Goals in Foster Care Placement 624-05-15-115

(Revised 10/15/12 ML #3341)

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It is impossible to develop any plan for children in foster care without establishing goals, either single or concurrent, with specific deadlines and a specific time frame established to reach those goals (See Wraparound Case Management Manual Chapter 641-10).

 

Foster care lends itself to situations that are extremely difficult to define. It is imperative that a plan be developed with the Permanency Planning Committee/Foster Care Child & Family Team related to strengths, needs, risks, and safety issues with specific measurable and time-limited goals and tasks that will achieve permanency for the child. The safety, permanency, and well being of children and their families must be the priority for everyone involved in the case planning to assure timely permanence and goal achievement.

 

The primary purpose of the case plan for each child is to document the intent and the steps under way to achieve the goals, including both reunification goals and/or alternate permanency goals.  Federal law, in particular, requires that the case plan documents the goals and progress being made toward those goals.

 

In particular, with respect to a child whose permanency goal is adoption or placement in another permanent home, the case plan must document the steps which the agency is taking to find an adoptive family or other permanent living arrangement, to place the child with an adoptive family, a fit and willing, relative, a legal guardian, or in another planned permanent living arrangement, and to finalize the adoption or legal guardianship. At a minimum, such documentation shall include child-specific recruitment efforts such as the use of the state or national adoption exchanges.

 

For foster youth 16 years and older, refer to Manual Chapter 624-10, Independent Living Policy.

 

The following sections are some examples of the goals that can be established to meet the needs of the children, when to select the goal, how to implement it, and when a selected goal may not work.