TRAVEL CLAIM WEBINAR FOR OKLAHOMA FOSTER PARENTS

(NO AUDIO)
Presented by TJ Sarrington
Adminsitrative Programs Officer - State Office

TJ: Hello Everyone. My name is TJ Sarrington. As an Administrative Program Officer at the State Office, I process travel claims submitted by our OklahomaÆs Foster families. Today we will walk through the proper way to complete and submit a travel claim. 

The first section on the travel claim form we will walk through is the section titled "Claimant Information." In the top left of the Claimant Information section you will select "Foster Parent". You will then need to provide your full name; first name, middle initial and last name. You will then need to provide your telephone number. Please remember to provide the area code. You will then need to provide your mailing address. This will include your street address, city, state and your zip code. Please remember to add the plus 4 at the end of your zip code. If you do not know your zip code plus 4, this information can be found by visiting the United States Postal Service website. The address is www.usps.com/zip4/. You will then need to provide your social security number. Next, you will then need to provide your vehicle's tag number. 

The Next section we will look at is titled "Travel Information." The first blank space at the top left of the Travel Information section is for the KK number. This is the number assigned to your child's case. If you can, please provide your KK number. If you do not have this number, be sure to have your worker provide it before submitting the travel claim. At the top right of the Travel Information section is the question, "Was travel out-ofûstate?" You will need to indicate if this travel was out-of-state or not. You will then need to list the complete date of travel took place, including month, day and year. It is very important that you include the full date of travel. You will then need to provide the first name and the last initial for each child who was involved in the trip. For example if two siblings went to visit their mother, you would need to write the first name and last initial for both children who went on that visit. 

The next box is entitled "Beginning and ending points of travel. Please use city names only". You will only ever put two city names in this box. The first city will be where the trip began. The second city will be the destination of the trip. For example Oklahoma City to Tulsa. Indicate whether the trip was round trip in the next box. Place the letter "Y" to indicate yes and the letter "N" to indicate no. In the "Purpose of the trip" box, please provide clarifying information on where you took the child or children.  For example, if the trip was to visit mother, please write "Visit with mother," if the foster parent took a child to court, please write "took child to court."  If you just write "visitation" without who the child visited, it could cause a delay in receiving your reimbursement. Please note: if only the foster parent goes to court and does not take the foster child, the mileage cannot be reimbursed.  The foster child has to be with the foster parent when they attend court. 

Foster Care mileage reimbursement is only to be claimed for travel used to take a child to a qualifying event. According to policy, a qualifying event includes visit with a child's parents, a child's sibling, court hearings or medical visits including behavioral health, dental and vision. 

You will have to ask your worker for assistance with completing the mileage. DHS workers have to access to a specific mileage calculator. The claim needs to reflect what the map miles are, which is the mileage from town to town, along with any additional mileage you may have driven over the map miles. The total number of additional mileage would be needed to be listed in the "Vicinity" box. If the vicinity mileage is 20 miles or more, you will need to provide the full address where you took the child or children so we can confirm the additional mileage for payment. 

We will now look at the section of the form titled "Expenses Claimed." You will need to add up all of the map miles and vicinity miles from the Travel Information section and place the total number of miles on the line to the right of "Total Miles." You will then need to multiply the number of total miles by the current mileage reimbursement rate. The current rate is already inserted in the form for you. You will then place the amount on the top right space. If you must pay for tolls or local transportation please provide a short description and the amount of the cost on the lines below the instructions "List other items:" Please note: we do not require receipts for tolls if you use Pike Pass. At the bottom right of the Expenses Claimed section you will need to total all of the costs listed. 

We will now look at the section titled "Additional Point of Contact." If you know the name of your Permanency Planning worker please provide the name and phone number of your Permanency Planning worker in the Additional Point of Contact section. This information is needed in case we need to contact the worker regarding the claim. 

Now we will look at the section of the travel claim titled "Coding." The 4-digit Finance Code is the same statewide. On the line provided for the 4-digit Finance Code please place the numbers "2127". The 5-digit Finance Location code is the same statewide. On the line provided for the 5-digit Finance Location code please place the numbers "82127". 

We will now look at the section titled "Claimant Signatures/Claim Approval." The Foster Parent submitting the claim will provide their signature and the date in the section titled Claimant Signatures/Claim Approval. You will then turn in the travel claim form in to your Permanency Planning worker for final processing. Please Note: In an effort to avoid confusion during processing, please provide an explanation any time there is a difference between the city where the travel began and the city in the mailing address of the Foster Parent. For example, if you have a mailing address in the city of Norman but live in Pink Oklahoma, please clarify why the travel would begin in Pink. You would write; "have a Norman address, reside in Pink"

If you have questions regarding how to complete your travel claim form, please contact The Bridge Resource Support Center by phone at 1-800-376-9729 or by email at Bridge@ou.edu or visit www.okbridgefamilies.com/contact/. 

Thank you.