We have added new Juvenile Case Sub-Types for use in CINC cases and eliminated the previous CINC Sub-Types. This change will assist with federal reporting requirements for claiming Title IV-E reimbursements. We have eliminated CINC-Parent and CINC-Child sub-types and added CINC-Parent In-Home and CINC-Parent Out of Home. The old sub-types should no longer be used for new cases.

When you open a CINC case, you will need to note whether it is an �In-Home� or �Out of Home� case and choose the sub-type accordingly. The rule for deciding is as follows:

• If any child of the parties is ordered by the court to be removed from the home at any time during the life of the case, it is an Out of Home case for all time.

This means that if the child is removed by an instanter order and is returned at the Continued Custody Hearing a few days later, but the case continues for a year before closing, it is an Out of Home case for the entire time. If there are multiple children and only one child is removed from the home and the rest remain in the home, it is an Out of Home case. It does not matter whether the child is removed into foster care, is ordered into the custody of relatives or friends, or is placed with the non-custodial parent. If there is a court order removing the child from his or her home of origin, you should choose �CINC-Parent Out-of-Home� and leave it there forever even though the children are later returned home.

• If the case does not begin with a child removed from home, it is an In-Home case and upon opening the case you should set the sub-type to �CINC-Parent In-Home�. However, a case that begins as an In-Home case may convert to an Out-of-Home case if the court subsequently orders a child out of the home after initially leaving all children in the home.
• For these cases which start as �In-Home� but where a child is subsequently ordered removed, you should change the sub-type of �CINC-Parent Out-Of-Home� after the removal. As before, you should leave the case sub-type as �CINC-Parent Out-of-Home� even if the child is returned home later.

The key to differentiating between an Out-of-Home case and an In-Home case is a court order. If there is an order in the case removing the child from the parent�s home, it is Out of Home regardless of whether that order impacts all children or whether it is still in effect. We expect that most cases will begin as �CINC-Parent Out-of-Home�. We also expect that most cases start as �CINC-Parent In-Home� will likely stay in that sub-type, but that some small number will change to �Out-of-Home�. No case should ever change sub-type from �CINC-Parent Out-of-Home� to �CINC-Parent In-Home� unless it was entered erroneously from the beginning.

Richard M. Pittman
Deputy Public Defender
Director of Juvenile Defender Services
Louisiana Public Defender Board