Tag Archives: parents/guardians

Child_Record

HS Eligibility

The Head Start Eligibility tab houses the Head Start-specific selection criteria and eligibility information that is initially entered when adding a child record. This is the family, financial and employment information that determines eligibility and priority for a Head Start enrollment slot. The HS Eligibility tab also provides a spot for recording special circumstances experienced by a child during his/her enrollment.

HS eligibility tabYou can add a new eligibility verification record or select an existing record. The eligibility record includes detailed information about the family at the time of enrollment and includes a scoring system to ensure you are serving children with the highest need for services.

eligibility verification

eligibility vertification

The eligibility verification record includes a completion and verification date. Once the record is verified, it cannot be edited. To edit, you will need to delete and re-add the record. Note: not all users have permission to delete data from ChildWare. If you do not have permission to delete, seek out the help of someone from your agency/site to discuss if this data should removed.

add delete eligibility verificationDirectly below the Eligibility Verification section on the HS Eligibility tab is the Special Circumstances area, where significant family circumstances should be recorded. It is very important to record Special Circumstances as they become known because these events are included in the end-of-year Program Information Report (PIR) required by the Office of Head Start.

Click the ‘Add Special Circumstances’ button to create a new record.

add special circumstanceThe Circumstance drop-down contains significant events or crises that a child may experience, though an ‘Other’ option allows  users to record circumstances that are not included in the list.

circumstance menu options

Based on the circumstance chosen, additional fields will appear to record date and other applicable details if follow-up is necessary. As an example, after choosing the ‘Homelessness’ option from the Circumstance menu, two date fields appear to record the effective date of homelessness and the date housing was acquired.

fields that appear after selecting circumstanceJust as it is important to record special circumstances for Head Start children as they occur, it is equally important to update special circumstances as situations improve or change. For example, the PIR will report not only that a child experienced homelessness during that program year but also if the homelessness need was addressed and resolved within the program year.

After adding the special circumstance details, click ‘OK’ to save.

Child_Record

Relationships

The Relationships tab stores a list of adult (contact) and child (sibling) relationships. Each person (adult or child) has their own record in the system, so contact records can be accessed via the Contact Data menu (under Child/Family) and siblings can be accessed from the Child Data grid.

From the Relationships tab you can:

CONTACTS GRID

You can store an unlimited number of contact relationships to the child via the Relationships tab. The first contact added is automatically assigned as the primary contact. The primary contact indicates who will be billed for services and who is the head of household for Head Start. The secondary contact designation indicates the second person listed on a family invoice and is a household member for Head Start reporting. To expand on the contact’s profile, press ‘Select’ to the left of their name. To add a new contact to the child, click the ‘Add Contact’ button.

contacts grid

ADDING A CONTACT RECORD

The Add Contact screen fields to record basic information—like name, relationship and a phone number—for the contact. You may choose from a list of existing contacts or add a new contact. Click ‘OK’ to save the contact.

add contact recordTo add additional demographic data, address, contact and emergency contact/pick-up details to the contact record, click ‘Select’ next to the contact in the Contacts grid. The contact’s name will be displayed at the top of this screen, along with the child they are associated with.

DELETING A CONTACT RECORD

To delete a contact record, click ‘Delete’ in the Contacts grid. A pop-up message will appear to confirm that you’d like to delete. Note: If that contact is only associated with one child, the contact will be deleted from the system. If the contact has multiple relationships, ‘Delete’ will remove the relationship association only.

delete contact

The Contact Record is organized into the following tabs:

MAIN TAB

The Main tab in the contact record displays demographic, contact and relationship information.

contact mainThe ‘Relationship to [Child Name]’ section at the bottom of this screen contains fields that are important to complete, such as:

    • if this contact is considered an emergency contact;
    • if they reside with the child;
    • if the contact should be included on a mailing list;
    • if they are allowed to pick-up (and, if so, under what circumstances); and
    • what order they should appear within the Billing Contact menus elsewhere in ChildWare

relationship areaYou may also add a photo for each contact in the Main tab. To do so, follow the same instructions as you would to add a child photo.

Note: you can navigate to other tabs within this contact’s profile without pressing ‘OK’ after editing each tab; however, press ‘OK’ when you have finished editing this contact record before moving on to the next contact.

CONTACT RECORD: CHILDREN TAB

Within the contact’s profile, the Children tab displays all child relationships for that contact within ChildWare.

children tabThe Child Relationships grid includes information to understand at-a-glance whether or not this adult

    • has pick-up permission;
    • is an emergency contact;
    • resides with the child; and
    • receives mailings from your agency

To create another child relationship for this contact, click the ‘Add Child Relationship’ button where you can connect this adult to another child in the system and define their relationship, pick-up, emergency contact, residency and mailing details. You can also create this relationship from that child’s Relationship tab.

CONTACT RECORD: EMPLOYER/SCHOOL INFORMATION TAB

Here you can record employer and/or school status information for this contact. Multiple employers or schools may be added for each contact.

Note: Head Start programs will also need to document employment and school status on the child’s Eligibility Record.

employment school info tab

CONTACT RECORD: FAMILY PARTNERSHIP TAB (PRIMARY CONTACTS ONLY)

Note: The Family Partnership tab is specific to Head Start and, therefore, will only appear for contacts whose children are enrolled in a Head Start program.

The Family Partnership tab stores Family Partnership Agreements and Family Strengths & Needs Assessments.

To record a Family Partnership Agreement, press the ‘Add Family Partnership Agreement’ button; to record a Family Strengths Assessment for the contact, press the ‘Add Family Strength and Needs Assessment’ button.

family partnership tabWithin the Family Strengths and Needs Assessment, there are opportunities to record family strengths/supports that currently exist from the guardian’s perspective as well as areas the family would like support, training or resources that relate to housing, adult education, employment, parenting, health and volunteering. To save, press ‘OK’.

FSA

The Family Partnership Agreement (FPA) provides a place to build family goals based on the information learned through the Family Strengths Assessment. After an FPA has been saved, goals can be created for the family by clicking the ‘Add Goal’ button.

FPA

From there, the goal is described and given a target achievement date. To meet the goal’s deadline, action steps and progress updates can be assigned as benchmarks.

Goal

CONTACT RECORD: EVENTS TAB

To enter an event for a contact, navigate to the Events tab and click the ‘Add Event’ button.

events tabNext, you be will asked to select from Event type drop-down, record an event date and any corresponding notes that may be important to save. You may also set reminders  that may be necessary as a result of the event, for example a referral follow-up reminder.

adding eventRead more about Contact Events here.

CONTACT RECORD: LOG TAB

The final tab in the contact profile is the Log, which functions as a place to review the history of updates made to the contact’s data. For more on the Log, visit the Log overview.

contact log tab

 

event_types

Getting to Know You Meeting

get_know

  • Date: Date of the meeting. This defaults to today’s date so be sure to update it if you are entering an event a few days later.
  • Staff: Name of the staff person leading the Getting to Know You meeting. The staff person must be entered into ChildWare  in order to appear on the drop-down list.
  • Parent/Contact: Select the name of the parent or contact attending the Getting to Know You meeting. You can select up to two from a drop-down list. The parent or contact must be entered into ChildWare and linked to the child’s record in order to show up in the list.
  • Note: Enter specific details here. This field is required for this event type.
event_types

Parent Conference

paren_conf

  • Date: Date of the Parent Conference. This defaults to today’s date so be sure to update it if you are entering an event a few days later.
  • Staff: Name of the staff person leading the Parent Conference. The staff person must be entered into ChildWare  in order to appear on the drop-down list.
  • Parent/Contact: Select the name of the parent or contact attending the Parent Conference. You can select up to two from a drop-down list. The parent or contact must be entered into ChildWare and linked to the child’s record in order to show up in the list.
  • Note: Enter specific details here. This field is required for this event type.
event_types

Verbal Request for Release of Child

verbal

  • Date: Date the request was made. This defaults to today’s date so be sure to update it if you are entering an event a few days later.
  • Time: Time the verbal request was made.
  • Requesting Parent: Name of the parent/guardian that made the request.
  • Phone Number Parent Called From: DPW requires that you request the number from which the parent is calling to make the verbal request. You can leave this blank if the parent made the request in person instead of on the phone.
  • Individual to Whom Child Should be Released: Name of the person that the parent/guardian is authorizing to pick up the child
  • Staff Taking Call: Name of the staff person who took the verbal request. The staff person must be entered into ChildWare  in order to appear on the drop-down list.
  • Confirmation Date: Date the request was confirmed(DPW requires that all verbal requests for children to be released be confirmed with the enrolling parent)
  • Confirmation Time: Time the request was confirmed.
  • Parent Confirming: Name of the enrolling parent/guardian making the confirmation.
  • Staff Confirming: Name of the staff person confirming the request.
  • Staff Releasing Child: Name of the staff person that actually handed the child over to the authorized individual.
  • Release Date: Date the child was handed over to the authorized individual.
  • ID Checked: Confirm that the individual’s identification was checked and note the type of ID used.
  • Note: Additional details can be entered here.
event_types

Parental Involvement

parental_inv

  • Date: Date of the parent involvement event. This defaults to today’s date so be sure to update it if you are entering an event a few days later.
  • Staff: Name of the staff person present.
  • Parent/Contact: Select the name of the parent or contact that participated in the event. You can select up to two from a drop-down list. The parent or contact must be entered into ChildWare and linked to the child’s record in order to show up in the list.
  • Note: Enter specific details here. This field is required for this event type.