This letter transmits amendments to Ohio Administrative Code (OAC) rule 5101:2-5-38 that have been made as a result of the enactment of Am. Sub. H.B. 95 of the 125^th General Assembly. The effective date of the amended rule is January 1, 2004.

The major changes are as follows:

• Changes the date when ODJFS will reimburse foster care training stipends for preplacement training from the date of the first placement until the date the caregiver is initially certified.
• Allows non-traditional training to be counted towards meeting a foster caregiver's training requirements but continues to prohibit a stipend payment for such training.
• Requires the Ohio Child Welfare Training Program (OCWTP) to provide all foster caregiver training for PCSAs beginning 1/1/2004. Private agencies will continue to operate their ODJFS-approved training programs as in the past, but if a private agency contracts with a Regional Training Center (RTC) of the OCWTP for foster caregiver training, the private agency may elect to have the allowance payment remitted directly to the RTC.
• To obtain any payments under this program, each caregiver's training history must be entered in the ODJFS-prescribed Foster care Resource Education Database (FRED). FRED must be updated within 30 days after the stipend is paid to the caregiver or both the stipend reimbursement and allowance payment are forfeited.
• Training allowance payments for training received between 1/1/2001 and 12/31/2003 must be claimed by 12/31/2004 or the payments are forfeited.
• A stipend payment is not required to obtain an allowance payment for training that occurred between 1/1/2001 and 3/31/2003.

INSTRUCTIONS:

The following chart depicts what materials are to be removed from the Family, Children and Adult Services Manual (FCASM) and what materials are to be inserted in the FCASM.