See How It Works
Program Process
ARHAP adheres to an established process when managing homestudy and kinship assessment requests. This process begins when we receive a request from an agency. If the request is approved, it is delegated to a regional supervisor, who will then work to assign an assessor to the request. Both the assigned assessor and supervisor maintain communication with the Requesting Agency as the homestudy or kinship assessment progresses. The Requesting Agency also must link the assigned assessor to their agency in SACWIS (instructional document available here). ARHAP’s goal is to have each homestudy it manages to be completed in four and a half months or less and each kinship assessment completed within twenty-one days of accepting the requests.
For more detailed information on the timeline and events of each accepted homestudy/assessment request, please see below.
Program Flow
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Requesting Agency submits the homestudy request form to Adopt America Network’s designated email address. The Requesting Agency will receive an email message within one business day of the request being received from the ARHAP manager indicating the receipt of the request.
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ARHAP manager reviews the request and checks for thoroughness. The ARHAP manager will then assign to the appropriate ARHAP Regional Supervisor within one business day of receiving the request (if the request is being accepted)
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ARHAP Regional Supervisor reaches out to the Requesting Agency within one business day of receiving the request form from the ARHAP Manager. This communication’s purpose is to get any information on the family who will be working with the Assessor. At this time, the Program Supervisor will also get any additional direction needed for the completion of the work (e.g., additional information the Requesting Agency likes to see in homestudies/assessments).
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ARHAP Regional Supervisor works with the Requesting Agency to get family information on the prospective caregiver listed on the request form. ARHAP Regional Supervisor reviews Adopt America Network’s pool of Assessors for their region to determine who will be assigned to the request. This assignment is based on the Assessor’s current caseload and experience that will ultimately be most beneficial to the family they are assigned to. It is Adopt America Network’s goal to have the Requesting Agency’s need assigned to an Assessor within two business days.
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ARHAP Regional Supervisor notifies the Requesting Agency with an Agency Acceptance Notification form which indicates if the request qualifies and will also send back the Agency Request Form indicating the Assessor assigned to the request within three business days from the date the initial request is received.
Once the Assessor has been assigned, the Requesting Agency will need to link the assessor to their agency as a contracted employee in SACWIS. An instructional document on how to perform this linking is available here.
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This info is shared with the assigned assessor. ARHAP support staff will also work with the Requesting Agency so they receive the required information for the Assessor’s personnel file.
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The assessment process begins. The Assessor will work directly with the Requesting Agency to obtain any family paperwork already submitted
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ARHAP Regional Supervisor sends updates to the Requesting Agency biweekly (at minimum) throughout the homestudy/assessment process. On the alternate weeks, the Requesting Agency will receive updates from the Assessor directly.
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Assessment completed and sent to ARHAP Regional Supervisor for quality assurance; any edits needed are completed by the Assessor. For homestudies, this will all be completed within four months. For kinship assessments, this will be completed within 18 days.
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Assessor submits final assessment through SACWIS no later than four and a half months for homestudies and twenty-one days for kinship assessments. This gives the Requesting Agency time to review for finalization
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Completion of the process. AAN welcomes any feedback over the process or the contracted Assessor that provides the homestudy/assessment.
Below are the steps to ARHAP’s process.
Each step occurs within a four-and-a-half-month timeframe for homestudies and a twenty-one-day timeframe for kinship assessments
