County of San Diego Health and Human Services Agency HHSACalWORKs Program Guide WelfaretoWork Orientation and Appraisal Number Page 10005D 1 of 6 Revision Date 031417 Background Per state regulations EAS 4271152 WelfaretoWork WTW participants are required to participate in the Orientation ORE and Appraisal APR Policy 10005D1 WTW ORE The following must be provided to participants during the ORE An overview of the WTW program and the various available WTW activities Available barrier removal programs and supportive services A general description of their rights duties and responsibilities 2707 HHSA CalWORKs Employment Services Handbook ORE is to be conducted prior to APR The ORE and APR must be complete within 15 business days of the date the Eligibility Worker refers the following participants to WTW New WTW participants Previous WTW participants who have had a break in aid of 30 calendar days or more or after an exemption from WTW of 30 days or more Participants who are referred to WTW as Exempt Volunteers 10005D2 Online CalWORKs Appraisal Tool OCAT OCAT will be used to record APR interview discussions when A participant attends the WTW initial OREAPR Any participant has a break in aid of 30 calendar days or more or after an exemption from WTW of at least 30 calendar days or more A participant is referred to WTW as an Exempt Volunteer An Exempt volunteer whose WTW status changes to registered mandatory A WTW sanctioned participant attends OREAPR to cure sanction Must also complete ORE along with OCAT APR 10005D3 OCAT Rights and Privacy Prior to starting the OCAT APR the WTW 47 OCAT Rights and Privacy Form must be provided to the participant and review with himher the purpose and benefits of OCAT prior to conducting the OCAT APR the subjects that will be discussed and inform the participant that everything discussed during the APR will be kept confidential unless elder andor child abuse is suspected The participant must sign the WTW 47 If a participant declines to sign the form the ECM will enter case comments that the WTW 47 was explained and that participant declined to sign the form The ECM will continue with the appraisal interview using OCAT County of San Diego Health and Human Services Agency HHSACalWORKs Program Guide WelfaretoWork Orientation and Appraisal Number Page 10005D 2 of 6 10005D4 OCAT APR If a participant requests to have a male or female ECM the ECMs supervisor will arrange for a male or female ECM to conduct the OCAT APR on the same day If more than one adult will participate in WTW the ECM will conduct separate and private OCAT interviews If a participant requests to have a person present ie second parent children advocate etc during the OCAT APR the ECM will document participants choice of having another person present their relationship to the participant and continue with the completion of OCAT APR A participant may opt out of any portion of the OCAT APR except the collection of demographic information but more accurate and complete results are generated when as many sections of OCAT are completed as possible The ECM must document in OCAT and CalWIN case comments the reason why the participant did not want to answer certain sections or in its entirety If the participant does not wish to state the reason the ECM will document participants refusal to disclose A participant cannot be sanctioned for not answering questions in OCAT but a participant may be sanctioned for refusal to participate in the WTW APR A participant will be considered compliant with the appraisal process even if heshe does not wish to disclose answers to specific questions in OCAT as long as heshe completes required APR forms and provides enough information to the ECM to allow for proper assigning to the next appropriate WTW activity The ECM must ensure that all required APR forms including the 2701 WTW Participant Profile are completed and that the participant is provided with resourcesreferrals as applicable The 2701 is only to be completed when a customer refuses to complete OCAT and is not to be given to the participant for completion as it will be completed by the ECM during the interactive APR interview If a participant is required to complete a new APR and OCAT has answers from a prior interview within the previous 12 months the ECM can review and update OCAT as needed This review of the questionnaire and update of the Appraisal Summary and Recommendations ASR meets the threshold for a new APR If the previous OCAT interview was over 12 months prior a new APR questionnaire must be completed with the participant 10005D5 Substance Abuse and Mental Health Screenings Substance Abuse and Mental Health Screenings are required at the time of APR for all recipients referred to WTW The regional Alcohol and Drug AODMental Health Services MHS Contractor will meet with the participant after the WTW ORE in a private setting for the recipient to be screened 10005D6 Domestic Violence Due to safety concerns it is not recommended that the domestic abuse section of OCAT be reviewed if the participants partner is present An indicator check box is available within OCAT to document that the domestic abuse section questions were not asked because the participants partner was present at the time of the interview If a customer discloses they are a victim of domestic abuse during OCAT APR ECMs are not required to ask the alleged perpetrator the OCAT domestic abuse section questions in this scenario to avoid placing the victim at further risk of abuse County of San Diego Health and Human Services Agency HHSACalWORKs Program Guide WelfaretoWork Orientation and Appraisal Number Page 10005D 3 of 6 10005D7 OCAT Action Plan and ReferralEvaluation Status An action plan is specific actions that the ECM assigns to a participant in order to comply with the recommendations in OCAT An action plan and referralevaluation status must be completed by ECM for each recommendation generated by OCAT for each participant The recommendations may include evaluation for Family Stabilization FS SelfInitiated Programs SIPs WTW exemptions Job Search JS andor an assessment for educationtraining These recommendations are to be used to determine the next best steps for the participant in the WTW process The ECM will review the OCAT recommendations with the participant to see if the participant agrees or disagrees with the recommendations If the participant disagrees with any of the recommendations the ECM is required to go back to each section that produced the recommendation which participant disagrees with and review each question in that section with the participant When OCAT APR results indicate the individual may face barriers to participate in WTW activities the ECM will consider the individual for a WTW exemption or refer the individual for barrier evaluation and services as appropriate This includes but is not limited to evaluation and services for LD MHS SAS andor Family Violence services FVS If the individuals barriers present an immediate crisis that qualifies for FS services the individual will be referred to the FS coordinator for further evaluation If the barrier is not an immediate crisis or does not qualify for FS the ECM will refer the individual to an appropriate evaluation to address the barrier This additional evaluation must be completed before or take place concurrent to any subsequent WTW activities OCAT does not identify all possible WTW exemptions The recommendations from the tool only assist in identifying whether an exemption condition may exist and directs the ECM to evaluate the participants situation to properly determine if heshe qualifies for an exemption OCAT does not determine whether an exemption should be granted 10005D8 Appraisal Summary and Recommendations ASR The ASR is a printout from OCAT with the participants demographic household financial information strengths barriers recommendations and action items Once the OCAT APR is completed the ECM will offer the participant the option of obtaining a copy ECM will indicate the participants decision in case comments The ASR does not require a signature If a participant is suspected to be a victim of domestic abuse and chooses to obtain a copy of the ASR ECM must remind participant of the presence of domestic abuse related recommendations within their ASR and work with the customer on ensuring that alternative means to store personal copies of the ASR such as not taking a copy of the ASR home or in agreement with the participant ECM will hand remove pages from the customers copy of the ASR that include domestic abuse related recommendations County of San Diego Health and Human Services Agency HHSACalWORKs Program Guide WelfaretoWork Orientation and Appraisal Number Page 10005D 4 of 6 10005D9 Required Appraisal Forms The following forms must be completed during the APR and retained in the case filecaptured into the CalWIN Electronic Records Management System CERMS and recorded as part of the OREAPR narrative in CalWIN these forms are not to be printed from OCAT as they are not barcoded WTW 47 Online CalWORKs Appraisal Tool Rights and Privacy 2762 WTW Behavioral Health Screening Tool completed by regional AODMHS contractor 27344 Family SelfSufficiency Plan Refugee participants only CCP7 CalWORKs Stage One Child Care Request Form and Reimbursement Rules RS1 Refugee Resettlement Program Services Application and Assessment Information Refugee participants only WTW 1 WTW Plan Rights and Responsibilities WTW 17 Waiver of CalWORKs Learning Disabilities LD Screening andor Evaluation WTW 18 or WTW 48 Learning Needs Screening form only if OCAT LD is not used If a participant chooses to be evaluated for LD the following forms must also be completed LD Learning Disability Evaluation WTW 20 Permission to Release Learning Disabilities Information 2619 Learning Disabilities Communication Form The following formsdocuments are obtained by the FRC and can be viewed in the CalWIN Electronic Records Management System CERMS 2046 Language Needs Determination Form I94 ArrivalDeparture Record 10005D10 Telephone ORE and OCAT APR ECMs will complete a telephone ORE and OCAT APR with participants who are unable to come into the WTW office during normal business hours due to their workschool schedule The ECM will verify the identity of the individual being interviewed confirm that heshe has privacy during the conversation confirm that heshe is the only one being interviewed and that heshe is able to take appropriate precautions regarding confidentiality 10005D11 Participants with Language Barriers The APR must be conducted in the participants primary language through the use of bilingual ECMs andor interpreter services Case comments must include how participants language needs are met Form 20149 HHSA Civil Rights Interpreter Confidentiality Agreement must be completed when an interpreter is used At this time OCAT is only available in English Participants with limited English proficiency or requiring English as a Second Language ESL services should be immediately referred to evaluation for services to address those barriers Assistance by a translator may be used to complete the demographic job history and education history sections of the tool only However translation may not be appropriate for sensitive sections of OCAT such as mental health or domestic abuse In those instances participants must be referred directly to the appropriate evaluations rather than using OCAT for screening if there is a reasonable belief that the evaluation is necessary County of San Diego Health and Human Services Agency HHSACalWORKs Program Guide WelfaretoWork Orientation and Appraisal Number Page 10005D 5 of 6 Learning disabilities screening andor evaluation must be in the participants primary language The WTW 18 English and WTW 48 Spanish are the only learning disabilities screening tools that can be used for CalWORKs WTW participants and it cannot be translated or used with an interpreter Since the OCAT learning needs screening is the same as the WTW 18 and WTW 48 the OCAT learning needs screening will not be used in any language other than English and Spanish as the WTW 18 and WTW 48 are only valid for use in English and Spanish respectively 10005D12 Determining Remoteness Recipients are excused from participating in WTW activities if participating in the activities would require travel over two hours per day round trip excluding the time to take children tofrom school or child care or two miles per day round trip excluding the miles traveled to take children tofrom school or child care when the only means of transportation is walking 10005D13 Employment Services Request ESR ECM will complete an ESR when a participant reports information during APR that is different from what is in CalWIN ie household composition address changes new employment etc 10005D14 OCAT Reporting OCAT provides realtime data that enables the California Department of Social Services CDSS and OCAT users depending on access level to View a glimpse of agency statistics such as the number of appraisals Recognize the needs of participants by better understanding the characteristics and demographics of the participants Use data to improve targeted services at the case management supervisory and administrative levels 10005D15 OCAT Help Desk In order to ensure that questions are streamlined and prevent duplication of efforts only OCAT Administrators from each WTW Contractor will have the capability of contacting the OCAT help desk directly 10005D16 Resources All resources provided in OCAT are not local resources ECMs are to ensure that resources provided to participants are local resources outside of OCAT to ensure better outcomes for participants Procedure Processing Guide 10005D1 References EAS 4271152 ACL 1543 ACL 1569 ACL 1667 Sunset Date This policy will be reviewed for continuance by March 31 2020 County of San Diego Health and Human Services Agency HHSACalWORKs Program Guide WelfaretoWork Orientation and Appraisal Number Page 10005D 6 of 6 Rick Wanne Director Eligibility Operations