Records Retention Policy

For our electronic files we have a treed closed folder:  
Main folder:  Closed Cases
Folder:  year  Under this we have a month folder then under this folder we have a folder with each case name (year.month.lastname.firstname)  this is calculated off 7 years from dismissal date or the date that the youth turns 18).  
We set up all the folders in advance so we just move the child’s folder when closed.
If the case was to reopen, we can do a search by name under the closed cases main folder and easily find it.  Our database also has the closed dates, so we can also eliminate the child from our database.
We also do this for our advocate and staff case related emails.  Making a closed case folder and moving all communication into folders as stated above.
Hope that helps.  I probably made it sound more complicated than it really is.  
 
 

Clackamas program is very similar to Kari’s program. We have an electronic file for each child. (no paper files). When a case closes, we move the file to the main “Closed case” file. Inside that file is a file for each year. The child’s files are listed alpha by child’s last name and are labeled: child’s last name, first name, Closed, date closed. If a child comes back into care, we look in our database for the closed date and easily find the file for the child.

We do the same for our volunteers who leave our program. We do still keep paper files on our current volunteers until they retire from our program. We do track most data in our database.