How to Enter Dates
When you click on a date field, a calendar opens, and you can scroll up with your mouse wheel or touch pad to go back in time. Or, use the keyboard arrows to change dates in the calendar. Click on any month inside the calendar to show more months for faster scrolling.
If you prefer to type the date, click on the date field a second time—the calendar will be replaced by your cursor. If you are tabbing into a date field, tab once to see the calendar or tab twice to type.
Date Restrictions and Edits
Activities must take place within appointment dates. Your appointment dates are set automatically using the earliest of your child party start dates and, when all child parties are ended, the latest child party representation end date. CARES will remind and stop you if you try to enter a child party date that cuts off existing activities, and activities will not allow you to select a date outside of the child party dates. More on why you can't save a child party >
- Child Party Start Dates: Your earliest Attorney Role date per child party is automatically their "start date" behind the scenes. The accuracy of each child party's start date is of the utmost importance for CARES and CARES reports. In your appointment, click any child party's name to open a pop-up screen including your roles and dates for this appointment. More on Attorney Roles >
When entering the attorney's role(s) per youth, it is important to keep the initial role and date. In other words, if the youth turns 12 during your appointment and your role shifts to client-directed, do not unselect your best interests checkbox after your role shifts. Instead, keep the history by adding a second checkmark under "Client-Directed Representation." Each child party's dates must show the full timeline of your representation, starting with the earliest date. More on this > - Activity Date: In your appointment, click the checkbox next to an activity in the Activities tab, then click Edit to update its contents, including the Activity Date (date of service). Dates before your appointment started (before the earliest child party start date) are not available per OCR's Billing Policies. Save your changes. (If the button to edit the activity is disabled, see Why can't I edit an activity?)
- Child Party "Representation End Date": OCR's Billing Policies & Procedures direct OCR attorneys to close each child party in CARES within fourteen days of the appointment ending. This is vital to ensure OCR relies on accurate data when reporting to the General Assembly and making fiscal predictions. To clean up your caseload, navigate to Reports > Go to Reports > Inactivity Report and click "Apply" to view a list of open appointments with no recent activity. You can enter any number of days of inactivity on the left and check the checkboxes for the case types you would like to include, then click "Apply" again to narrow the results. Consult Closing Appointments for instructions when your appointment is over.
- Future Dates: Generally, you cannot enter future dates in CARES; to schedule upcoming activities, see Schedule Upcoming Activities.