Dear Providers,

In December, DFCS Regional Accounting sent Christmas funds to foster parents for the purpose of purchasing Christmas gifts for the youth in their care. A flyer (see below) was included with the checks that were mailed.Foster parents were required to return receipts to show proof that the funds were used for the child/children in their care.The deadline to submit these receipts back to the region was 2/27/17; however, the deadline has now been extended to 3/31/17. Failure to submit the receipts will result in the money being recouped from the foster parents' per diem. Deductions from foster parent per diems will occur with April 2017 payments if receipts are not received.Please ensure that your foster parents adhere to this deadline so that no adjustments will have to be made to payments.

If you have any questions, please contact your regional accounting office.

The Office of Provider Management

**********Original flyer text:

FOSTER CARE CHRISTMAS PROCEDURES

In order to ensure that all of our foster children have Christmas, a procedural change is being implemented for the purchase of Christmas gifts for foster children utilizing county and restricted funds.The purchase of gift cards is being replaced by the issuance of a check to the foster parents or RBWO provider.

Foster parents/RBWO homes will need to:

• Purchase the children’s Christmas gifts and maintain the original receipts.
• Submit the receipts marked with each child’s name, along with the Check Stub (copy is acceptable), to their appropriate Regional Accounting offices for reconciliation no later than February 28, 2017.It is preferable to have a separate receipt for each child’s purchases, but if this is not possible, the child’s name will need to be written by each item purchased.

Note: Failure to submit all receipts by February 2017 documenting the use of the Christmas funds will result in the foster parent’s/RBWO Homes’ per diem check being reduced for any undocumented amounts.