On certain case types, you are required to identify each child's placement upon creating your appointment. You may record a placement for any child party on any case type even if it's not required. Follow along below to add or update placements as needed. Or jump ahead to:
- Missing a Preset Placement?
- Save Your Own Placements
- Record or Update a Placement
- Map to Current Placement
Placement Types in CARES
When entering a placement, CARES always prompts you for a placement type first. Some placement types lead to a preset list of specific placements that OCR maintains in CARES, while other types prompt you to type in your own details.
- Detention
- Group Home
- Hospital
- Residential Treatment Facility
- Shelter
Missing a Preset Placement?
If you need to add a placement to the list in CARES, click here to notify OCR. While you are waiting for OCR to add the item in CARES, you can enter a temporary placeholder Placement by choosing Foster Home and entering the "Description" as "Waiting on OCR to add [placement you requested]." You can click on the child's name later, then check the box beside the placement and click "Edit Placement" to update it after OCR adds the item.
Other placement types prompt you to type in your own details:
- Foster Home - Non-Relative/Kin
- Independent Living/Apartment
- On the Run
- Relative/Kin Home
- Remain with Parent / Legal Guardian
Save Your Own Placements
While detailing placements within appointments, you will have an option to "Save this Placement to My Placements" to store any placement for reuse. The Address Book > My Placements screen lets you save a list of any foster homes or other placements you have saved for repeated use on multiple appointments. You can click the blue Add Placement button to add a new placement here. Complete the red/asterisked required fields, then click "Save." Check the checkbox beside an existing placement to edit or delete it.
Record or Update a Placement
To record a child's placement, click their blue name in the Child Party Table on the bottom of the appointment profile to open the Child Party Screen. Scroll down in that pop-up window until you see Placements near the bottom. You must check the box beside a placement to edit or delete it.
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If applicable, edit any existing placement(s) to add an end date. Save. Without this step, CARES will continue to consider it the current placement.
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Click Add Placement to enter a new placement.
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Choose a placement type and, if prompted, indicate whether the placement is out-of-home. Enter the best information you have at this time—e.g. you may only have a description and no address at first. Or, if you are choosing from existing placements, type a full word in the "Search placements" table. Check the box beside the correct placement.
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Scroll down to enter a start date for the child in that placement (you only need to record back as far as the start of your appointment), then click Save.
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You can return to and edit this information later by selecting the checkbox beside the placement and clicking “Edit Placement."
Map to Current Placement
Once you have entered a placement for a child, the Child Party Table on the bottom of the appointment profile will show their current placement. Click on the current placement for a quick view of the placement information, or click on the red map icon to open a separate browser tab in which Google Maps will provide directions to that placement's address (if the address is in CARES).
If the placement shown here is not the current placement, it may be missing an end date--see Step 1 of Record or Update a Placement to add an end date to any previous placement(s).