As a result of the Foster Care Litigation (FCL) Remedial Order 4, DFPS must obtain and maintain a list of all residential child care caregivers. Additionally, DPFS needs to track the completion of required training courses for all individuals who have direct contact with or provide care to children in foster care or other forms of the state conservatorship (state care).
This is where the Provider Portal and Caregiver Training Hub come in:
The Provider Portal allows for real time updating of caregiver information to provide timely data analysis and reporting. It is where providers identify their caregivers and can see their caregivers’ training completions. These trainings may be accessed via desktop, laptop, tablet, or mobile phone. Note: DFPS will send a link to the Provider Portal directly to providers via email communication.
For purposes of Remedial Orders 25, 27, and 31, a caregiver is a person, including an employee, foster parent, contract service provider, or volunteer, whose day-to-day responsibilities include direct care, supervision, guidance, and protection of a child/youth in care. This includes employees and contract staff who provide 24-hour awake night supervision in accordance with Remedial Orders A7 and A8.
Generally for the above referenced Remedial Orders, and in furtherance of a child/youth having as normal of a life experience as possible while in substitute care, “caregiver” does not include individuals who are not routinely responsible for direct care, supervision, guidance, and protection of a child/youth in care, such as school personnel, mentors, tutors and chaperones. Caregiver refers to individuals who deliver services directly to the child, such as foster parents, adoptive parents, or residential facility or operation staff.
Determining what information to provide an adult involved with a child/youth’s normalcy activity (e.g., extra-curricular activity, part-time job, church activities, school field trip, visit to friend’s house) must be considered on a case-by-case basis, keeping in mind the confidential nature of the information and the need to balance the child/youth’s privacy concerns. Depending on the history, age of the child/youth, and situation in which the child/youth may be when engaging in a normalcy activity, the involved adult may not need to know of the child/youth’s history, for example a tutor periodically at the child/youth’s placement or an adult chaperone on a school field trip.
Timeline for Providers and Caregivers
December 31, 2021
DFPS launches the Caregiver Training Hub.
January 1, 2022
All providers are required to register all their caregivers that are actively providing care in the Provider Portal, starting January 1. This will enable caregivers to log in to the Caregiver Training Hub to take their required training, which is due by January 31, 2022 at 11:59 p.m. Providers need to inform caregivers of the training requirement.
January 31, 2022
All caregivers must complete the required training, Recognizing and Reporting Sexual Abuse, Including Child-On-Child Sexual Abuse in the new Caregiver Training HubExternal Link by January 31, 2022 at 11:59 p.m.
June 23, 2022
Caregiver training updates:
Recognizing and Reporting Sexual Abuse is replaced by Preventing and Recognizing Youth Sexual Abuse. This training is to be completed by new caregivers within 30 days and by existing caregivers at annual renewal.
Two additional courses are added:
Administering Psychotropic Medications
Trauma-Informed Care
As a contracted CPS provider or DFPS worker who is a caregiver, what does this mean for me?
Starting January 1, 2022, providers are required to register their caregivers in the Provider Portal and inform them of the training requirement that is due no later than 30 days from registration.
Step 1: Register all caregivers that are actively providing care. All case workers and caregivers need to be entered into the Provider Portal with basic demographics, including legal first and last name and Social Security number. Please see the Provider Portal Job AidPDF Document for additional guidance.
Once registered, caregivers must complete the required training: Preventing and Recognizing Sexual Abuse and Victimization of Youth in Foster Care. Individuals must complete this training in the Caregiver Training Hub to be recognized as a caregiver and to provide direct care to a child or youth in state care.
Step 2: Please inform appropriate staff and/or caregivers about this upcoming change, and that they need to be prepared to meet the training requirement no later than 30 days from Provider Portal registration.
Ways to be proactive:
Identify each staff member who will be the administrator and responsible for ensuring that your agency’s caregivers and staff who are caregivers are registered in the Provider Portal and have completed the required training in the Caregiver Training Hub.
Create communications for caregivers so they are aware of the need to take or retake the training on the new Caregiver Training Hub.
Note: Individuals who have previously taken Recognizing and Reporting Sexual Abuse, Including Child-On-Child Sexual Abuse in the Caregiver Training Hub will receive an annual renewal reminder to take the new course, Preventing and Recognizing Sexual Abuse and Victimization of Youth in Foster Care, at that time.
As a caregiver, what does this mean for me?
You will need to take Preventing and Recognizing Sexual Abuse and Victimization of Youth in Foster Care on the Caregiver Training HubExternal Linkno later than 30 days from your Provider Portal registration.
If you have trouble registering, contact your agency case manager to ensure that you are registered into the Provider Portal.
If you continue to have technical issues, contact the DFPS Help Desk directly by calling 877-642-4777. First, select the asterisk (*) to bypass the required Employee ID input, and then select 6-Other to reach a Help Desk representative.
Helpful Tips
Provider Helpful Tips
For best performance, copy the link and paste it into one of the following browsers: Microsoft Edge, Google Chrome, Firefox, or Safari. Internet Explorer is not recommended.
If a person is registered in another Salesforce App, such as Awake Check, please call the DFPS Help Desk at 877-642-4777. You cannot use the same email for both applications, and you will receive an error message. We can fix this on our end for you.
When contacting the DFPS Help Desk, please be thorough when describing your problem or question. We can help you faster when you provider the following information:
Indicate which application you are working in (Provider Portal or Caregiver Training Hub)
What type of profile you are struggling with (Primary Admin, Secondary Admin, Caregiver)
Your role
Screen shots of any error messages, as these are are extremely helpful as well
If you have multiple branches/departments within your organization, you cannot put the same person over them all, and you cannot add different accounts. Your organization has one account in the provider portal. Then, you may assign a Secondary Admin over the different branches/departments. This means you need to know who is responsible for each branch/department. Please see provider portal diagramPDF Document.
Caregiver Training Helpful Tips
You cannot take the training in the Caregiver Training Hub until you receive an email from your Provider stating they have registered you as a Caregiver in the Provider Portal. Once you receive that email, then you may access the Caregiver Training Hub.
If you are attempting to register with the Caregiver Training Hub and receive the following error message “You are seeing this page because something went wrong during your registration or enrollment”, please check with your Provider to ensure you are correctly entered as a caregiver in the Provider Portal. This includes your first and last name (hyphen included or not).
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
The following FAQs are helpful for both providers and caregivers:
If I have already taken this training, do I have to take it again? Why?
Unfortunately, the old system does not identify or track who completed the training. The new Provider Portal will capture and track this required information. Therefore, each caregiver must complete or retake the training in the Training Hub no later than January 31, 2022 at 11:59 p.m.
In November 2020, Court Monitors advised DFPS they could not confirm compliance without a list of all caregivers who are required to take the training prior to completing the course. Currently, DFPS relies on who completed the course to identify caregivers. DFPS has never had a comprehensive list of caregivers required to take the training and, thus, we have not been able to demonstrate compliance. For this reason, we developed the Training Hub for providers to identify each caregiver before they take of the training. During the development, we also identified a need for real time updating of caregiver information to provide timely data analysis and reporting in advance of the May 2022 hearing when compliance on Remedial Order 4 will be reported to the court by the monitors.
Will we be able to enter non-expired credit for completing this training into the Caregiver Training Hub or must everyone take it again?
The Caregiver Training Hub does not allow for existing certificates or training completions to be uploaded or added into the system. All staff and caregivers must retake the training.
Do unverified respite providers and babysitters have to take this training?
Yes, anyone who will provide direct care for more than 72 hours must take the training.
If foster parents are due before the 2/1/2022 deadline, can we wait until then so that they only have to take it once?
If a foster parent’s training renewal is due in January 2022, then the foster parent may take the training in the new Caregiver Training Hub by the renewal date if the provider registers the foster parent in the Provider Portal by the renewal date. The foster parent would not need to take the training again until January 2023.
Is this the same training everyone has taken in the past?
Yes, it is the same training.
What does LMS stand for?
LMS stands for Learning Management System. The Caregiver Training Hub is part of DFPS’s Learning Management System (LMS), which tracks required training programs.
The course completion certificate does not have the number of hours that is credited to our caregivers and staff. How many hours should we be giving them credit for?
Preventing and Recognizing Sexual Abuse and Victimization of Youth in Forster Care – 1.5 hours
Trauma and Trauma-Informed Care: An Introductory Training – 2.0 hours
Psychotropic Medication for Children in Texas Foster Care: A Training for Caregivers – 2.0 hours
Will caregivers receive a course completion certificate and, if so, how will it be sent to them?
Yes, caregivers will receive a certificate inside the Caregiver Training Hub. Once they complete the course there is a certificate for them to generate, save, and print. Providers will be able to see their completion dates in the Course Completion Statuses section of the Provider Portal.
If a caregiver completed the training under another agency’s umbrella today, but they are transferring to a new agency, will they need to take it again when they transfer agencies or just when they are due at their one-year mark?
A caregiver's training data will follow their social security number (SSN). So if the new provider admin creates the caregiver's profile using the same SSN, they will enter the date the caregiver started with their agency, and then they will be able to see the training completion date. The caregiver will not need to retake the training, except at the annual review time.
Example: If a caregiver is entered as a caregiver for three agencies, and she took the training one time, then the Provider Portal will show she completed the training in all three agencies’ records.
The following FAQs only apply to providers:
Has this directive given any consideration to operations that employ Practicing Registered Nurse (PRN) staff?
Yes, anyone who would be providing direct care must take this training.
How will the Provider Portal be maintained? Who is responsible for removing foster parents that close?
Each provider is responsible for identifying its current caregivers in the Provider Portal. Each caregiver must be identified in the Provider Portal before taking the caregiver training, or they will not receive credit for taking the course.
Each provider must maintain the current status of each caregiver through the Provider Portal in real time, which includes immediately reporting when a caregiver ceases to serve in that capacity.
We are licensing new foster parents every month. Are we going to have to enter in all newly licensed foster parents as they are licensed?
Yes, all newly licensed foster parents and anyone who falls within the court’s definition of a caregiver must be identified by providers in the Provider Portal before they take mandatory caregiver training.
If we can’t have the foster parents wait to take the training, can we upload the most recent training, so they don’t have to take the training twice in the span of a few months?
The most recent training will be uploaded. The next version of the training with new content will not be ready until March, which is too late for the May 2022 hearing where compliance with Remedial Order 4 will be reported.
Do we register families in the Provider Portal that are not yet licensed because it is required that they take this training as a part of the verification process?
Yes, your agency would register them as part of the licensing process.
Can you send me the link for the Provider Portal?
Unfortunately, we cannot send you the Provider Portal link. This was sent to all Providers, and you must obtain the link through your agency. If you did not receive the Provider Portal link, and you are the Provider Administrator, then please call the DFPS Help Desk at 877-642-4777.
Can I enter caregivers into the Caregiver Portal?
No. Providers can only enter caregivers into the Provider Portal.
I didn’t receive a link to register my organization as a provider. What should I do?
The link was sent to whomever is on the distribution list for the residential contracts. Please reach out to your chain of command for access to the link. If no one in your agency reports to have received the link, please call the DFPS Help Desk at 877-642-4777 for assistance.
Password reset is not working, or I am locked out of my Provider Portal account. What should I do?
Call the DFPS Help Desk at 877-642-4777, and we will help you.
How do I delete a caregiver record from the Provider Portal?
Primary or Secondary Admins can "deactivate" a caregiver by entering a Separation Date, but they cannot delete a caregiver. This is a safeguard in case there is course data associated with the user, such as registering for training and passing the course exam. Sometimes people will get entered by mistake. The easiest solution during this busy time is for Primary or Secondary Admins to deactivate the caregiver. We will work on a cleanup at a future time.
I am unable to edit an error on a mistake I made when entering a caregiver.
This IT issue was resolved on January 4, 2022. If you continue to have an issue editing an account, then please call the DFPS Help Desk at 877-642-4777.
We have several operations. Can we enter all of them in the Provider Portal under one of the operations’ IDs versus entering each separately? Can we blend them - GRO, CPA, etc.?
Each operation will only be registered once. DFPS will use one resource ID as a main account. An operation must list all Caregivers at all branches under that main account.
DFPS will choose one of the operation’s resource IDs and will use that as their unique identifier. If you have an RCC legacy contract and multiple CSCs, DFPS will use the RCC legacy resource ID. If you only have CSC contracts, DFPS will select one of the CSC resource IDs as the unique identifier.
All providers are required to enter all their caregivers that are actively providing care in the Provider Portal. Do I need to enter inactive foster parents who are not actively providing care?
While the goal is to enter all caregivers who are providing care and will provide care, the urgency right now is to enter caregivers who are currently providing care. However, if a foster parent is inactive, they need to be registered and take the training before they can accept placement. We recommend they do it now, so the home is in compliance when placement is made.
When we add our families who are still in the application process, what do we need to put as the “Date Started as Caregiver”?
I have successfully been set up in the Provider Portal as Secondary Administrator in one of our programs. However, the system does not allow me to be set up as Secondary Administrator in our other two operations, since it only allows my email address to be used once. Can I be on both operations? How do I do I do that when my email is already being used?
If you have a different email address, then this can be done. If not, then a different person needs be assigned.
Links to Important Information
Please use the following job aids to assist you with entry and training compliance:
If you have questions or need help, you may contact the DFPS Help Desk directly by calling 877-642-4777. First, select the asterisk (*) to bypass the required employee ID input, and then select 6-Other to reach a Help Desk representative.
Other Resources
Make sure you've reviewed the job aids for the provider portal and caregiver training hub. Also be sure to check this page for any new and additional information.
Note: Previous caregiver training email boxes are no longer monitored. All emails will be returned with an autoreply directing users to contact the DFPS Help Desk.
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