Qualified Residential Treatment Program

A QRTP is a specific category of non-foster family home setting, for which public child welfare agencies must meet detailed assessment, case planning, documentation, judicial determinations and ongoing review and permanency hearing requirements for a child to be placed in and continue to receive federal Title IV-E funding for the placement. QRTPs are a subset of licensed group care facilities; they do not wholly replace them.

As of Oct. 1, 2019, child welfare practices and procedure policies were updated to reflect the FFPSA requirements related to the QRTP. We submitted our state plan updates to the federal Children’s Bureau in December 2019, and received feedback from the Children’s Bureau in Spring 2020. We addressed their questions and made minor updates to the policy. On Oct. 8, 2020, the Children’s Bureau approved our updated policy, state plan and our qualified individual waiver. You can view the approved policy here and the waiver form here.

Facilities must also be licensed and comply with criminal records check and child abuse and neglect registry check requirements and must be accredited. The majority of the QRTP facilities have received their accreditation but there are still a couple of facilities that are actively working towards completing accreditation. DCYF has no intention of cancelling contracts for those that are actively seeking accreditation. Ultimately, all BRS facilities will need to meet FFPSA QRTP standards.