About Intakes

Intake is the process by which an agency receives, records, and prioritizes reports or referrals made on behalf of a child or family. It is the only point of entry for cases in the Ohio SACWIS system.

Intakes may come in the form of telephone calls, faxes, letters, face-to-face visits, email, or any other electronic method to an agency. In Ohio SACWIS, the Intake area lets you enter information about the reporter (referent), the child(ren) involved, other participants, third-party involvement, allegations, out-of-home details, and so on. It's also the area where the screening decision is recorded.

Intakes fall into one of one of four main categories. The system enables certain tabs and requires certain fields according the intake category.

Intake Category	Description	Tabs Enabled
Child Abuse/Neglect (CA/N) Report	Allegations or suspicions of child abuse or neglect, including by a third party (for example, a foster home or day care facility)	All
Information and\or Referral (I and/or R)	Assistance for people who need help finding available and appropriate services	Basic, Reporter, Participants, and OHC/Third Party Involvement
Dependency Report	A child is dependent on someone other than their parents for care, shelter, and support	All
Family in Need of Services	Agency services are being requested and provided to a family	Basic, Reporter, Participants, Additional, and OHC/Third Party Involvement

See Record an intake for instructions.

An intake category may be changed, in which case the system applies the field requirements for the new category. If completed fields are not required for the new intake category, the system removes information from those fields and sends you a confirmation message. The message gives you the option to continue or to cancel. (See Change the intake category.)

About Screening

The screening function is the first point at which a judgment must be made about a child’s safety. The screener gathers sufficient information about the referred family to assess the credibility of the allegation, to locate the family and child(ren), and to identify children who may be in danger. When the screener has collected the information, he or she indicates that the intake record is "complete."

At that point, the intake record is viewed by a screening decision maker, who:

Determines whether the incoming allegation meets the criteria for assessment/investigation and is appropriate for Child Protective Services.
Determines whether the information requires an immediate emergency response because the child appears to be unsafe.
Records the screening decision ("screened in," "screened out," "I and/or R"), or returns the intake to the screener for further work. If the screening decision maker changes the intake category, the screener receives a message explaining further actions.

When an intake is screened in, it is linked to a new or existing case record and then assigned to the appropriate assessment, investigation, or ongoing caseworker. (See Record the intake decision and assignment or View screening decision maker remarks.)

Adding Information to Intake Records

You can add certain details on an intake after the screening decision has been made (depending on which of these occurs first):

Within four business days of the date and time of the screen decision, OR
Before the safety assessment has been approved

If your work assignments include the intake case record, you can add the following kinds of information:

Intake type(s)
Participants (ACVs and APs)
Allegations

You can also edit some fields after the screening decision is made, such as the Post Decision Narrative field and the Living Arrangement at Time of Intake field (on the Basic tab of the intake record). However as mentioned, you must make these edits within four business days of the screening decision or before the safety assessment has been approved. (See Add details to a completed intake.)