Transfer of Clients Between Social Assistance Area

7-7 Transfer of Clients Between Social Assistance Area


PURPOSE



To facilitate efficient, effective case planning with applicant’s moving from one office to another.



PRINCIPLE



1. Applicants may choose to live wherever they wish.



2. Applicants are responsible for the consequences of their decisions.



3. Social Assistance should not be used to support situations that result or are likely to result from poor or non-existent planning.



4. Decision making on how applicants move from one office to another should be based on sound planning.



5. The involvement, cooperation and expectation of staff regarding transfer of applicants between offices are the same as exist when applicants are transferred between workers in the same office.



POLICY



6. Applicant requests for relocation will initiate a planning and consultative process to ensure that all parties involved, including the applicant, current office and receiving office, recognize the implications of the proposed change and support the plan.



7. Case planning should include, but is not limited to, the following considerations:

1) What advantages to the applicant are anticipated as a result of the proposed relocation?

2) Is relocation warranted for health and safety reasons?

3) What is the probability that the anticipated advantages will be realized?

4) Will the case plan result in greater applicant self-sufficiency?

5) Are adequate services available in the receiving office area?

6) What is the applicant’s contribution to the case plan?

7) Do the anticipated advantages to the applicant justify the degree of resource expenditure by the Social Assistance Program?

8) Can continuity of services be maintained?



8. Case planning and cooperation should be paramount in dealing with multi problem, crisis prone individuals or families, in order to decrease risk.



9. Deviation from Social Assistance Policy, if necessitated by extenuating circumstances, requires negotiation and agreement of all parties.



10. Decisions to support or not support applicant plans to move from one office to another should be the logical outcome of the Case Planning process involving all active services.



PROCEDURE



11. Case Planning.



The objective of case planning is to most efficiently utilize resources in the best interest of applicants



1) Referring Office Responsibilities

a) contact the Supervisor designated authority of the receiving office by telephone to discuss the applicant’s proposal and arrange case consultation, if necessary;

b) prepare a case summary including the applicants’ proposed plan prior to conferencing;

c) conference to discuss the proposed transfer, if warranted. Ideally, this conference should involve all parties;

d) implement the decisions reached at the case conference with the applicant.



2) Receiving Office Responsibilities

a) upon being contacted by the referring office and after preliminary discussion, the Supervisor will participate in arranging a conference site, date and time, if required;

b) the Supervisor arranges for appropriate staff to attend the case conference;

c) staff attending the case conference represent the office related to decision making regarding the proposed plan;

d) agreement on the case plan must be negotiated between the respective offices;

e) if the applicant has not been included in the initial case conference, a transfer interview which includes the two Primary Workers and the applicant should be arranged, if warranted.



12. Unplanned Moves



1) On occasion, applicants will move from one office to another without consultation and with questionable planning. Applicants in these circumstances occasionally present themselves to staff in crises demanding immediate service. To whatever degree feasible, applicants should be left to deal with the consequences of their behavior.



2) It is the responsibility of the applicant to notify his/her present worker of the change in circumstances and ask to have the service transferred.



3) Staff are not bound to support applicant plans that are poorly conceived or unplanned. In those instances, where an applicant presents him/herself without the proper transfer the applicant should be referred back to his/her current worker.