, it is preferable to meet with the client once a week until the services become available i.e., parenting classes, anger management, etc. to engage the client and promote retention.

Opened date of Case – Enter the date the referral is received or if no referral was received, when the intake begins.

Closed date of Services, entering a closed date requires an entry in the Reason box; Staff must choose a Reason for why the case was closed. Comments may be added for clarification or to explain why services did not end successfully. There are two questions to answer upon closing the case and these are part of our contract metrics.

Case: once you save the case, the Services/Case Note, Members and Progress Form sections appear on the Case screen.

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Case

Case Services/Case Notes: click on the Add button to add a new Service. Services are directly connected to the Quantity Measures and Service Hours Report that is submitted quarterly and are part of your contract metrics and performance measures.

Case Services/Case Notes Service type and Hours are required to save a service. Staff can enter Service, Client Name, Contact, Location, Date, Hours, and Note narrative. If the contact is Face to Face the box should be checked. Notes are required and need not be duplicated for DCFS purposes. They should be brief and to the point. Keep in mind that notes should not be judgmental or slanted positively or negatively.

Case Services: Service types are listed in the drop down menu

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Case Services: Location types are listed in the drop down menu

Case Services/Note examples: Use the Add button

Adding a Service/Case Note

Adding a Service/Case Note

In the examples above parenting was chosen as the service category but the second example should be General Advocacy and Case Management even if the client is receiving parenting services. These examples were written before we added the Face to Face Check Box.

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Edit: Use the Editing Service icon to make changes or correct errors.

Case Members: click on the Add button to add new Members

Case Members: staff can enter Member information and click Save

(If the Member is a minor the additional section will populate to enter Attending School, Grade, Legal Custodian and Mother or Father resides in household questions)

Case Members, staff can Edit or Delete Members entered in error.

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Case Members example:

Case Progress Forms: Click on the Add button to add a new Progress Form

Case Progress Forms, staff can enter Year, Month and answer Progress questions, narrative field dependent on

question answer value. If you answer yes, a narrative box will pop up. These questions mirror the quality

measures that are part of your quality report. The progress reports or the case record can be saved or printed

and used as part of your monthly report to the caseworker.

Case Progress Forms, staff can Edit or Delete Progress Forms entered in error.

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Reports Case Distribution

Case Distribution Report, Staff selects Fiscal Year and Community or DCFS/POS click Submit

Case Distribution Report, after you Submit, a message will appear on the bottom of your browser, click Open to view the report

Case Distribution Report example

Client Reports

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Quantity Measures

Quality Measures

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Service Hours

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Drop Down Box Definitions

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