Placement Gaps

In an open removal episode, a child may move between multiple placement locations, temporary absences, and trial home visits. When you create consecutive placements that have gaps between them a warning will appear alerting you to the gap. 

It is essential that there are no gaps between placements when a child is in an open removal episode as gaps mean that the FCM did not know where the child was for some time during the removal episode.

What is a Placement Gap

In Casebook, a placement gap is defined as anything lasting longer than 2 days (47 hours and 59 minutes). To help prevent workers from creating gaps between placements, Casebook will do the following:

• • Display a warning message notifying workers they have created a placement gap which must be corrected or confirmed before saving.

• • Display Gap with Red Icon in Focus Child's Locations history page.

• • Auto ending existing placements when a new one is added

  • Give you the ability to shift and/or end the placement dates before or after the placement currently being edited. Read more here.

  • For example: Ryan is placed in a Foster Family on June 6, on June 24 he has a temporary absence at his grandmothers. The foster family placement will automatically be end dated for June 23. If you realize that Ryan actually went into the foster family home on June 3 and change the date, you will have the option to move all related dates (June 23/24) up three days as well.

Overlapping Locations within a Removal Episode

1. Placements and Trial Home Visits cannot overlap one another by more than one day. For example: if a placement ends on 2/2 at 10am, a trial home cannot begin 2/2 at 9am OR anytime on 2/1.

2. A temporary absence cannot overlap another by more than one day. It is OK to have a temporary absence end on 2/1 and another begin on 2/1, but workers cannot end a temporary absence cannot on 2/1 at 10am and begin another on 2/1 at 9am OR begin another anytime on 1/31.

3. Runaways cannot overlap each other.